ACCOR North America’s Ambassador Program Announces First Graduate
Program Assists Minorities with Franchising in Lodging Hospitality Industry
CARROLLTON, Texas | Accor North America (Accor NA), one of the largest hotel chain owners and operators in North America, is pleased to announce James C. Manning, CEO of Kingdom Realty Holdings, LLC as its first franchisee to successfully utilize the Accor Ambassador Program. Accor NA created the Ambassador Program as part of its ongoing commitment to recruit minorities and individuals new to franchising in the lodging hospitality segment.
“Throughout the years, we have seen many potential minority franchise deals fall through simply because the lending institutions would not provide loans to potential applicants due to their inexperience in the industry,” said Dean Savas, senior vice president of Franchise with Accor North America. “To remedy this, Accor NA decided to think outside the box and came up with a creative solution—the Ambassador Program.”
The Accor Ambassador Program places corporate managers at new franchisees’ properties for up to five years where they will manage the property for the franchisee. This partnership allows the new franchisee the opportunity to be trained by a seasoned professional and ultimately provides the franchisee with years of experience that are necessary to make lenders more comfortable when providing loans.
“We thought the Ambassador Program was interesting because it gives organizations and people like ourselves, who do not have industry experience, an opportunity to partner with a powerful hotel company,” said James C. Manning, CEO of Kingdom Realty Holdings, LLC which will build a Motel 6 in Spring Lake, NC. “Accor’s ability to help manage our property and train us really drew us to the deal.”
Accor NA is involved in the planning process with the new franchisees from the very beginning. As part of the Ambassador Program, an Accor NA franchise executive will assist in finding a local developer and together, the developer, Accor and the franchisee search for the best location. The franchisee also has the opportunity to visit Accor NA’s corporate headquarters for a “Discovery Day” where Accor executives educate them on Accor, its brands, training programs and the Ambassador Program.
After the franchisee signs the Accor franchise agreement, a corporate manager is assigned to manage the property. During the initial years of the contract, franchising fees are reduced to enable the franchisee to pay the corporate manager’s salary. At any time after two years, the franchisee can elect to take over the management of the property.
“We plan to use Accor’s corporate manager for as long as needed,” said Manning. “We will try to learn as fast as we can, but we are not going to draw any illusions that we will be able to learn everything in one or even two years. We are relying on ourselves to create success, and maximize this wonderful opportunity to learn from the best to assist us. We strongly encourage other minorities to take advantage of this opportunity.”
The partnership with Accor NA and Kingdom Realty Holdings, LLC began when Manning informed Everett Wallace, President of North Carolina Community Development Initiative Capital and former chairman of the International Franchise Association’s Minorities in Franchising Committee, of his plans to build a state-of-the-art day care center. Wallace viewed the site with Manning, but thought the land had much greater potential. A few weeks later, Wallace invited Accor NA executives to meet Manning and inform him about the Ambassador program.
“When an opportunity knocks at your door unexpectedly, you have to take it seriously,” said Manning. “This was a great opportunity that I never thought was possible. Accor not only knocked on my door, but they allowed me to open the door.”
Kingdom Realty Holdings, LLC new property will be a new-build Motel 6 located in Spring Lake, NC, servicing the lodging needs of Fort Bragg and Pope Air Force Base. The property will feature Motel 6’s new prototype in a 90-room unit, including 60 regular rooms and 30 extended-stay rooms. The property is scheduled to break ground in the first quarter of 2007 and open in the first quarter of 2008.
Accor NA is dedicated to helping further the involvement of minority owners in the hospitality industry. For more information on the Ambassador Program, or if you are interested in franchising with Accor, please contact Dean Savas at 972-360-2547.
About Accor North America | Headquartered in Carrollton, Texas, Accor North America is a division of Accor and operates more than 1,200 upscale and economy properties including nationwide economy leaders Red Roof Inns, Motel 6 and Studio 6 and the upscale Sofitel and mid-scale Novotel and Ibis hotel locations in the U.S, Canada and Mexico.
- hotels: over 4,000 hotels (over 466,000 rooms) in 92 countries, casinos, travel agencies, and restaurants;
- services to corporate clients and public institutions: 19 million people in 34 countries use a broad range of services (food vouchers, people care and services, incentive, loyalty programs, events) engineered and managed by Accor.
About Kingdom Realty Holdings, Inc. | Kingdom Realty Holdings is the for-profit company that fuels funds for Kingdom Community Development. Kingdom Community Development is a non-profit organization that is dedicated to revitalizing communities by providing affordable housing, debt management, credit counseling, employment training, community development and more. Kingdom Realty Holdings plans to use its partnership with Accor as an avenue to continue revitalizing communities.
