Management change for hotels in Mercure chain

Accor will continue to manage three Mecure hotels. Photo / Sarah Ivey

Management of five New Zealand hotels will change hands at the start of the next month.

Garth Simons, Accor vice-president for New Zealand, Fiji and Japan, said his business would no longer manage a group of smaller properties - Mercure Auckland Windsor, Mercure Rotorua, Mercure Wellington Willis St, Mercure Picton Marlborough Sounds and Mercure Dunedin.

Those would be operated by StayWell Hospitality Group from December 1, Simons said, although the ownership of the buildings would stay in the hands of Auckland-headquartered CP Group.

StayWell operates the Leisure Inn and Park Regis brands and has a big presence internationally, in Sydney, Brisbane, Cairns, Melbourne and elsewhere in Australia.

Simons said Accor would continue to manage three other Mercure hotels in Auckland, Wellington and Queenstown.

Staff at the five hotels changing hands are being informed of the changes and plans are for them all to continue but under new contracts with the new manager.

Accor appears to have been keen to leave the smaller New Zealand properties as it changes the position of its four-star Mercure brand.

A statement issued by the company said Accor had been working with CP Group "to find the right solution for these small properties moving forward as the Mercure brand globally repositions with a new visual identity and focuses on a modernised guest experience".