Despite a challenging market environment, Accor's 16 hotels on the Arabian Peninsula posted a 20 percent increase in profit last year. To meet the growing demand from business and leisure travelers in the Middle East, the French group plans to open 10 more properties in the Middle East within three years.

"Now that we have consolidated our presence in Europe, it's time to expand our presence in other parts of the world," says Christophe Jeannest, Accor's Middle East regional manager. "In line with our commitment last year, we are well on track to increase the number of rooms operated by Accor on the Arabian Peninsula to 6,000 by the year 2005."

All those new hotels are going need people - to check in guests, serve the meals, market the property, clean the rooms, manage the staff and run the back office. And that's why the hotel and travel services company has set up a new training academy in Dubai to enhance its employees' professional skills.

Through an alliance with The Emirates Academy of Hospitality Management, Accor opened Academie Accor Arabian Peninsula in June, offering easy access to all countries in the Middle East. And in the first month of its operation, more than 300 people received the same excellent training programs offered at Academie Accor in Paris, Europe's first corporate university for the service sector.

Under the arrangement, short courses accredited and approved by Accor Academie are offered to existing and future Accor employees in the region. The 450 training programs include key Accor courses such as Bienvenue chez Accor, Training the Trainer, Head of Department: A Manager, Up-selling, Yield Management, Welcoming a Guest: a State of Mind and Exceeding Guests' Expectations.

The short professional enhancement courses are in addition to the four-year degree programs offered by the Emirates academy in international hospitality management and travel and tourism management. Opened in October 2001, it's the only academic institution in the region to offer such undergraduate programs with a focus on encouraging Gulf nationals to join.

Life and Culture

Throughout the world, the Accor group delivers its training through a network of centers that use local training resources - such as the Emirates Academy - to incorporate the realities of life and culture in their specific regions into the courses.

Accor, whose brands include Sofitel, Novotel, Mercure, Formule 1 and Motel 6, currently has about 3,000 rooms in the Middle East spread throughout Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Oman and the United Arab Emirates. That's a relatively minor percentage of the group's total portfolio of 423,000 rooms in more than 3,700 properties worldwide.

"This innovative partnership allows The Emirates Academy of Hospitality Management to fulfill its mission to actively participate in the education and training of the hospitality elite of tomorrow," Academie Accor Arabian Peninsula Manager Denis Sorin says.

Sorin says the Academie Accor Arabian Peninsula acts as the focus for Accor training in the Middle East, ensuring overall consistency content and its coherence with the Accor's unique culture. "And what makes this newly established Academie even more interesting is that some trainings are conducted in Arabic and Urdu," he says.

Accor says it selected the Emirates Academy, which is part of Jumeirah International hotel group, because of its partnership with Ecole hoteliere de Lausanne in Switzerland - one of the finest hospitality teaching institutions in the world - as well as its comprehensive and up to date facilities, and the international faculty who are specialists in hospitality and tourism education.

"Since the beginning, Accor hotel group has recognized the differing learning needs of its employees around the world," says Court Martin of the Academie Accor in France. "This time, the Academie Accor Arabian Peninsula will set a new benchmark in hospitality training in the Middle East."