Accor, one of the biggest hospitality groups in the world, has announced plans to densify its portfolio by adding nine new hotels across the mid-scale and economy categories to the existing portfolio of 54 hotels in India. Over the next two years, Accor will add more than 1,300 keys to its Novotel and ibis brands in the country.

Despite the dynamic circumstances that the pandemic brought with it for the hospitality industry, Accor launched three hotels in 2021, the luxurious Raffles Udaipur, Novotel Chandigarh Tribune Chowk and ibis Vikhroli Mumbai, in partnership with InterGlobe Hotels. In India, Accor has a wide portfolio, with ten brands across the luxury, premium, upper midscale, midscale and economy segments, and each brand has been able to create a niche for itself, among the varied needs of the Indian market.

The Novotel and ibis brands from the Accor portfolio in India have an extremely high brand recall and a strong focus on the meetings and conventions market, as well as the weddings and socials market. The Novotel network, with 21 operational hotels, forms the largest network of mid-scale hotels in the country, with hotels in key cities such as Mumbai, Delhi, Bengaluru, Chennai, Goa and Hyderabad. Over the next 24 months, Accor expects to add six new properties to the network, two of which will debut in Bhubaneshwar and Jodhpur – the Novotel Bhubaneshwar Janpath Road and Novotel Jodhpur ITI Circle. Accor will also continue to expand its ibis and ibis Styles brand in partnership with InterGlobe Hotels by adding three more hotels in the next two years to the existing portfolio of 20 hotels.

On this occasion, Mark Willis, who is the CEO for India, the Middle East, Africa and Turkey, said,

India is a diverse market with heterogeneous guests, and our endeavour is to cater to our guests in all their varied personas and changing needs. Our Novotel and ibis brands are much preferred by guests given their value, price and ability to offer a consistent experience, with a seamless service. We will continue to expand our footprint in the upper mid-scale and economy segment in India with the Novotel and ibis brands, and also keep looking for the right partners as we expand our luxury brands after the successful response we received for Raffles Udaipur last year.

Puneet Dhawan, Senior Vice President of Operations – India & South Asia, Accor added,

We are excited to be entering new markets that promise vast business potential. With travellers’ confidence rebounding, and the Indian tourism sentiment demonstrating positive outcomes, staycations and workcations to both metropolitan and non-metropolitan cities are in demand. We are well-positioned to address this demand and the addition of nine new hotels to our existing network would surely lead Accor to even higher levels of hospitality in the country.

Accor currently has a focused yet differentiated brand portfolio with 54 hotels in India, and more than 10,000 keys. From a development perspective, Accor has been following a densification strategy and enhancing expansion in key cities with multiple hotels across varying price points.

Bottomline

I’ve always felt India is a ripe market for hospitality chains to grow their footprint, and the growth is clearly playing out with all sorts of organised hospitality players such as IHCL, Marriott and Accor committing to growth in India and the rest of South Asia across all price points of hotels. Accor will add 9 more hotels to their collection over 2022/23 and will make it to 63 hotels by the end of 2023.

What has been your experience with Accor hotels in India?

(P.S. Sign up for our exclusive invitation to the Accor Plus programme and get a free night at an Accor Hotel, plus more benefits than usual using our exclusive invite)

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