Accor North American Honors Earth Day

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. April 21, 2009

APRIL 21, 2009 - In honor of international Earth Day on April 22, Accor North America, which operates more than 1,000 upscale and economy hotels, will launch Accor Earth Guest Day on April 22. During this unique week, each Accor North America property will focus efforts in three categories: employee wellness, community involvement and volunteerism, and water and energy conservation. Earth Guest Day activities are led and put into action in local communities by Accor North America's four brands and 1,000 properties - Sofitel, Novotel, Studio 6 and Motel 6 in the U.S. and Canada.

The Accor North America Earth Guest Day efforts are designed to maximize Accor employee involvement with the community while raising awareness of sustainability and environmental issues. As part of the energy conservation initiative, all Motel 6 and Studio 6 locations will shut off the PTAC units in unoccupied rooms on April 22, reducing their carbon footprint in celebration of Earth Day. In the same spirit, Sofitel will turn off the lights so guests can enjoy a candlelit dinner in the restaurant and/or wine tasting in the bar to help raise awareness of the importance of energy conservation.

To promote community involvement and volunteerism, Novotel team members in Toronto will join a local Earth day celebration for a tree planting and will hold a donation drive for bed sheets and linens benefitting a local charity. Motel 6, Studio 6 and Novotel team members will organize park, lake and beach clean-ups on or around Earth Guest Day to benefit local communities.

ANA corporate offices will promote employee wellness and water conservation by selling aluminum water bottles to employees for $1. All proceeds will benefit UNICEF's TAP Project(R), which provides clean drinking water and sanitation for children in more than 90 countries.

Other initiatives include offering organic food on the hotel restaurant menus, planting of native landscaping to preserve water, and the creation of a mini organic herb garden by employees.

Accor North America has implemented an ever-growing list environmental initiatives and efforts to minimize the environmental impact of its properties. Here are a few key conservation and earth-friendly elements ANA operates on an ongoing basis:

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

o 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)

o Florescent bulb and battery recycling in 690 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

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

o Faucet aerators replaced with higher water-efficiency 0.5 gallon per minute aerators (Motel 6 and Studio 6 locations)

o Commitment to reduce 10% of electric consumption by 2010 (Motel 6 and Studio 6 locations)

o 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)

o Using environmentally sensitive EcolabTM laundry products (all Motel 6 and Studio 6 locations)

o 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

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

o Corporate office recycling program

o Use of ecological paper, including printing 1.3 million directories on recycled paper using Soy ink (all Motel 6 and Studio 6 directories)

o Use of compact fluorescent lighting, which consumes 75% less energy than conventional bulbs (all brands)

o 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.