MGallery is not "by Sofitel" anymore
 

Not that anybody would care at this point - but you can check out their new website:

https://mgallery.accorhotels.com/uni...index.en.shtml

I got an email inviting me to visit it today and, lo and behold, all mentions of "by Sofitel" are gone and the "By Sofitel" script was replaced by "Hotel Collection" in the logo / wordmark. The operators who just managed to change all the supplies to display the "By Sofitel" logo must be overjoyed!

I liked the brand, now not so sure. Let's hope it is just "marketing".

I've had great stays in Mgallery and like their concept. I understand that "by Sofitel" was maybe a way to add some more value to the brand, but it could be misleading, IMO. Let's hope these changes don't reflect on the quality.

One thing that bugs me is how, in theory, each property offers an "exclusive" "local" experience. This has never been mentioned to me during my stays and I just found out about them by reading the catalog in my room. This left me with the impression that it is no more than a marketing demand from corporate that hotels don't really care about (in Venice, for example, the experience was an even more overpriced gondola ride - not really something exclusive...).

The brand used to just be "MGallery" before they tacked the "by Sofitel" onto the end of it a few years ago.

Can anyone shed light on the reason they added the "by Sofitel" on to it, and perhaps why it is now being removed? Was there issues with the brand that required the expertise of Sofitel management to fix?

I don't know but surely the Sofitel management could have been assigned to help with any quality issues without having to add the 'by Sofitel' to consumer communications / branding.

The likely explanation is that Accor wanted to upgrade the quality perception of MGallery by adding the Sofitel connotation but this is just a guess.

You just cannot make this up. :eek: They have now gone full circle with MGallery. Initially created to group hotels that were not up to Sofitel standards but were better than a Mercure (hence the M), later more design elements were added and the brand was nudged towards luxury (hence the "by Sofitel") when some (but by no means all) properties were renovated. And now we are back to MGallery (Hotel collection, whatever that means).

This just epitomises the confusion and lack of any brand standards Accor have. Soon we will have the "House of Originals" brand too. How is this different from the "MGallery Hotel Collection"? What on earth are they smoking?

Sofitel by Mama Shelter.