First Internationally Branded Marlborough Hotel

MEDIA RELEASE

20 August 2007

First Internationally Branded Hotel for New Zealand's Prestigious Marlborough Wine Region

The Yacht Club Hotel Picton to be relaunched as Novotel Marlborough Sounds after major upgrade & expansion

Accor will help build the tourism profile of New Zealand's premier Marlborough wine region with its appointment to manage The Yacht Club Hotel Picton following the purchase of the waterfront hotel by the CP Group.

The Auckland-based CP Group owns several other Accor-managed hotels in Australia, New Zealand and Fiji.

The Yacht Club Hotel Picton will be re-launched as Novotel Marlborough Sounds in 2008 following a comprehensive guest room refurbishment and expansion programme. Development will begin on the existing building, which will be expanded from 31 rooms to 59 rooms by early next year. A new building will then be added, bringing the total number of rooms to 99 by the end of 2008. The hotel already offers excellent meeting and conference facilities, restaurant and bar.

The hotel will remain fully operational during the expansion program and prior to its Novotel re-brand next year, with renovation to be staged in such a way as to cause minimal disruption to guests.

The Novotel Marlborough will be Picton's first major internationally branded hotel, representing a significant boost to Picton's international tourism profile.

Accor's Vice President for New Zealand Paul Richardson says the addition of the Novotel in Picton would make a significant addition to Accor's national network.

"Picton is a picturesque and popular tourist destination, with many domestic and international tourists visiting each year, often as part of a wider New Zealand itinerary," said Mr Richardson. "By offering a hotel that is part of the internationally recognised and respected Novotel brand, we hope to encourage even greater international tourism to the region.

"We already offer Novotels in many of New Zealand's major tourist centres, including Auckland, Rotorua, Wellington and Queenstown, and the launch of Novotel Marlborough will help build on the great reputation the region has for its wines and natural scenery.

"Accor has a particularly strong presence in wine regions, being a major hotel operator in Australia's Barossa Valley, Swan Valley, Adelaide Hills, McLaren Vale, Margaret River, Hunter Valley and New Zealand's Central Otago Region, We also recently signed a contract to manage a Grand Mercure at the Waipara Wine Village in Canterbury. This experience in the burgeoning wine-tourism sector will be used to assist development of tourism to Picton and the Marlborough region."

Picton is a seaport at the head of Queen Charlotte Sound on the northern tip of the South Island. Picton is the major ferry port for travelers coming from Wellington at the base of the North island.

The hotel provides an excellent base to explore the Marlborough region, located approximately 1km from both the Ferry Terminal and Train Station, minutes from the local airport and in walking distance of the Picton business centre and foreshore. As the name suggests, the hotel is situated next to Picton Marina, allowing guests easy access to water activities and stunning scenery. Activities on offer in and around Picton include The Queen Charlotte Track, dolphin watching, yachting, fishing, kayaking, mountain biking and more.

The hotel is part of a network of 25 Accor hotels across New Zealand, with several more hotels due to join the network in the next year. Accor hotels can be found in Auckland, Coromandel Peninsula, Hamilton, Rotorua, Palmerston North, Wellington, Christchurch, Wanaka, Queenstown, and Dunedin.

Accor, the European leader in hotels and tourism, and a global leader in corporate services, operates in nearly 100 countries with 166,000 employees. It offers to its individual and corporate clients 40 years of expertise in its two core businesses:

• Hotels, with the Sofitel, Novotel, Mercure, Suitehotel, Ibis, All Seasons, Etap Hotel, Formule 1 and Motel 6 brands: 3,800 hotels and 450,000 rooms in 90 countries, as well as strategically related activities, such as Lenôtre;

• Services to corporate clients and public institutions: 23 million people in 35 countries benefit from Accor Services products – meal and food vouchers, people care, incentive and loyalty programs.

ENDS

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