SARAJEVO (Bosnia and Herzegovina), May 24 (SeeNews) – Orbis Group, the strategic partner of AccorHotels in Eastern Europe, said on Wednesday it has signed a franchise agreement for a Novotel hotel in Bosnia's capital Sarajevo with its local partner and investor, Al Shiddi Group.
The existing Sarajevo-based Hotel Bristol will join the Novotel network in the third quarter of this year, and will mark Orbis' expansion across the Balkan region and Eastern Europe, the hotel group said in a statement emailed to SeeNews.
Bosnia and Herzegovina is a very promising market with great potential for hotels under international brands, Gilles Clavie, president and CEO of Orbis Hotel Group, said in the statement.
"Our intention is very clear: we want to develop our network of hotels in the Balkan region and in Eastern Europe, further strengthening our leading position", Clavie noted.
Novotel Sarajevo, located in the neighbourhood of the Old Town, will offer 186 rooms, 7 meeting rooms, a restaurant, a fitness and wellness center with an indoor pool.
"We are pleased to enter into partnership with AccorHotels/Orbis Group and we selected Novotel brand due to its worldwide strength awareness and service recognition", Sulaiman Al-Shiddi from Saudi Arabia-based investment and development company Al Shiddi Group said in the statement.
He announced that Al Shiddi Group is also continuing the development of high quality real estate projects in Bosnia and the region which include mixed use Sarajevo City Center and the Poljine Hills residential community.
Besides the Novotel project, Al Shiddi Group has entered into a franchise agreement in April with Swissotel, part of AccorHotels, for the development of a new 218-room urban resort in Sarajevo scheduled to open in early 2018.
The Orbis Hotel Group is the largest network of hotels in Poland and in Eastern Europe. Orbis comprises 117 hotels and is the sole licensor of all AccorHotels brands in 16 countries including Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Macedonia, Moldova, Montenegro, Poland, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia and Slovenia.