Accor has opened Novotel Saigon Centre in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam’s largest city and its primary economic hub.
The new Novotel is located in the middle of Ho Chi Minh City’s main business district. “The hotel’s accessibility is ideal for a city hotel,” commented Thierry Le Ponner, the general manager. “It’s in the heart of District 1, close to embassies and consulates, and also corporate businesses. The hotel is also just 20 minutes from the Tan Son Nhat International Airport.”
It has 247 guest rooms and suites, along with five meeting rooms providing a total of 400 square metres of meeting space.
Standard room
“To ensure that business travellers staying at the hotel are well taken care of, Novotel Saigon Centre provides state-of-the-art facilities, meeting rooms, technical support always on standby, and free wifi internet access throughout the hotel,” said Le Ponner.
The hotel also features Novotel’s signature The Square restaurant, offering international cuisine, along with a Premier Lounge and Bar 167 Fauborg. It also has a swimming pool with poolside bar, a wellness centre, and gym.
The Square restaurant
Patrick Basset, vice president for Accor Vietnam, Thailand, Cambodia and Laos, said that Accor now feels it has a complete set representing the hospitality giant's different brands in Ho Chi Mihn city, with the new mid-priced Novotel complimenting the already established luxury Sofitel and economy Ibis properties. He added that the Novotel brand is particularly suited to business travellers.
Basset said that Vietnam has seen a steady increase in business travellers over the past few years, adding that in the past seven months the number of visiting the country increased 110 percent from the same period last year.
According to the Voice Of Vietnam, the country has also seen a large increase in foreign investment, with many companies viewing it as an alternative to China for outsourcing their manufacturing bases. Ho Chi Minh City is the country’s largest recipient of this investment, and in 2011 foreign investment in Ho Chi Minh topped US$2 billion, a four percent increase on the previous year, the news service continued.
Located in the far south of Vietnam, Ho Chi Minh City is home to three export processing zones and 12 industrial parks. The city has also established two large technology parks, Quang Trung Software Park and the soon-to-be expanded Saigon Hi-Tech park, aiming to develop as an IT centre.
In 2006, the US technology company Intel decided to invest US$1 billion to develop a base in the city. According to USA Today, Vietnam is offering foreign technology companies significant tax breaks to attract them to the city.
To read Business Traveller Asia-Pacific's feature about foreign investment in Ho Chi Minh, click here.
For an exclusive report on business travel in Ho Chi Minh, click here.
For more information, visit www.novotel.com
Nicholas Olczak
