| The joint venture will develop 25 economy hotels, branded Ibis, of which 20 such hotels will be opened in India, with the rest being developed in south-east Asia. |
| "With growing travel preferences of the Indian middle-class, we believe it is the right time for us to enter into this venture," said Rahul Bhatia, managing director, InterGlobe. |
| "This is the right time for us and we have got a right partner in InterGlobe, hence, we can look forward to giving the middle-class a quality experience at the best value for money," said Michael Issenberg, managing director, Accor Asia Pacific. Accor owns hotel brands such as Sofitel and Novotel |
| The first two hotels by the company in India will open in Bangalore and Gurgaon followed by Pune, Jaipur, Chennai and Mumbai. |
| "The first phase of investment will of Rs 165 crore. The 250-room Bangalore hotel will come up by mid-2006, followed by 210 rooms in Gurgaon by end of 2006," said Uttam Dave, president and chief executive of InterGlobe Hotels. |
| "The rooms will be priced between Rs 1800 and Rs 2200 at the time of opening. We want to give an international economy class experience to the Indian middle-class at the best price," said Dave. |
| Development activity for hotel property is already underway in Bangalore and Gurgaon. |
| "Together these hotels will have over 600 rooms. Target cities for immediate future development are Mumbai, the National Capital Region, Chennai and Hyderabad. A site is under active negotiation at Pune, while another site has been secured at Jaipur," the company said in a statement today. |
| Accor is pursuing management opportunities in the sub-continent and is negotiating for the management of two purpose-built 300-room Novotel brand hotels at Gurgaon and Hyderabad. |
| Accor is also in talks to manage Novotel hotels at Chennai, Mumbai and Pune. |
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