| GMR Hyderabad International Airport Limited (GHIAL) has tied up with Accor Hotels and Resorts, Singapore, for operating its first Business Hotel at Rajiv Gandhi International Airport in Shamshabad.
The construction of hotel will commence shortly and become operational by the time new international airport takes off in March, 2008.
The agreement is being entered with Accor group of hotels, Singapore. Accor operates in nearly 100 countries with 160,000 employees. Accor is already well represented in Hyderabad operating the Hyderabad International Convention Centre and adjacent Novotel Hyderabad since the beginning of the year. Accor is currently expanding rapidly in India with up to 100 hotels planned for the next decade.
The lease term for operating the hotel is for a period of ten years, which can be extended further on mutual agreement. As per the agreement, Accor will operate, manage and maintain the Hotel in accordance with Novotel Brand standards as followed worldwide. Accor will also provide Technical support during the construction stage to build the hotel as per Novotel standards.
GHIAL is building the Hotel in an ideal location within the airport premises for the convenience of the passengers, which will come up in a five-acre site approx 2.75 km from the Passenger Terminal Building (PTB).
The mid-rise hotel will feature a 'resort-within-a-city' design and ambience. The hotel, in all, will have 300 keys, of which 120 will be developed in the first phase. It is equipped with an all-day dining restaurant, specialty restaurant, bar, business centre, conference halls, health, leisure and recreation facilities.
It will have spacious and comfortable rooms, besides airport check-in and shuttle service to Passenger Terminal Building. It is also planned to have beautiful landscape, swimming pool and specialty spa to offer a complete bouquet of services to its customers.
Mr. T Srinagesh, COO, GHIAL, said the Hotel is being developed in line with the practice followed by all leading global airports so as provide world-class stay within the airport premises for the convenience of customers such as transit passengers, tourists, business travelers and air crew.
"We are happy to tie-up with the globally well known hotel chain like Accor. We are sure that with its technical and managerial support, we will be able to provide top class service to customers," he said.
Gilles Pelisson, Chief Executive Officer, Accor said "Accor has significant experience as an operator of airport hotels around the world, and in this year alone, Novotels have been developed at three of Asia's most important airports: Hong Kong, Bangkok and Guangzhou. The brand suits the diverse market of travellers who use airport hotels and with our experience operating in such environments we believe that we can bring to this exciting project a world-class hotel brand for a world-class hotel. We are delighted to be associated with GMR on such a dynamic and pioneering project."
Some of the salient features of the Hotel are:
* It will serve as a halting place for business travelers, transit passengers taking connecting flights to other places.
- It will serve as a facility to conduct meetings, access wi- fi services, fax at exclusively designed business center during transit time for business executives based on "virtual office" concept
- It will cater to delegates who comes for attending conferences
- It will be a resting facility for aircraft crew
- It will be in-line with the standard practice followed at all the international airports across the world, to provide a transit hotel as a least basic facility to passengers.
About GHIAL:
GMR-HIAL is a joint venture company promoted by GMR Infrastructure (63 pc); Malaysian Airports Holding Berhad (11 pc), Airports Authority of India (13 pc) and Government of Andhra Pradesh (13 pc), which has been mandated to develop a world-class international airport in about 5,500 acres in Shamshabad.
GHIAL has awarded the Passenger Terminal Building (PTB) and Air Traffic Control (ATC) works to China State Construction Engineering (Hong Kong) Limited (CSCEHK) and also given airside and runway works to L&T.
It has recently awarded In-flight Catering to two renowned companies named LSG Sky Chef and Sky Gourmet. Fuel farm Operations Contract has been awarded to RIL.
The GMR group is a leading Infrastructure developer in the country with interests in Airports, Power, Roads and Agri Businesses besides Foundation activities in the areas of Education and Empowerment programmes for the marginalized. In Airports, besides the green field project in Hyderabad, the group is developing a brownfield Airport in Delhi in partnership with Fraport of Germany, the first phase of which is scheduled to be ready by 2010. In Power, the group has completed three projects and two more are under development. In Roads, two projects under golden quadrilateral scheme have been completed and four more are being developed.
About Accor:
Accor, European leader in hotels and tourism, global leader in corporate services, operates in nearly 100 countries with 160,000 employees. It offers to its individual and corporate clients nearly 40 years of expertise in its two core businesses:
- Hotels, with the Sofitel, Novotel, Mercure, Suitehotel, Ibis, Red Roof Inn, Etap Hotel, Formule 1 and Motel 6 brands: over 4,000 hotels and 475,000 rooms in 90 countries, as well as strategically related activities, such as Lenôtre;
- Services to corporate clients and public institutions: 21 million people in 35 countries benefit from Accor Services products - meal and food vouchers, people care, incentive and loyalty programs.
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