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ccor, the world'€™s leading hotel operator, officially launched its newest hotel on Monday, the Ibis budget Jakarta Daan Mogot, in West Jakarta, as part of its target to open 20 new hotels per annum in the coming years.

The launch was one week after the Paris-based hotel chain opened another hotel, the Ibis budget Semarang Tendean, in Central Java.

Adi Satria, Accor regional sales and marketing distribution director for Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore, said the hotel operator had also opened the Ibis budget Makassar Airport in South Sulawesi in April.

'€œ[Accor] officially operated the Ibis budget Semarang Tendean hotel from last Monday,'€ he said on Monday.

With the operation of its three new budget hotels, he said, Accor was optimistic it would be able to achieve its target of operating 100 hotels in Indonesia by 2015.

'€œAccor operates 80 hotels in Indonesia and there will be another 80 hotels under construction in the coming years,'€ he said.

Out of the 100 hotels, however, 50 percent will be allocated to Accor'€™s economic-class hotels and the other 50 percent will be allocated for its medium- and high-class hotels, he said.

To catch up with the ever-growing market in Indonesia, therefore, Accor was targeting to operate 20 new hotels each year on average within the coming years, he added.

In addition, Gerard Guillouet, senior vice president for Accor Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore, said in a statement that Accor now operated six Ibis budget hotels in Indonesia and targeted to open more.

'€œWe will open at least four more Ibis budget hotels by 2015,'€ he said.

Hartono Hosea, president director of PT Sunindo Indah Hotels, which owns the Ibis budget Jakarta Daan Mogot, said the investment in the new hotel had reached Rp 65 billion (US$5.5 million).

Ibis is Accor'€™s brand for its economy-class hotels, comparable to a 3 or 4 star hotel. Accor also manages several medium and upper brands such as Sofitel, Pullman, MGallery, Mercure, Grand Mercure, Novotel, Suite Novotel, the Sebel, Adagio and hotelF1.

In the last 10 months, Accor has expanded its Ibis network in Indonesia by establishing several hotels including the Ibis styles Dewi Sri in Bali, Ibis styles Malang and Surabaya in East Java, Allseasons Gadjah Mada and Thamrin in Jakarta, and Ibis Gading Serpong in Tangerang, Banten, according to a statement.

Accor operates 36 Ibis hotels in 13 towns in Indonesia and is targeting to open 40 Ibis hotels by the end of the year.

In the coming months, Accor will start operating four more hotels under the Ibis brand, namely the Ibis Styles Jakarta Airport, Ibis Styles Mangga Dua, Ibis Styles Cawang and Ibis budget Jakarta Airport, all in Jakarta.

Guillouet said he was confident Ibis could compete with numerous amounts of competitors within the same class as Ibis was a well-known international brand.

Meanwhile, PT Pusako Tarinka Tbk president director Suwito told Reuters the budget hotel sector in Indonesia was the fastest growing, most resilient and most profitable sector of the hotel market.

In April, the Indonesian hotel operator struck a Rp 635.5 billion deal with PT Red Planet Indonesia, which owns and operates seven hotels in Indonesia under a franchise agreement with Tune Hotels, a budget hotel brand.

According to Euromonitor International data picked up by Reuters, from 2009 to 2013, the total sales value of Indonesian budget hotels jumped 79.5 percent to around 3 trillion rupiah, outperforming the 8.7 percent rise to Rp 14.9 trillion for luxury hotels over the same period. (ask)