Accor Plans to Double the Number of Hotels After Separation of the Hospitality and Service Units

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL–(Marketwire – July 5, 2010) –  Today, July 5th, Accor shareholders approved the separation of Accor Hospitality and Accor Services, which names have changed to Accor and Edenred respectively. Accor keeps the control of Hospitality Business including hotels Sofitel, Pullman, Novotel, Mercure, Ibis and Formule 1.

Held in Paris, the meeting established that Accor shareholders will receive one share to each of Edenred’s shares they own. They will receive cash benefits of 1.05 euros per share. “I am proud to announce the conception of two international groups’ leader in their segments,” said Gilles Pélisson, Accor CEO.

“With the separation of these two operations, Accor will be able to focus exclusively on hospitality, which is a priority to accomplish our expansion program with quality of services,” said Roland de Bonadona, CEO of Accor Latin America. The company aims to have approximately 300 hotels in Latin America by 2015. This number is about the double of today’s 160 units. “We have signed contracts for more than 70 hotels. These contracts are in different stages of implementation: some are only lots so far and others are almost ready.”

Accor Latin America plans for the future follow the company’s global strategic planning called Ariane 2015 (named in honor of homonymous spaceship), which is based on the idea to become one of the three top hotel companies in the world. This strategy forecasts the opening of 40,000 rooms per year all around the world, and also the possibility to acquire regional and/or world hotels.

Business model is organized as follows:

• Brand strategy according to country and market segment;
• Improvement of quality of relationship with clients and suppliers;
• Implementation of “Asset Right” model, which means that Accor keeps its positioning as investor or tenant of selected hotels;
• Dissemination of franchising and management model.

“Our goal is to consolidate our presence in Latin America and we have 100 million euros to invest in the region,” affirmed Bonadona.

Accor Latin America

Operating in Latin America since 1977, Accor holds the biggest and most complete offer of hotel rooms in the region, including international brands such as Sofitel, Pullman, Novotel, Mercure, Ibis and Formule 1. In total, Accor owns 159 hotels with 26,000 rooms, and generates about 10,000 direct jobs. It also delivers complete infrastructure for large, medium and small events. Brazil is considered a strategic market for Accor as it is the company’s fourth biggest market after France, Germany and the United States.

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