Accor will launch its ibis economy hotel brand in Adelaide.
Following the signing of an agreement with hotel developer Hines Property, the new AU$65 million (US$67m) property will rise on Grenfell Street, in the centre of the South Australia city. The property will also offer direct access to the Rundle Mall shopping precinct.
Construction planned to commence later this year with the opening scheduled in early 2014.
With 307 guest rooms, ibis Adelaide will be the largest ibis hotel in Australia. It will also be the first purpose-built economy hotel in central Adelaide for more than two decades and the first internationally-branded budget hotel in the city. Facilities at the new property will include a restaurant and bar, fitness centre, business centre, and conference and meeting space.
“This will be a key development for Adelaide,” said Simon McGrath, Chief Operating Officer of Accor Pacific. “The economy hotel sector is the fastest growing market in global travel, and is set to grow even faster with the rapid expansion of low-cost carriers. Many other hotel groups have talked about developing economy hotels in Australia, but only Accor has delivered the product. We expect to announce another major new ibis project later in the year.
“The hotel’s launch will stimulate travel from a range of sectors, but particularly business and leisure travel. The brand is known around the world and particularly in Australia’s key Asian markets such as China, Indonesia, Singapore and India. A state of the art ibis will open in a few months in Hong Kong and this will give the brand even greater visibility in the burgeoning Asian market,” he added.
The ibis Adelaide will join a network of ibis hotels in every other mainland state capital in Australia and a network of more than 900 ibis hotels worldwide.
