Accor to have US$ 667 million until 2012 to open 75 Hotels in Latin America
Valor Econômico
The French group Accor and partners like pension funds and land developers will invest nearly R$ 1.2 billion (US$ 667 million) to open 75 hotels in Latin America by 2012. Brazil, where the hotel chain is the market leader with 143 units, will concentrate 80% of the investments, because it will receive nearly R$ 1 billion (US$ 556 million) for the launching of 64 undertakings, of which, only two are owned by Accor. It is only in these cases that the company makes use of its own resources. In the others, the disbursements are made by investors and the management by Accor.
51 of the total hotels planned for Brazil will be Ibis (44) and Formule 1 (seven), which operate in the popular segment. The other 13 units will be four-star hotels of the Novotel (four) and Mercure (nine) brands. "Of the great international markets in which we are inserted, such as Germany, France and the United Kingdom, Brazil had the best performance in 2009. In terms of results, the country was equal to Asia and stayed ahead of all North America and Europe", says the CEO of Accor Hospitality for Latin America, the branch of hotels of the French group, Roland de Bonadona.
According to the Officer, the volume of business of the French chain in Brazil broke the barrier of R$ 1 billion (US$ 507.6 million) for the first time last year. Bonadona asserts this mark corresponded to an increase of 2.3% compared to the financial turnover of 2008, influenced mainly by the good performance of affordable hotels. This market niche, for the company, registered growth of 9%, considering the RevPar index that measures the effectiveness of an undertaking crossing the price of the average daily fare with the occupation rate.
As for the Novotel and Mercure brands, which operate in the four-star hotel segment, they registered a 2% fall in the RevPar in 2009 compared with the prior year. The luxury hotels of Accor (Sofitel, Pullman), on their turn, had a 2% increase in the RevPar on the same basis of comparison. The Accor group does not disclose financial results segmented per country, but the Officer for Latin America says that the gross operating margin in Brazil went from 30.7% to 34.4% in 2009. For 2010, Bonadona expects a 5% increase in the earnings per apartment. Only in February, that index registered 15% growth compared to the same period last year.
Of the total volume of investments foreseen until 2012, Accor and its partners - the group does not disclose the names of the associated investors - plan to spend R$ 325 million (US$ 180.6 million) in Latin America in 2010. This year, R$ 259 million (US$ 143.9 million) will be invested in Brazil alone for the opening of 16 hotels. The other R$ 66 million (US$ 36.7 million) will be disbursed in other countries of the region with the forecast of launching one Ibis brand hotel in Colombia, another in Paraguay and two in Chile.