AIMING to fill the yawning gap in the market for accommodation targeted at economy business travellers is the Accor group, which is expected to at least triple the company’s regional base over the next four years alone from 18 hotels with 3500 rooms to 52 hotels for an excess of 12000 rooms.
In Dubai alone the group has planned a 300-room extension to its two properties at the Dubai World Trade Centre as well as two new Ibis/ Novotel properties around the Deira City Centre. Also in the works in the booming emirate are two new five-star properties, at the prestigious Burj Dubai development and a 33-storey tower, the Mercure Grand Hotel and Residence Jumeirah Lake. This is to enable it to cater to three different budgets in a smaller geographic area.
New projects around the region are under construction in Saudi Arabia (Jeddah, Riyadh, Makkah and Al Khobar) and in Syria.