Originally published on asia.businesstraveller.com 04/04/2009   RSS

The Mercure Sapporo will open its doors in Japan’s fifth largest city on June 1. The new property will become the first international-branded hotel in Sapporo in over a decade.

Boasting 285 hotel rooms including one suite, one reduced mobility room, and 182 non-smoking rooms, rates at the Mercure Sapporo will start from ¥15,700 (US$159) for a 21sqm standard queen room for two.

“This hotel is ideally located and priced for the today’s corporate travel budgets – but will also provide a terrific base for leisure travelers visiting Sapporo or commuting to nearby ski fields,” said Evan Lewis, the communication vice-president in charge of the Asia-Pacific Region for Accor.

Amenities such as complimentary internet access, satellite TV, business desk are provided in all rooms and the hotel is adjacent to a shopping mall.

Designed by a French interior specialist, Isabelle Miaja, the Mercure Sapporo aims to blend European style with a “Japanese accent”. The new hotel will be furnished with five meeting rooms that will provide modern facilities and services for events.

Mercure Sapporo has also incorporated a successful concept from Mercure Hotel Ginza (Tokyo) – providing “ladies rooms” that feature L’Occitane bathroom amenities, fashion magazines and body pillows that appeal to the ever-increasing number of female travellers who are travelling alone. Guests will be provided with hotel room cards that will only allow access to individual floors.

French-owned Accor’s Mercure brand is positioned as a mid-range hotel offering.  A Gallic flavour in Sapporo will be added by French restaurant, Bordeaux, providing the Grand Vins Mercure Wine List, offering a great variety of wines to go with the cuisine.

The kitchen’s staff will be trained and the menu designed by William Fragot, who is the head chef of the Michelin-starred restaurant Hostellerie du Chapeau Rouge in Dijon, France.

“This will no doubt result in a wonderful French dining experience at Restaurant Bordeaux,” said Lewis.

Novotel Sapporo, the first hotel opened in Sapporo by the Accor group, was re-launched on December 1, 2005 upon the completion of an extensive renovation.

For more details, visit www.mercure.com

Sandy Goh