Accor-Ambassador Hotels reaffirm its position as leading hotel management group in South Korea with the celebration of 25 years of fruitful partnership between the French hotel group Accor and Korea’s global hotel management company Ambassador Group. 

Speaking on this milestone, Chairman Suh Jung-ho of Ambassador Hotel Group , says, “I am very pleased with this dual milestone for Accor-Ambassador Hotels, which reaffirm our position as the leading operator of hotels in fast-growing Korean hotel industry and secures our growth ambition for the country. Since the first partnership through a joint investment contract between these two companies in 1987, it has been and remains a pioneer of Korean hotels introducing and building strong presence of the key brands of Accor such as Sofitel, Novotel, Ibis and Pullman, to Korea. We are now running 3,119 rooms in 11 properties in 5 key cities across the country.” 

Ambassador Group was founded by Chairman Suh’s father when he opened a western style hotel with 19 rooms in 1955. The second-story hotel has now become the 19-story 5-star hotel ‘Grand Ambassador’ and the company has been growing steadily since its strategic partnership with a world-class hotel franchise group Accor, which provided the group with international business capacity. It now runs ‘Novotel Ambassador Gangnam’, ‘Novotel Ambassador Doksan’, ‘Ibis Ambassador Seoul’ and ‘Ibis Ambassador Myungdong’ in the capital of Korea and more in other key cities like Busan, Suwon and Changwon. 

Ambassador refused to remain complacent with its past success, and wrote a new page in the history of the Korean hotel industry by jointly establishing a Korean hotel management company AAK(Accor-Ambassador Korea Co., Ltd) in 2006 with Accor, which is the first of its kind in the Korean hotel industry. This partnership enabled AAK to lead the Korean hotel business with Ambassador’s local business knowledge and network combined with Accor’s world class hotel management skills and strong brand equity.  

“South Korea today is one of Accor’s strongest areas of focus, as is proved by impressive growth rate and strong profitability of our hotels in the country,” says Michael Issenberg, Chief Opreating Officer Accor Asia Pacific. “Despite the huge business opportunities and country’s strong economy, Korea has still remained a challenging place for many foreign hotel companies to operate because of the country’s strong culture and unique business environment. It was an excellence choice for us to partner with Ambassador Group to enter the Korean market 25 years ago as the value of its experience and know-how on the Korean hotel industry is immeasurable.”

In 2012, AAK network is currently running 11 hotels of Grand Ambassador, Novotel Ambassador, Ibis Ambassador and Pullman Ambassador and Mercure Ambassador offering 3,119 rooms to the market. AAK now has the most extensive brand portfolio of hotels operating in the country, providing the Group with a strategic advantage in this dynamic market. 

By the year 2016, it is expected to operate total 20 hotels in Korea with more new properties in additional strategic locations.