Accor /

Accor is a French multinational corporation, part of the CAC 40 index, operating in nearly 100 countries. Headquartered in Courcouronnes, Essonne, France, near Évry, Accor runs a hotels branch (Accor Hospitality) and formerly ran a corporate services firm (Accor Services). Accor Hospitality, the Accor hotels branch, has more than 4,000 hotels worldwide, ranging from economy to luxury. Through Accor Services, Accor also sold service vouchers to over 430,000 companies and institutions and 30 million users in 40 countries. The company demerged its Accor Services unit in 2010 under the name Edenred. In the 1960s, the travel industry in France was booming, but many new hotels were concentrated only in major urban areas such as Paris. At the time, Paul Dubrule and Gérard Pélisson were both living in the United States, working for major computer firms. They went into business together, and in 1967, founded the SIEH (Société d'investissement et d'exploitation hôteliers) hotel group. Having seen the success of American lodging properties in suburban areas and along major highways, Dubrule and Pélisson opened their first American-syle Novotel hotel outside of Lille in northern France. In