While a just renovated hotel at Juhu in Mumbai is scheduled to re-reopen under the tag of `Mercure' soon, AAC is set to ink pact to take over a hotel in the business district of the capital next week.

Talking to The Financial Express, Hornman said that two-third of the Accor hotels were either owned or leased by the group, the remainder being managed or franchised to provide world class service in the hospitality, tourism and leisure. Its main brands are: Sofitel (deluxe), Novotel (first class), Mercure (multi-tiered mid-market), Ibis (economy) and Formule (budget class).

He said that Accor Group considered India (besides China) as the biggest unexplored market in the region particularly in the mid-segment. It has already drawn up plans to start two more `Novotel' hotels in Mumbai and Chennai, four `Mercure' hotels in New Delhi, Chennai, Bangalore and Bhubaneshwar.

Hornman, who was in the city in connection with exploring Accor interests in western India, said that there was a tremendous scope for expanding hotel business in non-metros and of budgeted hotels in metros, particularly after the opening up of the economy in the early 90's.

AAC has a strong presence in the region with 140 hotels and 25,000 rooms in 15 countries, including Australia, New Zealand, Japan, China, Indonesia, Thailand and Korea. In India, there are a number of `Sofitel' hotels under its fold in Ahmedabad, Jodhpur, Jaipur, Udaipur and Jaisalmer.