European hospitality major Accor will make equity investment of Rs 636 crore in India for setting up 50 hotels over the next 2-3 years.
"We will make equity investment of $130 million by 2012 to have 50 hotels with 10,400 room capacity by then. This ($130 million) does not include investment by our (joint venture) partners for setting up the investment," Accor Asia Pacific Chairman and Chief Operating Officer Michael Issenberg told reporters here today.
He declined to give details on the total investment and the joint venture partners in the projects. A part of this expense has already been made in five properties currently operational in India.
Accor has a JV with real estate developer Emaar MGF and another with aviation and hospitality services group Interglobe in India. It also has project-specific ventures with several companies in the country.
It will open seven hotels in 2010, 18 in 2011 and 19 in 2012. These projects include three hotels to be set up at the Delhi Airport with a capacity of 985 rooms.
The hotels will cater to all the price segments — Luxury, midscale and economy.
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"While we are placing a significant emphasis on the mid and economy segments, we are also expanding in the upscale segments," Issenberg said.
The hotels will be set up under various brands of Accor like Novotel, Ibis, Pullman and Sofitel. They will come up in tier II towns as well as tourist destinations like Goa and Jaipur, apart from the metros.
Speaking about the room tariff, Head of Development for Accor hotels in India, Uttam Dave, said, "It is expected to go up in the coming months." The tariff were hit hard in the country by the economic slowdown and Mumbai terror attacks last year.