Accor, Interglobe wants an 'audacity, vision' in their hospitality ties

Copyright © HT Digital Streams Limit all rights reserved. Companies Interglobe and Accor expect to have 300 hotels by 2030. The two firms are setting up a new entity to jointly run a hotel franchise business, which includes a fresh loyalty program. The new platform aims to have a portfolio of 300 hotels under Accor’s brands by 2030, which would be developed by Treebo Hotels under a master’s license. Mumbai: Interglobe Hotelle and French hospitality firm ACCOR are reforming their second-text alliance with a new strategy to target India’s booming budget and the mid-market hotel segment. The two companies establish a new entity to jointly run a hotel franchise business, which includes a fresh loyalty program and a third partner – Treebo Hotels. The new business aims to have a portfolio of 300 hotels under Accor’s brands by 2030, which would be developed by Treebo under a master’s license. Both Rahul Bhatia, group managing director of Interglobe Enterprises, and Sébastien Bazin, chairman and CEO of Accor, spoke to Mint about the reset. New structure is aimed at reviving the growth of the new entity. The businesses are expected to have parallel 30,000 rooms. Also read: IHG sees potential for new luxury brands in India; To start the new Mid Market Hotel brand at the end of the year, Bazin said that the new partnership framework emerged from a desire to inject “audacity, mission and vision” into a sluggish relationship. “We lacked audacity, mission and vision until last year. Rahul and I decided that we wanted to do something more with this business. We have unbundled ourselves and now have the right skeleton: Indigo, Ibis and Treebo and do something bigger with it,” Bazin told Mint. Bhatia, who in June 2024 loaded a 2% stake in Interglobe Aviation for £ 3.360 crore to stimulate his group’s hospitality and emerging businesses, said he would not invest in hotels now. “Miiro (our international hotel ownership company) is doing very well and we are satisfied. For the Accor partnership, we also have the capital to grow it to our ambition. We no longer see investments in the short term,” he said. Interglobe is also rolling out about a dozen hotels with miiro brands in Europe and other parts of the world. Bhatia did not exclude the possibility that Miiro would become part of the global Accor system, saying, ‘We have a fantastic relationship together. Shall we integrate Miiro into this larger relationship? Time will tell it. ‘ Accor expands India’s footprint with new brands. The French hotel group currently operates 71 hotels in India, including 30 in partnership with Interglobe. Of these, 25 ibis hotels, with about 4600 rooms. Accor also has 40 new hotels in its development pipeline. The expansion of the entity aims to take advantage of a fragmented market and increasing domestic and outgoing travel demand. Also read: Hyatt Eyes Emerging Cities For its next 50 hotels in India in 2024, Bazin acknowledged that their joint enterprises -interglobe hotels -set up in 2004 to use in India’s budget travel segment -did not have expectations. “We didn’t succeed together,” he told Mint earlier. While Accor Ibis expanded in China quickly, the Indian game ran. “India can support 500 such hotels,” he said. Interglobe Hotels Private Limited reported an operating income of £ 545.6 crore in FY24, a year-on-year of 20.7%. It made a profit of £ 2.9 crore, which reversed a loss of £ 8.9 crore the year before, but it still suffered an accumulated loss of £ 737.5 from previous years, according to the registration with the Registrar of Companies Registered via the Business Intelligence Platform, Tofler. Accor, meanwhile, is increasing its Indian portfolio. The company launched a new 440-room Fairmont Hotel in Mumbai this week. In the same complex, it plans to open a Morgan Originals property with about 110 rooms. Bazin also confirmed that three or four new Accor brands, including Morgan Originals, Ennismore, the handwritten collection and Mgallery, will soon enter the Indian market. “We’re going to add more brands. There will be an enormous performance of Ennismore and the handwritten collection and Mgallery collection,” he added. Mint also recently reported that more than half a dozen businesses bring new hotel brands to India. Also read: Checking in: Global Hotel Chains Make Big India Bet, Sign Wave of Deals Treebo, founded in 2015 by Iit Roorkee -Alumni Sidharth Gupta, Rahul Chaudhary and Kadam Jeet Jain, was originally called Zipotel. Its integration into the new entity created by Interglobe Hotels and Accor is expected to play a key role in expanding ACCOR in smaller cities and India’s unorganized hotel segment. Catch all the corporate news and updates on live currency. Download the Mint News app to get daily market updates and live business news. More Topics #Hotels Mint Specials