In case you were not watching, Europe’s biggest hotel brand is not Hilton, nor is it Best Western even. Ibis has now become Europe’s top hotel brand with 1,277 hotels and 121,882 rooms spread out across the continent. Surprised, huh? Okay, Ibis is owned by Accor, so I fooled you a bit. Still, the sigh you’ll see most travel about will say Ibis.
Georges Panayotis, CEO of MKG Group, offered this comment on the big brand news:
“This represent a major move in the rankings, as it positions owning group Accor – already the number one hotel group in Europe – as also having the leading brand in the market with Ibis.”
Ibis has the most rooms in Europe now, actually quite a few more than the next competitor. With these numbers, American brand Best Western is now shoved down to second place with around 91,000 rooms. Hilton, in case you wondered, is in 8th place with just over 43,000 rooms Europe wide. Both Novotel and Hilton actually lost rooms this year compared with last.
As for innovative hospitality, it seems pretty clear too Ibis and Accor are not inhibited about breaking new ground brand recognition wise either, as the video below shows.
