ACCOR TURNS DAYDREAM INTO REALITY WITH 100TH AUSTRALIAN HOTEL

Renowned Whitsunday Islands resort to be relaunched as Novotel Daydream Island Resort after $25 million upgrade 2 October 2000: Australia's - and the world's largest hotel operator - Accor has signed an agreement to add one of the Whitsunday's most established and renowned resorts - Daydream Island - to its network.

The resort will be Accor's 100th hotel in Australia, the first hotel company to reach the landmark, and coincides with a visit to Australia by Accor co-founder, Gerard Pelisson.

The agreement was signed today between Accor and Daydream Island owner, Vaughan Bullivant, and will see the hotel relaunched as Novotel Daydream Island Resort in early 2001.

Daydream Island is located 15 minutes off the coast from Airlie Beach, or 45 minutes by launch from Hamilton Island. The resort has 300 rooms and suites, a range of restaurants, resort shops, swimming pools, kids club, a wide selection of free sporting and leisure activities, a watersports centre and conference facilities for up to 240.

Bullivant, who purchased Daydream Island earlier this year, is confident that with a $25 million upgrade set to commence, the resort will become one of the Whitsundays' most popular holiday destinations when it is relaunched next year.

The upgrade complements the $130 million spent in the early 1990s on the resort.

The refurbishment is being undertaken by DBI, which has designed some of the world's best known resorts, including the two Mirage resorts in Port Douglas and the Gold Coast, the new Palazzo Versace resort on the Gold Coast, the Princeville in Hawaii and the Spring City Resort in Kumming, China. They have previously worked with Accor on the Oasis Resort in Cairns.

All rooms, restaurants, leisure facilities, kids club and conference rooms will receive a fresh new look in the upgrade, while Bullivant is aiming to increase the range of guest facilities with the addition of balconies on the majority of rooms, an extra swimming pool, oceanfront restaurant, and a 'wellness' centre.

For Bullivant, the 'rebirth' of Daydream Island has been a long-held passion. He first saw the island 35 years ago, when he was employed as a water-ski instructor. In those days, accommodation for guests was basic, and for staff it was almost primitive, with no glass in the windows and sacking used as blinds.

"It was always easy to see the potential of Daydream, despite the early conditions," said Bullivant. "I intend the island to be re-born as a stylish, attractive resort that makes the most of its stunning destination.

With Accor as managers, we want to be able to offer our guests the ultimate in quality and service, with customer-satisfaction and staff-motivation key aspects of the new operation.

"As an entrepreneur, I am very excited about the challenge. The designs of DBI are outstanding and will complement the natural beauty of the island. Daydream is such a compact, lush and tropical island and its low-rise design truly respects the environment. It also has the advantage of being traffic-free, and having its own rainforest and reefs, which gives the resort a remarkable range of attractions at a true value for money rate. With these natural assets and the support of Accor we are confident that the new Daydream Island will become a destination where people will want to holiday time after time...always with a smile on their face."

Accor Asia Pacific Chairman, David Baffsky, said it was fitting that Accor should reach this 100 hotels milestone in Australia, while the co-founder of Accor, Gerard Pelisson was in the country.

"Accor in Australia has grown from 1 hotel in 1991 to 100 just nine years later," said Mr Baffsky. "It reflects the vision of Gerard Pelisson and his co-founder Paul Dubrule in making expansion in the Asia Pacific region one of the priorities in Accor's global development strategy, a strategy which is continued today by Chairman, Jean-Marc Espalioux.

"In such a short time, we have launched five hotel brands, all highly successfully, spanning the market from 5-star to budget and resort to city hotels.

"Our success is because we can offer hotels such as Daydream Island the support of the most effective hotel and tourism network in the world. With the increasing importance of technology in bookings, Daydream Island will gain access to a worldwide distribution channel that has no equal. We will be able to direct business to the hotel via our loyalty and frequency programmes, our internet presence and our vast national and international sales force."

Accor's Managing Director for Australia, New Zealand, the South Pacific and Japan, Michael Issenberg, said that Daydream would join a worldwide network of over 140 Accor resorts, including such prime destinations as Tahiti, the Caribbean, Cairns and the Sunshine Coast in Queensland, Bali and Lombok in Indonesia, Phuket in Thailand, and the famed El Questro Resort in Western Australia's Kimberley district.

"Accor has its own resort 'label' called Coralia, which will be added to the hotel," said Issenberg. "Coralia is designed to provide guests with a unique resort experience that incorporates the destination as much as possible into the resort's ambience and activities.

"Also, the resort will have access to a large pool of highly-trained staff, which is a major challenge for hotels in north Queensland, and especially the islands. Accor is establishing its training academies in a number of States in Australia, and these academies will train staff to meet the demands of all types of hotels and conditions, and will help raise the standards of the overall hospitality industry in Australia."