AccorHotels Group has set plans to expand across India with two new hotels. Not only is Accor debuting the Raffles brand in the country with its first property in Udaipur, but also the group is developing India's second Fairmont-brand hotel near Mumbai Airport in partnership with the Shrem Group.
As part of a $2.7-billion deal with Qatar Investment Authority, Saudi Arabia's Kingdom Holding, Oxford Properties and Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System, Accor acquired FRHI Holdings and its brands, including Fairmont, Raffles and Swissotel in 2015. The group reportedly paid for the hotel portfolio acquisition by issuing 46.7 million Accor shares on top of an $840-million cash payment.
Gaurav Bhushan, GCDO for Accor, told the Economic Times that the group has planned to expand its luxury hotel portfolio in emerging markets like India. “The next big wave of growth for us is going to come from luxury and emerging markets. Luxury is an important component in these markets,” Bhushan said. He added that Accor was receiving active enquiries for Fairmont and Raffles hotels in India.
AccorHotels has added even more hotel projects to its global development pipeline, including the debut of the Fairmont brand in the Caribbean with the Fairmont St Lucia at Sunset Bay opening in 2019. The group's signing of an exclusive partnership with the Hinduja Group and OHL Desarrollos followed soon after. As part of the agreement, the companies will redevelop London's old war office building in Whitehall into a Raffles hotel, which is expected to begin operating in three years.