Accor North America Hosts Earth Day Initiatives

Business Wire, April 17, 2008

A Corporate Responsibility to Mother Earth

DALLAS -- In honor of international Earth Day on April 22, Accor North America, which operates more than 950 upscale and economy hotels, will launch Accor Earth Guest Week from April 21-25. During this unique week, each Accor North America property will focus efforts in two sectors: Eco (involving ecological and environmental conservation) and Ego (encompassing volunteer outreach in each community). Eco and Ego-focused activities are led and put into action in local communities by Accor North America's four brands and 950 properties - Sofitel, Novotel, Studio 6 and Motel 6 in the U.S. and Canada.

The Accor North America Earth Guest Week efforts are designed to maximize Accor employee involvement in beautifying Mother Earth, educating and helping the community and implementing their own Earth Guest initiatives. To promote the Eco focus, Accor North America has partnered with the Arbor Day Foundation to plant 15,000 trees in areas in need of reforestation. Each tree represents one of ANA's 15,000 employees. Also, the posting of 65-point, tri-lingual environmental check list posters throughout Accor North America's properties and corporate headquarters conveys to employees pro-environmental actions including training, consumption reduction, monitoring and analysis. This check list enables Accor's employees to reach the ultimate goal of reducing their collective environmental footprint.

As part of the Ego focus, Accor North America supports education and the development of a strong community as the best devices to protect and maintain the earth's resources. To demonstrate their support, ANA has partnered with the United Way to benefit the organization's Success by 6 Program, which promotes early childhood education for economically disadvantaged children. In addition to making a company donation of $10,000, each Motel 6, Studio 6 and corporate location will conduct a book and school supply drive, and employees will be encouraged to make their own donations to the Success by 6 Program.

Other initiatives include offering of organic food on the hotel restaurant menus, tree planting in local communities, the creation of employee mini organic herb gardens, offering battery recycling locations at select hotels and the corporate headquarters, and hybrid automobile displays.

On an ongoing basis, Accor North America monitors all properties to ensure everyone is doing their part to protect the fragile environment. Here are a few key conservation and earth-friendly elements Accor operates year-round:

* Yearly publication of results of sustainable development initiatives and energy and water consumption per brand in annual report.

* Participation in energy and water conservation programs including creation of a monthly energy / water consumption report to inform each hotel of their month to date progress in regards to consumption savings, taking into consideration variables such as weather and hotel activity levels (all Sofitel and Novotel hotels since 2004)

* Florescent bulb and battery recycling in all 670 plus corporate-owned Motel 6 and Studio 6 properties, making Motel 6 the first national hotel brand to implement a chain-wide fluorescent light bulb and battery recycling program in the hospitality industry

* Water saving shower heads and faucet aerators (all brands)

* Ozone machines were installed on laundry washers; these machines allow the hotel to wash linen and towels with cold water instead of hot and reduce the use of soap/detergent (all Sofitel hotels with laundry)

* Using environmentally sensitive Ecolab[TM] laundry products (all Motel 6 and Studio 6 locations)

* Purchase of wind-generated power by all Sofitel hotels in the U.S., making Sofitel the first hotel chain to become an EPA Green Power Partner

* Technologically advanced heating and cooling systems to reduce consumption of power (all brands)

* Corporate office recycling program

* Use of ecological paper, including printing 5 million brand directories on recycled paper using Soy ink (all Motel 6 and Studio 6 directories)

* Ongoing extensive retrofitting of fluorescent lighting, which consumes 75% less energy than conventional bulbs (all brands)

* Motel 6 and Studio 6 recognized by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) as an Energy Star Leader. Energy star Leaders are recognized as part of the EPA's Energy Star Building Challenge, a program encouraging building owners and managers to reduce energy use by 10 percent or more.

About Accor North America

Headquartered in Dallas (Carrollton), Texas, Accor North America operates more than 950 upscale and economy properties including nationwide economy leaders Studio 6 and Motel 6 and the upper-upscale Sofitel and upscale Novotel hotel locations in the U.S. and Canada. For more information, visit http://www.accor-na.com/.> About Accor Worldwide

Accor, the European leader and a major global group in hotels, the global leader in services to corporate clients and public institutions, operates in nearly 100 countries with 170,000 employees. It offers to its clients over 40 years of expertise in its two core businesses: