
New Franchise Hotels to open in London, Scotland, Milton Keynes and Darlington (photo). Four British hotels are set to open their doors as part of the Mercure portfolio within the next four months, further expanding the growing Mercure hotel collection and increasing the brand’s footprint to 75 hotels in the UK.
Located in London, Scotland, Milton Keynes and Darlington, the latest franchise agreements will add 394 rooms to the Mercure network and will create over 120 jobs across the regions.Commenting on the expansion, Jonathan Sheard, Managing Director of Operations, MGallery and Mercure Hotels UK and Ireland said: “We are committed to significantly growing our Mercure hotel portfolio by 2015 and this will largely be driven through our growing franchise development in the UK. We are delighted to welcome these four new hotel partners, all of which are a natural fit for the Mercure brand".First to open is the Mercure Darlington Kings Hotel, which launched last week, followed closely by the Mercure London Greenwich Hotel and the Mercure Eddleston Barony Castle Hotel and Spa in Scotland later this month (October). The Mercure Milton Keynes Abbey Hill will launch in January 2013.Mercure is mid-scale hotel of Accor group, the first hotel operator worldwide, with over 3,500 hotels and 160,000 employees in 92 countries.