The Que Huong-Liberty Group will have its current 86-room three-star Metropole Hotel in downtown HCMC demolished next year to leave place for the four-star hotel Novotel Saigon Center.

Accor Group has been hired to manage the new hotel under an agreement it clinched with the developer, Que Huong-Liberty Group, earlier this year.

The 350-room Novotel Saigon Center is expected to open in 2012 to cater to the demand for luxury accommodation in the city. The invested capital for the project is not revealed.

The agreement marks Accor’s expansion in Vietnam, a market the international hotel operator entered 20 years ago.

“Accor is delighted to be continuing its expansion in Vietnam with this strategically located Novotel,” said Patrick Basset, vice president for Accor in Vietnam, the Philippines, South Korea and Japan.

Currently, Accor operates four Novotel hotels in Dalat, Phan Thiet, Nha Trang and Hạ Long as part of its network of 82 Novotel hotels throughout the Asia Pacific region.

The new hotel’s rooms will adopt the latest innovations of the Novotel brand, including modern interiors and surfaces, 32-inch LCD televisions and other amenities. The new 24-story hotel will also feature two restaurants, a street bar, a roof level Executive Club lounge, pools for kids and adults, fitness and business centers and other facilities.

The Japanese consultant Kume Sekkei Architecture is designing Novotel Saigon Center, whose façade will incorporate louvers with an aim at reducing energy consumption and meeting the Green Globe Sustainable Tourism standards.

The Que Huong-Liberty Group owns seven hotels in HCMC and plans to develop more in the coming years throughout Vietnam. The company intends to open the 140-room hotel Liberty Central, which is under construction, in downtown HCMC in February.

VietNamNet/SGT