May 4 – Accor Hospitality Group is planning to open 17 more hotels in the Middle East by 2012, thus bringing the total number of hotels owned by the group to 50, said Chief Operating Officer, MEA, Indian Ocean and Caribbean Islands, Charlie Langlais. “We have 17 hotels in active pipeline, a dozen of which will be developed in the UAE. Over the next few years, we estimate nearly 15 per cent of Accor’s global development plan should be in the Middle East.”
About 14 per cent of this figure will be economy hotels, 36 per cent midscale, 16 per cent upscale and 30 per cent of luxury, he added. “We are also introducing the Pullman brand this year in Dubai, a 481-room hotel that should open in July,” said Christophe Landais, Accor Hospitality’s Managing Director, Middle East. “The second Pullman should be opened by next year,” he said.
