The Accor hotel group, the largest in the world, is advancing on the remodeling of two hotels in the Colonial City area of Santo Domingo, in addition to the Hotel Franc?s already operating under the Sofitel brand. The Hotel Franc?s, already in operation, has 19 rooms and operates in a 16th century building. It opened December 1998 after a remodeling that cost US$1 million. The Dominican government had already invested several million pesos in the rescuing of the building, that in the first half of the century served as a hotel lodging famous people that visited the city during those years. Jean Marie Garraud was interviewed by the List?n Diario and confirmed that the Hotel Comercial on Calle Hostos off Calle El Conde should be operational by December of this year. It will offer 100 rooms and will operate under the Ibis brand name. The third property, the Hostal Nicol?s de Ovando (where King Juan Carlos of Spain stayed years ago), is scheduled to reopen in year 2000, after a US$12-14 million remodeling. This hotel will also operate under the Sofitel brand name. It will have a five star category. Garraud explained that the hotel chain has plans to build two resorts in beach areas — a 500-room one in Punta Cana and another 300-room hotel in Saman?. These properties are slated for opening prior to 2003. He said Accor expects to have some 10 hotels operating in the DR within the next five years. A recent Wall Street Journal story points out that Accor is very strong in Brazil. The devaluation of the Real has made Brazil vacations very competitive with those of the Caribbean, which could have a negative effect on Dominican tourism. Brazil is enjoying a boom in hotel construction responding to the increased demand. Accor alone has plans to invest US$600 million in 51 new Brazilian hotels.
