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Tuesday, February 2, 2016

It’s all ‘Monkey Business’ at AccorHotels this Chinese New Year




Over 50 AccorHotels host festivities to celebrate Chinese lunar New Year

With visitor arrivals from China growing at an exponential rate, 'Year of the Monkey' will be grandly celebrated at over 50 AccorHotels across the country from 8 February.

The two week festival will see AccorHotels, from ibis to Sofitel, decorated with tea stations, red lanterns, monkey paraphernalia and floral displays. Many hotel teams will dress in traditional costume and give out red envelopes with gold coins and various properties will host events for guests such as dragon dances and kids' activities.

AccorHotels Chinese New Year celebrations are an extension of the Optimum Service Standards program which enable hotels to better cater for the growing Chinese inbound travel market.

Chief Operating Officer Accor Pacific, Simon McGrath, said: "AccorHotels is dedicated to making sure Chinese visitors feel welcome and their specific needs are met at all of our hotels. As part of this commitment, 51 of our hotels, the latest being Mercure Kangaroo Island, are accredited to our Chinese Optimum Service Standards program."

Guests staying at Novotel Sydney Central will have the option to enjoy a Chinese themed breakfast buffet with red bean and coconut tapioca, lychees and congee condiments, while dinner guests will be treated to a complimentary lychee dessert. Kids will be kept entertained with monkey themed colouring in and traditional mask art activities.

Closer to the official festivities and Chinese Garden of Friendship in Darling Harbour, Novotel Sydney on Darling Harbour and ibis Darling Harbour will host live cooking demonstrations to showcase traditional Chinese fare and dumplings at their Asian Wok Kitchen in The Ternary. A special Chinese themed beer and cocktail will also be available for the month of February at the Ternary bar.

Further north, Novotel Cairns Oasis Resort will be hosting a sumptuous dinner buffet featuring authentic Chinese cuisine from the many iconic provinces of mainland China, with special guest appearances by the Cadcai lion dancers and fire crackers.

Pullman Cairns International will be monkeying around with a large edible chocolate monkey on display as well as introducing an exclusive Chinese themed 'tea room' lounge for guests to relax in before they check-in or check-out.

Many hotels, such as ibis Styles Canberra, will create welcome signage in Mandarin with greeting gifts including candy trays, Chinese red envelopes with chocolate coins, fortune cookies, as well as complimentary teas at Sofitel Brisbane Central, Mercure Gold Coast Resort, Pullman Sydney Hyde Park, Novotel Sydney Brighton Beach and Mercure Melbourne Treasury Gardens.

Simon continued: "Pleasingly the trend of strong inbound growth from Greater China continues, now surpassing one million visitors, and as a result we have seen a healthy increase in room nights, up by 12.9 per cent for year ending Dec 2015, versus 2014. One in eight Chinese travellers stay with us an average of 3.5 nights and that is across both major cities and regional areas."

"We are dedicated to continually expanding our services for Chinese travellers and on top of our recent partnership with China Ready and Accredited to help facilitate additional staff training, we are set to re-launch our program in the coming months."

The Optimum Service Standards program includes training for AccorHotels staff in cultural differences, Mandarin speaking staff, translated welcome kits, Chinese dishes included on menus and mini-bar products, Chinese location maps, newspapers and television channels. UnionPay is also accepted at 27 AccorHotels to enable guests to conveniently settle their room account with their domestic debit banking card.

For more information about AccorHotels Chinese Optimum Service Standards and special offers visit www.accorhotels.com

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The Expeditionist

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