Strong demand for economy hotels in India

Gilles C. Pelisson, Chairman and CEO of Accor, one of the world's leading hotel chains, spoke to BT's Anumeha Chaturvedi about his India plans.

We have eight Accor hotels in India at present, and we hope to become the leading international hotel operator here with 90 hotels by 2015. We have hotels under the brand names Mercure, Ibis and Novotel, and hope to add three more brands - Sofitel, Pullman and Formule 1 - to our list next year. Between now and the end of 2012, we'll launch 21 hotels, adding over 4,800 rooms to Accor's Indian network.

We see a strong demand for economy hotels here, driven by significant and consistent growth in domestic travel and improved infrastructure. Ibis fits both business travellers and family. Our four-star brand Novotel comes next and we'll open 13 Novotels in three years.

Our rollout in India has been relatively slow due to the various clearances required. It takes longer to build hotels here as opposed to other countries. It's a part of our learning curve.