“I want to see a lakh hotel rooms in Andhra Pradesh,” said AP Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu, as he formally launched the 227 key five-star Novotel hotel in Vijayawada this week.

The AccorHotels brand is the first international property to open in the commercial headquarters of the State and the town nearest to upcoming capital, Amaravati.

Built by the ₹4,500 crore auto financing-to-construction conglomerate Varun Group and managed by the French chain Accor, the Novotel Vijayawada Varun is targeted at corporate travelers.

AccorHotels has also signed an MOU with Varun Group, in the presence of the Chief Minister and the French ambassador to India Alexandre Ziegler, to set up and manage a 5,000 seater convention centre in Amaravati, with a target of completing it in a year. A 200 key hotel will also be put up by the Varun Group in the new capital by 2022.

Purchased lands

Five acres of land for the convention centre, and four acres for the hotel have already been purchased by the group, said Varun Group Chairman V Prabhu Kishore, outlining how the group is seriously moving ahead with its hospitality foray with a new project in Bangalore and strategic buys like Taj Gateway at Vishakapatnam.

“I have been waiting for these projects for a long time,” said Naidu after the signing of the Amaravati convention centre MoU, emphasizing that Andhra Pradesh could do with more hotels – especially in Tirupati, Vishakhapatnam, and Vijaywada as well as virgin destinations in coastal belts.

“We have 1,000 kms of coastline that are ideal for tourism and hospitality,” he said.

With Indigo Airlines launching an international flight to Singapore from Vijayawada earlier this month, there is an expectation of more business movement to the city, especially foreign investors.

Jean Michel Casse, Chief Operating Officer, India and South Asia, Accor Hotels was confidence that the Novotel in Vijayawada will be able to pull in good occupancy as the city had high demand and low supply of branded hotel rooms.

A Taj Gateway and ITC Fortune Murali Park are the only other notable brands in the city.

For AccorHotels, the launch of the Novotel, its 20th in India, was a special occasion as it was in undivided Andhra Pradesh that it had started its journey in the country over a decade ago, with a property in Hyderabad that was also incidentally flagged off by N Chandrababu Naidu.

With properties in Vizag, Bheemili and now Vijayawada (all three in partnership with the Varun Group), Novotel now has three hotels in the State and hopes to bag the Amaravati project as well.

In all, AccorHotels has 49 hotels in India through 10 brands, including 19 Ibis properties.

Soon after the hotel launch, a French delegation comprising of 10 companies visited the upcoming capital to explore investment opportunities.

Ambassador Ziegler said that the French companies were keen to see how they could partner in “the economic development of the region and the amazing project of Amaravati”.

Naidu talked about his vision of making Amaravati a clean, green, water abundant city powered by electric vehicles, and also his plan to set up two more barrages on the Krishna river.

A ground visit to the upcoming State capital showed some progress in housing projects for government staff and connecting roads but little else — though in places one could see plots marked for infrastructure development.

However, action in Vijayawada certainly has heated up with spectacular lighting along the Prakasam barrage, and the hosting of the Formula 1 power boat race on the fast-flowing Krishna river a month ago.

The writer travelled to Vijayawada to attend the launch of Novotel at the invitation of AccorHotels.

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