Accor expands UK and Ireland development team

Accor has announced the expansion of its UK and Ireland development team with the addition of two new appointments. 

Freddie Greenall and Georgina Liggins will now join the hotel brand as UK and Ireland development managers.

The new appointments follow a “period of growth” in the number of hotel signings and brands entering the UK market. Greenall and Liggins will now support the growth of Accor’s brands, with particular focus on development outside London.

Greenall joins Accor from real estate firm Avison Young. Prior to this, he was a senior consultant specialising in hotel feasibility studies, working on new build hotels across the UK. 

Liggins will join the brand from real estate group Savills, where she was an associate in the Savills Hotels Agency team. In her role, Liggins specialised in investment and transaction advisory, single asset and portfolio sales, and operating and branding solutions for hotel investments and developments across the UK. 

Philip Lassman, vice president of development, Accor Northern Europe, said: “Accor has a strong and growing portfolio of 13 brands in the UK and Ireland in addition to the three new brands already signed to open in the region.

“Freddie and Georgina will play a key role in growing Accor’s network across the regions, working on our diverse brand portfolio, whether that be Ibis Budget, Mercure or Fairmont.”

He added that 2020 would be an “exciting” year for the brand, that will look to add more owners and brands to its network as it expands across the UK and Ireland.

In 2019, Accor’s UK and Ireland development team signed 17 new hotels across multiple brands in a “wide variety” of locations, with almost 2,000 rooms joining the brand over the year.

The group also acquired two new brands, House of Originals and Mama Shelter, in 2019. By 2022, Tribe, Jo and Joe and Raffles will also be added to the group’s expanding portfolio.