Paris, June 24, 2002 _. On June 24, Accor launched in France and Germany, its two core
markets in Europe, a new ad campaign aimed at leisure travelers. The international campaign,
which will last four weeks, will involve both radio commercials and advertisements in daily
newspapers. The objective is to increase occupancy rates at all of the Group’s hotel chains
(Sofitel, Novotel, Mercure, Suitehotel, Ibis, Etap, Formule 1) across Europe during the summer.
The campaign is intended to encourage people to think “Accor Hotels” and to book via
telephone and the Internet.
“For the first time, an ad campaign will combine under the single Accor Hotels banner all our
hotel products, from economy to luxury. This will make it easier for our leisure traveler
customers to understand what we can offer,” explains Virginie Sido, Accor’s Advertising,
Publishing and Visual Identity Department Manager.
Designed around the “Smiley Prices” concept offered in Accor’s 2,000 hotels in Europe, “the
campaign highlights a room/rate combination for each of our chains and encourages customers
to use our central booking service, either via the Accorhotels.com website or the local Accor
Reservation Service phone line (0825 88 00 00 - 0.15 euro per minute),” adds Marco Pimentel,
Marketing Manager, Economy Hotels.
Examples of “Smiley Prices” include:
- Sofitel Palm Beach Marseille, a double room with breakfast from 160 euros. - Sofitel St James London, a double room with breakfast from 170 pounds. - Novotel Rouen Sud, a double room with breakfast for 65 euros. - Novotel Tours Sud, a double room with breakfast for 75 euros. - Mercure Toulouse Matabiau, a double room from 64 euros. - Mercure Paris Bercy, a double room with breakfast for 95 euros. - Suitehotel Lille Airport, a single or double room for 59 euros. - Ibis Strasbourg Centre Ponts Couverts, a single or double room for 49 euros. - Ibis Grenoble Centre, a single or double room for 49 euros. - Etap Aix-les-Bains, a double or triple room for 32.50 euros. - Formule 1 Hyères Le Lavandou, a single, double or triple room for 26 euros.
In France, the campaign will be launched on June 24 with banners published in the country’s
leading daily newspapers (Le Figaro, Le Monde, Libération, L’Equipe and le Journal du
Dimanche), and supported by radio ads on Europe 1, the 70 affiliated stations of the “Les
Indépendants” network, Nostalgie, RFM and RTL.
In Germany, the banners will be published beginning June 27 in daily newspapers (Frankfurter
Allgemeine Zeitung, Süddeutsche Zeitung, Die Welt, Welt am Sonntag, Berliner Morgenpost,
etc.) and TV guide magazines (TV Movie, TV Spielfilm, etc.).
With 147,000 associates in 140 countries, Accor is the European leader and one of the world`s
largest groups in travel, tourism and corporate services, with two major international activities:
- hotels: more than 3,700 hotels (415,000 rooms) in 90 countries, casinos, travel agencies,
and restaurants;
- services to corporate clients and public institutions: each day, 13 million people in 31
countries use a broad range of services (food vouchers, people care and services, incentive,
loyalty programs, events) engineered and managed by Accor.
——-