PARIS—AccorHotels has revealed plans to revitalize the hotelF1 brand in France. The group is announcing the sale of a portfolio of 62 hotels made up of seven fully owned hotels and 55 hotels leased from the company Silverstone to SNI Group (Société Nationale Immobilière – Caisse des dépôts et consignations Group).
Following this transaction, AccorHotels plans to become the majority shareholder of the structure holding the remaining 102 hotelF1 assets. This transaction would be carried out via a share capital increase of €51 million. This asset restructuring will finance a relaunch plan for the brand, including a refurbishment program spread over three years.
“When it was created in 1985, hotelF1 was a pioneering concept in the budget segment. For the past 30 years, the brand has successfully built a strong reputation based on its accommodation concept,” said Sophie Etchandy-Stabile, CEO of Hotel Services, France & Switzerland. “Today, we seek to capitalize on this reputation to launch a large-scale plan. The purpose of our plan is to rethink our accommodation service while retaining hotelF1’s original DNA, in order to offer a wider customer base a low cost and designer experience consistent with new patterns of traveling.”
This new offer will be based on flexibility: shared rooms sleeping up to six with per bed pricing, duo, trio and premium rooms and the latter to be outfitted with a bathroom, according to the brand.