Accor, one of the world's biggest hotel groups, isn't treating Asia as a single market — and that's the point. In a recent interview with Skift, Duncan O'Rourke, the company's chief executive for the Middle East, Africa and Asia Pacific, laid out how the French giant is chasing growth with a different strategy for each country that matters to it.

China is the boldest bet. Accor is working through a deep partnership with H World, one of China's largest hotel operators, with a goal of doubling its presence there to 1,600 hotels. Rather than going it alone, the group is plugging into an established local network to reach scale fast — including plenty of properties well beyond the big cities travellers usually think of.

India is the opposite approach. Accor is still hunting for the right partners to unlock growth in a market where hotel demand is rising but the right local alliances haven't fully clicked yet. Vietnam, meanwhile, has become a surprise bright spot: major domestic developers are driving a wave of new hotel signings, with Accor attaching its brands to projects led by well-funded local players.

Underpinning all of this are two quieter shifts: conversions (rebranding existing hotels rather than building new ones) and franchising, both of which let Accor grow without heavy capital investment. The numbers show where the momentum is — the group signed nearly 11,000 rooms across Asia last year, with around 70% of them in midscale and economy segments, and Asia Pacific now accounts for almost half of its global pipeline.

Why should travellers care? More signed rooms means more choice at the affordable end of the market. If most of Accor's new Asian hotels are midscale and economy, expect familiar international standards — reliable beds, clean rooms, loyalty points — spreading into secondary cities in China, India and Vietnam where options were previously limited to local independents. For anyone using points or status with Accor's ALL loyalty programme, the map of where you can redeem is quietly getting bigger.

It also signals confidence in Asian travel demand more broadly. When a group this size commits to doubling its Chinese hotel count and courts new Indian partnerships, it's a bet that both domestic and international travel across the region will keep growing — which usually translates into more competitive pricing and better quality as brands compete for guests.

For now, the practical takeaway is simple: if you're planning trips to China, Vietnam or India over the next few years, watch the mid-market hotel scene. The brands you know are about to show up in a lot more places. — Skift