Accor held its annual Pacific Franchise Awards at the Pullman Sydney Hyde Park on 25 September. 

More than 80 franchise and corporate office staff from over 70 hotels across both Australia and New Zealand attended the event, which is now in its third year, to recognise and celebrate their high performing colleagues.

On the evening, host Larry Edmur and the general manager of franchise hotels, Dino Mezzatesta presented franchisees and their staff with a total of eight major awards.

Each award category aims to highlight the improvements, enhancements and developments of franchised properties that fall under the Accor umbrella, as well as individual successes.

For the second year running, Novotel Sydney Rooty Hill took out the major award of Accor Pacific Franchise of the Year, along with Novotel of the Year.

Chris Abel, the general manager at Mercure Centro in Port Macquarie was named General Manager of the Year.

The highly regarded award is presented to an individual that embraces Accor’s core values of innovation, respect, trust, spirit of conquest and performance.

Mercure Hunter Valley Gardens won the Franchise Loyalty title, which is awarded to the hotel that actively engages with the brand’s loyalty programs.

Ibis Styles Melbourne, The Victoria Hotel took out both the Franchise Customer Service award and the Ibis Styles Property of the Year award in the Ibis brand category.

Mercure Gladstone was recognised as the Mercure of the Year, meanwhile The Sebel Coolangatta took out the Grand Mercure and Sebel brand category.

The past 12 months have proven rather busy for Accor’s franchise arm, with the company opening a number of new sites.  

“Over the last year, Accor has welcomed six hotels to its portfolio including the new build Sebel Docklands, Mercure North Melbourne, Mercure Melbourne Therry Street, Mercure Port of Echuca, Ibis Styles Lansvale and Ibis Styles Orange,” said Mezzatesta.

“It has been a busy year for us and it’s wonderful to be able to come together on a night such as this and recognise the achievements of our franchise hotels.”