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ccor, the world’s leading hotel operator, will open 12 more five-star Pullman hotels during the next five years in big Indonesian cities in an attempt to capitalize on the country’s strong economic growth.

Gérard Guillouet, Accor’s vice president for Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore, said that Accor targeted to open Pullman hotels in Bali, Bandung, Medan, Surabaya and Yogyakarta.

“The opening of Pullman hotels in these cities would correspond to Pullman’s guest target, which is business travelers,” he said on Thursday after the launch of Hotel Pullman Jakarta Indonesia, a rebrand of the Hotel Nikko.

“Following Jakarta, these cities have been showing strong economic growth. Supported by low-budget airlines these days, we are sure that we have potential there.”

Previously, Accor launched Pullman Jakarta Central Park in November 2011 and Pullman Legian Nirwana in Bali in February 2011.

Guillouet’s optimism may be reasonable because in early January, the Tourism and Creative Economy Ministry prepared a campaign to promote 10 cities across the archipelago as destinations for travelers.

The promoted cities are Bandung, Batam in Riau Islands, Denpasar, Jakarta, Medan, Makassar, Manado, Mataram, Surabaya and Yogyakarta.

Guillouet said that Accor would likely build new Pullman hotels or rebrand other five-star hotels.

“If there are opportunities, we will rebrand other five-star hotels but our first target is to build new hotels,” he told journalists.

Franky Montung Setjoadinata, president director of property company of PT Wisma Nusantara International, the owner of Pullman Jakarta Indonesia, said that the total investment for the Pullman hotel expansion was still under discussion.

“We cannot disclose the amount this time. But it would be quite sizeable,” he said.

After rebranding the Nikko Hotel, Accor has allocated between US$5 million and $10 million to renovate the hotel.

Michael Issenberg, the chairman and chief operating officer of Accor Asia Pacific, said on Thursday that in just three years, Pullman had expanded to more than 70 hotels throughout the world with 23 of them operating in Asia Pacific.

“During the next three years, we have commitments for a further 34 Pullman hotels in the region. We are well on track to achieve our previously stated ambition of having 100 Pullman hotels in Asia Pacific by 2015,” Issenberg said.

Five-star hotels Hyatt, Shangri-La, Ritz-Carlton and JW Marriott are Pullman’s strongest competitors.

Across the globe, Accor has more than 4,200 hotels in 90 countries. (fem)