Accor Expands Timeshare In Indonesia

ACCOR Hotels and Resorts has signed a string of "opportunistic" deals in Indonesia and will open five new hotels there next year.

The move confirmed Accor's position as Indonesia's fastest-growing hotel chain, said Accor's Asia-Pacific managing director Michael Issenberg.

"Most of our international competitors aren't really that interested in Indonesia, outside Jakarta and Bali, and we have a very extensive network and believe this is a good opportunity," he said.

Accor's timeshare arm also has announced its first property deal outside Australia and New Zealand. It will spend $5.3 million developing 23 apartments in Bali.

The Queensland-based timeshare company, Accor Premiere Vacation Club, is jointly owned by Melbourne-based listed developer Becton Property Group. APVC has been aggressively buying luxury and boutique-style apartments and villas around Australia in the past year.

Developing the property in Bali was "very much about satisfying the requirements of the Australian members" of APVC, Mr Issenberg said.

The apartments would be part of the new Novotel Residence at Nusa Dua in Bali, which is scheduled for completion mid next year.

Under Accor's new hotel management agreements - mostly for 10 years - Accor will add two Novotels and three Mercure hotels to its stable, bringing the number of hotels the company runs in Indonesia to 38. It aims to have 50 there by the end of 2007. As well as the Bali Novotel, the other properties are Novotel Tarakan (175 rooms), Novotel Bandung (150 rooms), Mercure Batam (160 rooms) and Mercure Surabaya (110 rooms).

All are new developments, except the two that will become Mercures, which are being taken over from local operators.

Accor had pioneered the establishment of international hotels in the regions of Indonesia, Mr Issenberg said. "These provincial destinations are popular with domestic and intra-Asia travellers visiting on business or for leisure and have proven strong performers in recent years," he said.

Negotiations on the latest deals had begun before the Bali bombings in October, but Accor did not hesitate to proceed with the agreements, he said.