 | |
| Company type | Subsidiary |
|---|---|
| Industry | Luxury hotels |
| Founded | 2007 (2007) |
| Headquarters | Paris, France |
| Number of locations | 145 |
| Area served | Worldwide |
| Parent | Accor |
| Website | pullman |
Pullman Hotels and Resorts is a French multinational upscale hotel brand owned by Accor. Pullman has 145 hotels and resorts in 42 countries spread across Africa, the Americas, Asia, Europe, the Middle-East and Oceania.
History
Railroad origins
The name Pullman was indirectly inspired by George Pullman (1831–1897), founder of the Pullman Company, a prosperous 19th-century, Chicago-based railroad manufacturer. The Pullman Company was famous for launching the first sleeping trains in the United States and developing upscale services for railroad travelers. Belgian Georges Nagelmackers (1845–1905) traveled to the United States in 1867-1868 and came back with the plan to build the equivalent of the Pullman Company in Europe, the Compagnie Internationale des Wagons-Lits (CIWL).
The fast-growing railroad networks led the rail industry to invest in the construction and management of hotels alongside railroad tracks. In 1894, the CIWL created the Compagnie Internationale des Grands Hotels to manage its growing collection of hotels worldwide, which included the Hôtel Terminus in Bordeaux and Marseille, the Pera Palace Hotel in Istanbul, the Hôtel de la Plage in Ostend, and the Grand Hôtel des Wagons-Lits in Beijing. 30 years later, the CIWL introduced the Pullman wagons in Europe, which were designed for upscale leisure traveling. The Pullman brand became so popular that CIWL's top hotels were turned into Pullman Hotels.
15-year hiatus, 2007 revival
In June 1990, the AccorHotels group bought a minority stake in CIWL. After fully acquiring CIWL in 1991, AccorHotels turned all Pullman Hotels into Sofitel Hotels in 1993, thus taking the Pullman brand off the market.
In 2007, AccorHotels revived the upscale Pullman hotel brand to cater to business travelers.
The 24-storey Pullman Dubai Mall of the Emirates (MoE) Hotel, the first of Pullman's properties in the Middle East, opened in 2010. Its fourth property in the region, the Pullman Dubai Jumeirah Lakes Towers, opened in 2015. In 2012, Pullman Hotels announced 12 openings in Indonesia within 5 years, opened its first property in the UK (the Pullman London St Pancras) and in Vietnam, and China became its biggest market. By 2013, Pullman had opened 79 properties, half of those located in the Asia-Pacific region.
Development since 2013
In 2013, Pullman Hotels adopted a new visual identity. Pullman hotels adopted new staff uniforms, a new kitchen concept, newly designed interiors, and up-to-date technology upgrades. Accor also announced the plan to reach 150 Pullman Hotels and Resorts by 2020.
In 2014, the AccorHotels group announced its intent to double its Asia-Pacific portfolio with the opening of 47 new Pullman hotels in the region, 38 of those in China. That same year, the 338-room Pullman Shanghai South opened, making it the 15th Pullman property in China, and the 45th in Asia-Pacific. In 2015, the Sofitel Miami Airport was turned into a Pullman hotel, the first Pullman property in North America. By the end of 2015, 95 Pullman locations were opened. The first property of Pullman in Japan, the Pullman Tokyo Tamachi, opened in 2018.
In 2017, Pullman launched the Artist Playground program in Brussels, where every Pullman hotel independently looks for local talents to exhibit their art. The hotel managers and the art magazine Wallpaper took part in the curation process.
See also
References
- "All Pullman hotels". Accor. Retrieved 14 December 2021.
- Jacques Neher (24 July 1990). "Accor Is Gambling on U.S. Motels". Nytimes.com. Retrieved 30 September 2017.
- Dirk Morschett; Hanna Schramm-Klein; Joachim Zentes (2011). Strategic International Management: Text and Cases. Springer Science & Business Media. ISBN 9783834983329.
- "2007". Accorhotels-group.com. Retrieved 2017-08-03.
- Aya Lowe (September 2010). "Accor unveils region's first Pullman hotel in Dubai". Gulfnews.com. Retrieved 30 September 2017.
- "New Hotel Opening: Pullman Dubai Jumeirah Lakes Towers Opens Doors". Zawya.com. 20 January 2015. Retrieved 30 September 2017.
- "Accor to open 12 Pullman hotels in 5 years". Thejakartapost.com. 20 January 2012. Retrieved 30 September 2017.
- "Accor opens first Pullman Hotel in the UK at London St Pancras". Hospitalitynet.org. 14 September 2012. Retrieved 30 September 2017.
- "Accor continues expansion in Asia Pacific with the Debut of Pullman in Vietnam". Traveldailynews.asia. 5 December 2012. Retrieved 30 September 2017.
- "China becomes Pullman's number-one market worldwide with the opening of its 14th hotel". Hospitalitynet.org. 3 September 2012. Retrieved 30 September 2017.
- ^ "Accor Unveils Global Repositioning Strategy For Pullman Hotels & Resorts". Hospitalitynet.org. 28 May 2013. Retrieved 30 September 2017.
- Peter Ruddick (29 May 2013). "Accor targets 150 Pullman Hotels & Resorts by 2020 following global repositioning". Bighospitality.co.uk. Retrieved 30 September 2017.
- "Pullman to open 47 hotels in Asia Pacific by 2018". Businesstraveller.com. 20 March 2014. Retrieved 30 September 2017.
- "Accor Group : Pullman announces the opening of the Pullman Shanghai South". Tourmag.com. 10 March 2014. Retrieved 30 September 2017.
- "AccorHotels Introduces Pullman Miami Airport, North America's First Pullman Address". Hotel-online.com. 6 November 2015. Retrieved 30 September 2017.
- "Pullman unveils its first hotel in Japan". Globalexpatrecruiting.com. 13 June 2017. Retrieved 30 September 2017.
- "Art at play: Pullman Hotels announces its Artist Playground initiative". Wallpaper.com. 7 December 2016. Retrieved 30 September 2017.
External links
Media related to Pullman hotels at Wikimedia Commons
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