Accor Building Up Hotel Inventory In India

European hotel company Accor yesterday detailed plans to increase its presence in India tenfold over the next three years.

Accor plans to grow its current portfolio of five hotels through new construction in India to 50 hotels, totaling 10,400 rooms, by 2012, the company said. This includes a new Ibis hotel in Pune later this year, seven new hotels in 2010, 18 new hotels in 2011 and 19 in 2012, according to Accor.

"India is one of the world's most dynamic economies and a country that offers significant prospects for the development of hotels," Accor Asia Pacific chairman and CEO Michael Issenberg said in a statement. "Accor has developed an expansion strategy, created relevant joint ventures and investment commitments to ensure that Accor will be the leading international hotel operator in India by 2012."

Hotel development will focus largely on the economy and midprice tiers but also an expansion in the upscale tier, according to Issenberg.

In addition to the Ibis property this year, Accor plans to add Ibis hotels in Gurgaon, Mumbai and Pune in 2010 and seven more by the end of 2011. Uttam Dave, Accor's head of development for hotels in India, said acquisition of the sites for those projects is ahead of schedule.

The midprice Novotel brand currently operates three hotels in India, and Accor plans to open 13 additional Novotel properties in the coming years. The company also will be bringing its upscale Sofitel to Mumbai and Muland and its luxury Pullman brand to Gurgaon and Lavasa as part of the expansion.