• First European group with three times more rooms than its next follower, the Accor Group still leads the European hotel industry despite a rather stable room supply. It has experienced strong restructuring of its brands.

• Now in the process of repositioning historic brands and/or launching new concepts, most of the European groups have undergo a radical review of their networks. Thus a significant number of hotels, that did not fit anymore the norms, have left these groups.

• The ranking of the first 20 European hotel brands is more stable, even though it is the result of an in-depth review of the various brands fundamentals. The British brands (Travelodge, Premier Inn, Holiday Inn, Express by Holiday Inn) have express a remarkable dynamism, going up to the top of the ranking while the Spanish hotels of TUI have gone through a severe clarification.

Accor remains the indisputable leader of Europe�s hotel industry with nearly 3 times more hotels than the runner up. The year focused on the redefinition of its brand portfolio. Under the impetus of Gilles Pélisson, the French group launched new brands (All Seasons) and repositioned older ones (Novotel, Sofitel, Pullman)� and is about to do the same with Formule 1 and Mercure. Thus the global supply only progresses by 0.3%, because of an intense review of the portfolio with the quest for greater brand coherence. Novotel�s inventory (-5.9%) was affected by many exits of properties, Mercure compensated for its losses with the arrival of several large properties. Formule1 closed some older units, while Etap Hotel added more than 2,000 rooms and 20 hotels to its inventory (+8.4%). Ibis, the number-two European label, grew by 1.9%.

Second in last year�s ranking, Best Western�s supply continues to go up and down. While remaining solidly in the first position of brands on a European level, Best Western seems to be entering a new phase of shrinking its inventory by adopting a strategy of �cleansing� its supply. The result: InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) has stepped up to the second position in the ranking with a supply that is 5.5% bigger than the previous year. The British group is probably set to hold this position for some time considering the strong development of Holdiay Inn and Express by Holiday Inn, and the robustness of its pipeline. The next stage for IHG: the extended stay segment with the development of Staybridge Suites in England.

Starwood Capital is beginning to digest the absorption of Louvre Hotels (+3.7%). Through a long-term strategy the group is renewing with growth on solid foundations after a period of regression of its supply. Campanile benefits from new momentum with a new concept launched this year. Kyriad�s development through franchising is back on a growth track after playing a waiting game. And, on the upscale, Concorde will favour management contracts.
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The two leaders of Spain�s hotel industry are now neck and neck for climbing up the ranking. Sol Melia succeeded in its take-over of the chain Innside, with 12 hotels in Germany, which will be associated with the development of Sol Melia in Central Europe. NH Hoteles follows close behind Sol Melia, and its supply has progressed by 7.3%. In 2007, the Italian offensive continued with the integration of 15 hotels from the Sicilian-owned group Framon into the NH�s inventory. The group pursued its organic growth with fifteen or so new hotels in Spain, Austria, France and Belgium.

Growth of its two leading brands (Radisson SAS and Park Inn) ensures increasing exposure in Europe for the Rezidor Hotel Group, which is among the Top 10 brands. It pursues its development in the principal European cities such as in Dublin or Marseilles. Park Inn shows its strong development potential on secondary and tertiary markets in Germany and in the British Isles.
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Methodology

MKG Consulting is the leader in consulting for the Hotel, Tourism and Catering sector, and has the largest hotel database in the world outside the USA, with a good representation of all the hotel segments. MKG database�s monthly program is based on a sample of 10 000 corporate chain hotels, representing 1 000 000 rooms.

Since September 2004, the MKG Consulting database proposes a program that allows the daily monitoring of activity indicators for each hotel. This program counts 1 500 hotels and 125 000 rooms in France which makes it the most developed daily program in Europe.

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