French AccorHotels becomes first international chain to open in Iran

Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei speaks in a meeting with members of Iran’s Experts Assembly in Tehran, Iran. (Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader via AP)

The French group AccorHotels, the world’s sixth-largest hotel group, announced on Monday it would become the first international hotel group to operate in Iran as the Islamic republic opens up to the west after the deal on its nuclear program.

AccorHotels will open an Ibis hotel and a Novotel branch near Tehran’s international airport, report AFP.

The move comes just two months after the nuclear accord which the west says is aimed at preventing Iran from building a nuclear bomb. The deal received backing from the US Congress on Thursday.

The hotel contracts will be signed by AccorHotels’ chief executive, Sebastien Bazin, with representatives of an Iranian company, Aria Ziggurat, which owns the buildings.

The hotels are scheduled to open on 15 October with a total of nearly 500 rooms.

Aimed at both international and Iranian business travellers, they will be equipped with meeting rooms, conference spaces, and spas, fitness suites and swimming pools.

“There is an enormous potential for development of our brands in this country of nearly 80 million inhabitants whose economy is growing fast,” Bazin said.