Accor Hotels is a French-owned chain of hotels, operating in the hospitality business throughout the world. The company owns more than 4,000 hotels, and operates in 95 countries with more than a quarter of a million employees. It is the largest hotel group outside the USA. The chain was founded in 1967 by Paul Dubrule and Gérard Pélisson, two Frenchmen who knew the hotel business. They opened the first Novotel outside Lille in northern France, and in 1974 they launched the Ibis brand. Ibis offers a no-frills franchised hotel: rooms are clean, comfortable, and have TVs and en-suite bathrooms. Ibis hotels usually have a small bar and simple food is available.

Later, the partners founded Ibis Budget (at first branded as Etap). These hotels are even more basic, with an absolute minimum of service level: check-in is automated, there are snack machines and coffee machines rather than a restaurant, and it is possible to stay at an Ibis Budget hotel without seeing a member of staff at all. These hotels are usually located next to motorways, often on industrial estates where land is cheap. They are aimed at travellers who simply want somewhere clean to sleep before continuing their journey in the morning. 

Case study questions 

1. Why would someone prefer to stay in a hotel with a minimal service element? 

2. What is the appeal of staying in a branded, standardised hotel chain such as Novotel? 

3. How might Accor continue to expand? 

4. What are the risks of choosing to stay in a Formule 1? 

5. How might Accor cross-sell its different brands?