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China Airlines and Accor sign contract for airport Novotel

China Airlines Ltd (CAL, 中華航空), the nation's largest carrier, and France-based hotel management service provider Accor yesterday signed a contract for Accor to manage China Airlines' planned airport hotel under the brand name "Novotel."

The four-star "Novotel Tao-yuan International Airport Taipei" is being built by CAL Hotel Co (華航大飯店公司), China Airlines' solely invested subsidiary, and is expected to open in September 2009.

The hotel will be the first of the Novotel chain in Taiwan.

While refusing to reveal the value of the partnership, China Airlines president Ringo Chao (趙國帥) said it was a "good deal."

Apart from paying the licensing fee and other basic costs, Accor will receive a certain percentage of the hotel's revenues, he said.

"The primary concept of Novotel is modernity ... that theme will certainly be incorporated into the hotel's design," Michael Issenberg, managing director of Accor's Asia Pacific region, told the Taipei Times on the sidelines of the signing ceremony.

The eight-floor hotel will have around 360 guest rooms and a basement and will be equipped with restaurants, meeting rooms, a business center, a ballroom, swimming pool, gym and other facilities, China Airlines chairman Philip Wei (魏幸雄) said yesterday.

"We believe the hotel will become a brand new and grand landmark at Taoyuan International Airport," Wei said.

The hotel will mainly target visitors traveling on business -- especially transit passengers and airline crew -- and the anticipated rise in Chinese visitors once the government lifts travel restrictions, Wei said.

The hotel hopes to see more business after the launch of a mass rapid transit (MRT) system connecting Taoyuan International Airport and Taipei.

The MRT would reduce the travel time between the airport and downtown Taipei City to less than 30 minutes from around 50 minutes by highway. It is expected to be operational in 2012.

The Novotel Taoyuan International Airport Taipei is part of a 50-year build-operate-transfer (BOT) project CAL signed with the Civil Aeronautics Administration last September.

The three-building complex -- around 1.5km from the airport's terminals -- will also include China Airlines' corporate headquarters and crew training and dispatch center.

The construction costs for the project are estimated at NT$4 billion (US$121.24 million) to NT$4.5 billion, Wei said.

The cost of the hotel will account for NT$1 billion to NT$1.5 billion of the final price, excluding interior design, decorations, furniture and facilities, said Roger Han (韓梁中), head of China Airlines' finance division.

The carrier declined to give a prediction of how long it would take the hotel to recover the investment and bring in a profit, Wei said, adding that it would be best if the hotel could earn profit in its first year.

Accor operates more than 4,000 hotels in 140 countries under various chain names.

There are currently 450 Novotel hotels worldwide.
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