Accor Sells French Institutional Investors 158 French Budget Hotels

Accor this week announced the sale of 158 properties, with a total of 12,300 rooms, from its budget HotelF1 brand in France. A consortium of French institutional investors acquired the properties for €272 million.

Under the terms of the sale, Accor has a 12-year business lease on the properties, renewable six times at Accor's option. This means Accor will still operate the hotels under the HotelF1 brand and maintain control of pricing and product innovation, according to the company.

Accor created the Formule 1 brand, a pioneer of the budget hotel concept for France, in 1984. The company renamed the brand HotelF1 in 2007.

More recently, Accor has renovated about 100 properties in the brand as part of a vast refurbishment program, according to the company. This has included the creation of a new room concept featuring two twin beds.