Rituparna Chatterjee – Pune
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Lokesh Sabharwal
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Accor is planning to open three Grand Mercure properties in 2014. The three properties will be located in Vadodara, Goa and Bengaluru. Vadodara will have its first Grand Mercure which will be a 146 room inventory. Presently Bengaluru has a Grand Mercure property in the form of serviced apartments which will be re-branded to suit the consumer and owner/ developer preference in India. Speaking about the reason for choosing Vadodara for the brand, Lokesh Sabharwal, vice president, development – India, Nepal, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, Accor stated, “ Vadodara is just one of the markets, we have Grand Mercure properties under development in Goa, Bengaluru and some other markets. But Vadodara is the first city where the brand will be first launched because this city is an important centre in Gujarat. Vadodara is a cosmopolitan and dynamic market. As a company we are not just focused on being in the metros but also going out in key cities/ markets.”
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Jean Michel Casse
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Adding to this, Jean Michel Casse, senior vice president, operations – India, Accor stated, “Grand Mercure is existing but it is more recognised as serviced apartments and we are re-branding and re-launching this brand to make it specific to India. Novotel and ibis are standardised brands but we need to have more flexible brands like Grand Mercure that will be customised to be more friendly to the Indian market and international travellers visiting India.”
Accor currently has eight Novotel properties in India including Novotel Pune which was launched in December 2013. The company has 12 Novotel properties under construction in India, of which seven are likely to open by 2015, two of which will open in Kolkata and Maharashtra in the the first quarter of 2014. All the Novotel properties will spread across Delhi, Bengaluru, Kolkata, Chennai, Hyderabad, Agra, Lavasa, Goa, Pune and Ahmedabad. The first quarter of 2014 will also see the opening of ibis in Delhi Aerocity.
