Connectivity and accessibility key to today's travellers

Accor has announced several new distribution partnerships that will make it easier for travellers throughout the Asia Pacific region to make bookings at its nearly 3,600 hotels globally. The new partnerships include deals with some of the most important online travel agents (OLTAs) in the region including C-trip in China, HanaTour in Korea, Hooroo in Australia and MakeMyTrip in India.

"As a constant innovator in the online booking space, Accor is always looking for partners who can help to extend the reach of our hotels, sustain our competitive edge and make it more convenient for our customers to book their accommodation, no matter where they are," said Markus Keller, Accor's Vice President Sales and Distribution, Asia Pacific.

"With more than 560 hotels across Asia Pacific and a fast-growing pipeline in over 16 countries in the region, Accor understands the importance of these mutually beneficial relationships with online providers, especially in a region where more and more bookings are made online."

Accor is currently the only hotel group with direct connectivity to HanaTour, the largest travel agency in Korea in a deal that will see Accor provide dynamic rates and availability to HanaTour's B2C websites and B2B agents across the Korean market.

Accor also now offers direct connectivity to C-trip, the largest OLTA in China, with more than 90 million registered users. This connectivity will integrate over 1,500 Accor hotels worldwide, so that the global Accor network can benefit from the ever-growing outbound market of FIT travellers from China.

In India, the group has signed a commercial agreement with MakeMyTrip, the largest OLTA in that country, initially to serve Accor's growing Indian network of hotels.

And in Australia, Accor has launched a partnership with Hoooroo, a new player in that market which provides hotel content to Qantas.com and Jetstar.com. This agreement currently covers Australia, but is expected to expand to the rest of the Pacific, Asia and beyond in 2014.

Further to expanding its network of digital distribution partners, Accor also constantly evolves its own website - www.accorhotels.com - to ensure it meets the needs of its customers. As such, Accor is the only international hotel group to support Bahasa Indonesia on its own site, launched in 2012, and this year added Korean to its existing regional languages, which include Japanese and Simplified Chinese.

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Accor, the world's leading hotel operator and market leader in Europe, is present in 92 countries with nearly 3,600 hotels and 460,000 rooms. Accor's broad portfolio of hotel brands - Sofitel, Pullman, MGallery, The Sebel, Grand Mercure Novotel, Suite Novotel, Mercure, Adagio, ibis, ibis Styles, ibis budget and hotelF1 - provide an extensive offer from luxury to budget. With more than 160,000 employees in Accor brand hotels worldwide, the Group offers its clients and partners 45 years of know-how and expertise.

Media Contact:                                                  

Gaynor Reid
Director of Communications, Accor Asia Pacific

T: + 65 6408 8864                                                              

E: gaynor.reid@accor.com