Accor Celebrates its 150th Hotel in Brazil

Brazil's economic boom (it is now the world's sixth largest economy, ahead of Great Britain) is pulling Latin America in its wake and it is clearly one of the world's most dynamic emerging regions alongside Asia. With 900 million travelers a year, it remains one of the Group's development priorities and indeed, Accor has just celebrated the opening of its 150th hotel in Brazil, the Novotel Porto Alegre Aeroporto.

This symbolic milestone is the crowning achievement of 34 years of continuous growth. And today, the pace of this growth is accelerating. In 2011, Accor opened no less than 9 hotels in Brazil, or the equivalent of 1,300 rooms.

The Novotel Porto Alegre Aeroporto is the brand's first franchised hotel in Brazil and its 11th establishment in the country. It is located opposite the Salgado Filho International Airport and boasts 154 air-conditioned rooms as well as excellent meetings and events facilities specially designed to provide business travelers with the Meeting & Novotel offer, a tailored service for the organization of small and medium-sized meetings. The Novotel Porto Alegre Aeroporto also targets leisure travelers and boasts a video game area equipped with X-Box 360 games.

Accor recently signed franchise agreements with three local partners (Atrio, Souza Maria and Martins Hoteis) for the development of 25 ibis budget properties in Brazil. These partners are making a total investment of BRL 200 million.

These hotels will open during the course of the next four years and will cater for demand for business tourism and hotel capacity in small and medium sized cities with 100,000 to 500,000 inhabitants. The first establishment to open will be the ibis budget Sertaozinho which is due in the first half of 2013.