Luxury hotel chain sets eyes on Turkey

Niki Gamm ISTANBUL - Hürriyet Daily News

Luxury hotels group Sofitel’s CEO Robert Gaymer Johns spoke to Daily News in Istanbul.

Luxurious hotel brand Sofitel is keen to develop a hotel in Turkey. “We are passionate about developing a Sofitel Legend or a Sofitel SO in Turkey, primarily in Istanbul and Bodrum,” Sofitel CEO Robert Gaymer Johns indicated to the Daily News. “We feel that the market is ready for our brands and I am sure they will be very successful in this beautiful country.”

Gaymer-Johns, who was in Turkey for CATHIC, the Central Asia and Turkey Investment Conference, last week at the Marmara Taksim Hotel added that it was “location, location, location” that Sofitel took into consideration when exploring the possibility of investing in a country, “plus relationships with partners that have an aligned vision of the Sofitel brand.”

The Sofitel CEO indicated that he saw Istanbul as “a world class city for both leisure and business. We feel that the fusion of culture adds to the dynamism of this beautiful country… I cannot think of a better place to take a vacation.”

For the past five years, he has had the responsibility of implementing the ambitious plan to reposition Sofitel, managed by French Accor, as a new global reference in international luxury hotels. Since its first property in 1964 in Strasbourg, Sofitel has opened more than 160 hotels worldwide.