Accor, the world’s leading hotel operator and market leader in Europe, is pleased to announce the opening of the ibis Styles Birmingham Centre hotel.

The 120-room ibis Styles Birmingham Centre hotel, which will be operated under a franchise agreement with Mitchells & Butlers Retail Ltd, is located in the heart of Birmingham city centre on Lionel Street and previously operated as the Holiday Inn Express Birmingham – city centre.

This franchise deal is consistent with Accor’s asset light strategy and the move towards a 40:40:20 split between franchised, managed and owned hotels. The flexible and non-standardized characteristics of the ibis Styles brand make it a strong franchise asset.

Since September 2011 when Accor launched the ibis megabrand project, the ibis, ibis styles (all seasons) and ibis budget (Etap Hotel) brands have been united within one single ibis family.  The newly repositioned ibis Styles has expanded across key locations and has opened hotels in London Enfield, London ExCel, London Southwark Rose, London Leyton and London Croydon.  Later this month the ibis Brighton City Centre hotel will open its doors.

Thomas Dubaere, Managing Director, Accor UK & Ireland said: “This new franchise deal reflects not only the strength of the ibis Styles brand, but also demonstrates our attractiveness as a franchise partner. The hotel fits with our strategy of investing and opening in key city-centre locations across the UK and is a testament to Accor’s strong development pipeline. We are well on track to achieving our   target of 10,000 new rooms by 2015.”

Accor currently operates 197 hotels across the UK and Ireland, and the ibis portfolio is growing at a rapid pace. The recent BDRC hotel guest survey reported that ibis is now one of Britain’s top three budget hotel brands, and the brand achieved a record year for 2012, both in terms of growing brand awareness and consumers’ preferred choice.