Accord in talks for acquiring a Swiss hotel

Chennai, June 28 (IANS) City-based star hotel group Accord is looking at acquiring a 52-room hotel in Switzerland, while its new hotel in Puducherry will be inaugurated soon, said a top company official.

"We are in discussions with concerned parties for acquisition of a hotel in Swiss. We are satisfied with the business prospects the hotel offers," chief executive officer Venkatesh Bhat told IANS.

According to Bhat, the group is also looking at properties in Britain and other places.

The overseas acquisition is part of Accord group's strategy of having eight hotels consisting of around 1,100 rooms under its banner in three years' time.

Currently, the Accord group has three five-star hotels - the 162-room Accord Metropolitan in Chennai, the 105-room Accord Puducherry and the 53-room Highland in Ooty. While the first two are owned by the group, the Ooty property is leased.

"We have got the power connection for Accord Puducherry and the hotel will soon be inaugurated," Bhat said.

The group has started moving its focus on outdoor catering business, and are tying up with caterers for supply of authentic north Indian and south Indian dishes, he said.

Meanwhile, Bhat is looking out for a well known brand of Italian restaurant to open its counter at the group's flagship property Accord Metropolitan here.

"There is a demand for a good Italian restaurant and we plan to outsource it, that is, allow a well known brand of Italian restaurant to operate here. Instead of having our own restaurant and building a brand, we thought it is better to provide space to a well known brand so that people would know what to expect," Bhat explained.

While others in the hotel industry expressed their reservations about such a strategy, Bhat told IANS: "If the brand is unknown, then there will be a problem for hotels. But if it is a well known brand, then it will be a winning strategy."

Queried about the space, he said: "We will create the space by bifurcating our 150 cover Chinese restaurant Pergola. So, there will be specialised Chinese and Italian restaurants."

All the restaurants in Accord Metropolitan - Royal Indianaa, Pergola, Season and Zodiac - will soon have a new menu, he added.