PARIS—As part of Accor’s new business model announced in October, the company is repositioning its Sofitel brand to stand for luxury, while simultaneously launching two sub-brands (Sofitel Legend and So by Sofitel) and a sister brand (Pullman Hotels and Resorts), all with the goal of increasing average room rates and meeting more fragmented demand from a growing international clientele.

The four brands will make up a separate business unit within the Accor Group, which will be led by CEO Yann Caillère and COO Robert Gaymer-Jones.

Accor hopes to leverage the “know-how and French-touch elegance” of Sofitel to take the brand upmarket, ambitiously aiming to elevate it into the premium end of the global luxury hotel segment by 2010.

“France is renowned the world over for its leadership in luxury,” Caillère says. “We plan to capitalize on this unique expertise and tradition, setting us apart from other international players, and firmly establish Sofitel’s leadership in luxury hotels.”

The brand already is working to redefine itself, focusing specifically on implementing new luxury service standards through significant investment in staff training.

“We looked at every single moment of the customer experience within the hotel and challenged every customer contact, trying to move toward the luxury experience,” says Pascal Klein, senior vice president of marketing for Sofitel worldwide. “We revisited and rewrote all service standards for the brand.”

Implementation of the new standards will be a yearlong process, which already has begun with educating general managers and department heads via conventions and regional roadshows. Eventually, at least one dedicated manager at each property will oversee the rollout of the service standards, with the assistance of an online tool.

Meanwhile, the Sofitel network is getting “completely reviewed through a robust program to reshape our current network and to upgrade each of our hotels through extensive renovation and refurbishment,” Caillere says.

“We had a network which was quite inconsistent in terms of experience,” Klein explains, “so we didn’t have the same kind of customers from one hotel to another.” The brand is striving to achieve consistency by removing certain properties based on their conditions or locations while simultaneously upgrading others to a level consistent with the brand’s new luxury image. The idea is to bring average rates at Sofitel properties from €111 to €172 on a worldwide basis by 2010.

To help solidify Sofitel’s new identity, the brand has a new logo (the link, meant to illustrate that human relations are at the heart of luxury), and a new advertising campaign is set to launch in June around the brand’s new credo, “Life is magnifique.” Overall, Accor has earmarked some €35 million for marketing the new Sofitel and its sub- and sister-brands (look for a revamped Sofitel Web site, plus new marketing collateral in all the hotels).

Speaking of sub- and sister brands, Accor currently is rolling out the new upscale Pullman Hotels & Resorts chain, named for the sleeper cars of railroading’s Golden Age. Targeted at business travelers and the MICE market, some 35 Pullman properties are being culled from today’s Sofitel portfolio—specifically European hotels in areas often hosting conventions or frequented by businesspeople. Look for 50 Pullman hotels worldwide by year end, mostly near airports or business districts. In the longer term, expect sustained fast growth of the brand, especially in China.

Klein calls Pullman “the entry door of the upscale market,” with expected average rates of €130, and notes a key difference between it and Sofitel: “Sofitel clearly has a value strategy; Pullman has more of a volume strategy,” he says.

Sofitel Legend and So by Sofitel, meanwhile, are more sub-brands than sister brands, as they are designed to play in the same luxury space as Sofitel, with subtle differences.

Sofitel Legend properties, unique hotels marked by their significant local histories, may target a stronger leisure component, depending on the market. Following the upcoming mid-year launch of the Legend collection, look for it to comprise the treasures of existing Sofitel properties, from the Grand in Amsterdam to the Hua Hin resort in Thailand and the Metropol in Hanoi, which will be the first to carry the Legend moniker. In all, seven properties are expected to become Sofitel Legend hotels over the next two years.

So by Sofitel, expected to launch in Paris in 2009, will target “early adopters—those people looking for something different and very urban,” Klein says. The brand is Accor’s take on a boutique, with properties ranging from 80 to 200 rooms and featuring signature stamps from renowned designers or artists, as well as a focus on trendy bars. The objective is to build the sub-brand up to 15 to 20 properties in the near term.

As for rates, look for Sofitel and its sub-brands to reflect their luxury positioning with room prices moving forward. In a primary market such as Paris, Sofitel will target an average daily rate of €400, Klein says, while So by Sofitel may look for an ADR of €450 to €500 and Sofitel Legend is expected to command an ADR closer to €750.

The biggest obstacle these brands face on the road to achieving their goals is “the human challenge,” Klein says. “People matter most in everything we do. And quality—we have to get the right quality. We are very ambitious, aiming at being recognized as a luxury brand. That is built through casting the right people, and taking the time to train them.”

He says Accor will first focus on getting Sofitel right, “and the [sub-brands] will come quite easily afterward.”

Direct comments to: derek.gale@reedbusiness.com

The new Sofitel Wanda Beijing, the flagship of the brand in Asia, is an example of the new luxury look and feel of Sofitel.

VIC, short for Voyage of International Cuisine, is one of six dining venues at the Sofitel Wanda Beijing.

Sofitel’s new logo is a link, meant to symbolize connecting worlds, countries and people, illustrating the idea that human relations are at the heart of luxury.