Accor aims for 20 hotels in Vietnam by 2011

European hotel management group Accor is on track to realise management of some 20 hotels in Vietnam in the next two years despite a host of challenges, as envisaged in its strategy to launch more hotel brands and expand its presence in this market.
Patrick Basset, Accor vice president for Vietnam, the Philippines, South Korea and Japan, said that Accor now managed 11 hotels with various brands and had another ten under construction in different parts of Vietnam.
Accor will be managing 20 hotels after 20years in Vietnam. Basset said.
Accor was the international hotel management pioneer in this market.
The hotels to be managed by Accor include the 1I0-room Mercure Hue Gerbera near the Perfume River in the former imperial city of Hue as well as Pullman hotels in the capital city of Hanoi and the southern city of VungTau.
Basset said Accor would go ahead with the opening of new hotels, at a time when the global tourism industry is slowed by the global economic turmoil, in order to further cash in on this growing market.
"We have operated in Vietnam for nearly 20 years and see huge potential in this market, not only in tourism but also in other fields," Basset said. "More opportunities are coming:'
This is one of the reasons why Accor has opened more hotels in Vietnam during tough times, including Novotel properties in Ha Long Bay and Nha Trang last year and Mercure Hanoi La Gare this month.
Asked about results of Accor-managed hotels in Vietnam this challenging year, Basset said that in general the properties were in the same difficulties with Vietnam's tourism industry, which saw a significant decline in international tourist arrivals this year.
Figures from the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism show the country welcomed nearly 2.48 million international travellers in the first eight months of2009, a year-on-year drop of 17.7 percent.
However, Basset said the number of domestic guests at Accor-managed hotels had increased, especially a 25 percent increase at the resort on Phu Quoc Island offshore Kien Giang Province. "We see growing interest of domestic travellers in our properties:'
Accor also plans to build the first 3-star hotel ibis in Vietnam to cater to different classes of customers in this market. "We hope to be able to announce the ibis brand plan for Vietnam in two weeks. We have projects for this brand in HCM City and Hanoi;' said Basset.
Basset declined to reveal whether the first ibis hotel in Vietnam would be inaugurated in Hanoi or HCM City. "We want to surprise the market."
Over the years Accor has repositioned its hotel brands in Vietnam and lifted up the Sofitel. More than two months ago, the Sofitel Metropole Hanoi became the world's first hotel to be rebranded as a Legend, a brand for an exclusive selection of Accor's upper-class properties because of its heritage and history.
Basset said that below the Legend was the 5-star Pullman brand applicable for city and convention hotels and the luxury brand MGallery for boutiques and resort properties.