Accor invests 33m euros in first Romanian Novotel

The Accor Hotel chain, one of the largest in the world, will make its entry onto the Romanian market in top gear. This is the first direct investment of a major international hotel chain in Romania.

At first, the French company will invest 33 million euros in a Novotel Hotel in Bucharest, as announced by Accor’s co-chairman and founder Gerard Pelisson who was in Bucharest on Tuesday.

In addition, the chain will develop a network of 20 Ibis hotels throughout the country in six or seven years’ time.

“The increase in foreign investments, most of which involve French capital, and the improvement in the country’s economic indicators have made us decide to go ahead with this investment. We will primarily focus our investments on the Central and Eastern European region in the next few years, where we expect a substantial increase in leisure and business tourism,” Accor chain’s representative said.

“The construction of the Novotel Hotel is due to begin this autumn and works will continue for two years, with the hotel scheduled for opening in March 2006. The entire project is funded by the Accor Group, without any guarantees being required from the Romanian State,” he added.

The Novotel Hotel will be located on Calea Victoriei. It will have 277 rooms, a 300-seater hall, 8 conference rooms, a fitness centre with an indoor swimming pool and shops. It will be ranked as a four-star establishment. The Novotel investment is the first major financial involvement of the Accor chain on the Romanian hotel market.

Accor has been operating in Romania for ten years now, through the Sofitel and Ibis Hotels in Bucharest, which it runs under management contracts.

The Novotel project was also announced in 2003, but work on the hotel did not begin at that time. The constructor of the new hotel is France-based Bouygues.

Accor also has a strong presence on the meal ticket market, where it operates through its Accor Services division. It is one of the top meal ticket issuers in Romania.

Accor has more than 4,000 hotels worldwide and its annual revenues reach nearly 7bn euros. It competes with chains such as Marriott, Hyatt, Sheraton, and Hilton, some of which are already conducting operations on the Romanian market.

Hyatt is the last such company to have announced plans to tap into the Bucharest market. The American chain will have a five-star hotel within the Metropola Center complex scheduled to open in 2007.

Beyond the Novotel investment, Accor’s Romanian projects include the development of a national Ibis hotel chain, which is to be realised either by undertaking the management of various hotels, or by investments.
georgiana.stavarache@zf.ro