Accor business volume from online bookings increased 44% in 2004 to €431 million, accounting for nearly 8% of lodging business volume, compared with 5.6% in 2003.Although the Economy segment still accounts for the majority of Internet bookings, online sales in the Midscale and Upscale segments (Sofitel, Novotel, Mercure and Suitehotel) rose sharply, accounting for 47% of online business volume, versus 40% in 2003. 81% of these bookings were made directly on Accor hotel sites (accorhotels.com, sofitel.com, novotel.com, mercure.com, suite-hotel.com, accorvacances.com, accorthalassa.com, ibishotel.com, etaphotel.com, hotelformule1.com, motel6.com and redroof.com).

New functions and services were added to the various sites, especially the international accorhotels.com portal. In addition to French, English and German, the portal has been accessible in Spanish since last year, which helped drive a nearly twofold increase in the number of Spanish-speaking customers in 2004. Regional sites also exist in Brazilian, Chinese, Japanese and Thai.

Dedicated to making it easier to book in Accor’s 4,000 hotels around the world, accorhotels.com has been improved with features, such as:

* “Dream” destinations (for sports, relaxing, just being together, new discoveries, just having fun and unashamed indulgence).

* “Now’s a good time for…” getaway ideas.

In 2004, the number of room nights booked via the portal increased by 87%.

Overall, the accorhotels.com
portal and Accor hotel chain sites receive an average of more than 150,000 visitors a day, for a total of 55 million in 2004.
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