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Accor announced the further expansion of its hotel network in India, with 48 committed hotel (9980 rooms) developments. The hotels are a mix of Accor hotel brands – Sofitel, Pullman, Novotel, Ibis, Mercure and Formule 1. Accor will also manage three convention centres in India. Commenting on the results to date and the prospects of Accor’s development and growth in India, Michael Issenberg – Accor Asia Pacific Chairman and Chief Operating Officer said “India is a land of promise for Accor. Almost five years ago we made a commitment to launch and grow our business in India to include Accor’s core brands, and to have 50 hotels open in India by 2012. We are well on our way to achieving this ambition. Our commitment to India is strong and we will continue to focus on aggressively building both the size and spread of our network, across India over the next few years.”
Sofitel, Accor’s luxury brand, will have 3 hotels with 711 rooms in Mumbai, including the flagship Sofitel Mumbai currently under construction at the International Finance and Business District – Bandra Kurla Complex, the Sofitel at Nirmal Lifestyles in Mulund, and the 193 room SO boutique hotel also at Nirmal Lifestyles at Mulund.
Accor has also launched its new upscale brand Pullman, in India, with two committed projects – the 284 room Pullman Central Park Gurgaon and the 250 room Pullman Lavasa, both scheduled to open in 2010. The first Pullman hotel globally opened in Bangkok in late 2008 and there are already 11 Pullman hotels throughout Asia Pacific and 36 hotels globally. The brand is on target for 100 Pullman hotels and resorts throughout Asia Pacific by 2015.
Novotel, Accor’s well known business class hotel brand, has 15 hotels committed with close to 4,000 rooms, covering all key gateways and metropolitan cities in India, including New Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Chennai, Kolkata, Pune and Hyderabad. The Novotel brand in India will also feature resorts, with the first two Novotel Resorts at Goa and at Lavasa – India’s first purpose built hill town.
Mercure, Accor’s mid-scale brand, plans a major push into Tier II cities across India, in addition to a key presence in the metropolitan cities. The brand will open its first hotel in Bangalore this month – the Mercure Bangalore Homestead Residences, and has committed another 4 projects in Mumbai and Lavasa. Ibis, Accor’s highly-successful international economy brand, that now has over 800 hotels in 40 countries, has 14 projects committed across 10 destinations in India, totaling over 2700 rooms. Ibis in India is being developed in joint-venture between travel industry conglomerate InterGlobe Enterprises and Accor. Ibis will have a presence in all key metropolitan cities in India, including Mumbai, the NCR, Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad, Pune and Ahmedabad, and is now gradually moving into Tier II markets such as Jaipur and Nashik.
Formule 1, Accor’s budget brand has 4 sites committed, with 425 rooms, and has several sites under negotiation in locations such as Hyderabad, Kochi, Bangalore and Kolkata. Accor will also be the leading operator of Convention Centres in India. It already operates the Hyderabad International Convention Centre, which recently was awarded the National Tourism Award for the best convention venue in India, for the second consecutive year. Other convention centres committed are the Lavasa Lakes Convention & Events Centre at Lavasa and the Convention Centre at Nirmal Lifestyles, Mulund, and Mumbai.
Accor is opening 3 hotels with 522 rooms across the country in 2009 including the Ibis Pune, the Novotel Mumbai Juhu Beach and the very first Mercure for India in Bangalore. Accor already operates 3 hotels in India with 809 rooms – the Ibis Gurgaon, the Novotel Hyderabad Airport and the Novotel Hyderabad. Accor, together with its joint venture partners, has opened a corporate office in Gurgaon to support its rapidly developing network. This management organisation already has over 80 personnel in the key disciplines of Development, Technical Services, Construction, Finance, Operations, Marketing and Sales, Distribution and Human Resources. Accor also plans to launch its training university, Accor Academie, in the near future to develop human resources to support this expansion. Accor remains on track to achieve our aggressive development ambitions for India.
Theodore is the Co-Founder and Managing Editor of TravelDailyNews Media Network; his responsibilities include business development and planning for TravelDailyNews long-term opportunities.
