April 11, 2012 - Isabelle Birem joins Accor as Senior Vice President Direct Sales, reporting to Jean-Luc Chrétien, Executive Vice President Sales, Distribution and Loyalty Strategy.

She replaces Cédric Gobilliard, who was appointed Senior Vice President Global Sales on January 1, 2012.

Isabelle Birem will be responsible for defining and implementing Accor’s Direct Sales strategy which notably includes Accorhotels.com, the multi-brand booking portal, and Le Club Accorhotels, the group’s loyalty program.

Isabelle Birem is a graduate of ESSEC and has spent most of her career with Air France, which she joined in 1989. She held different positions of responsibility in sales and marketing there before being appointed General Manager of Air France Argentina and Chile, based in Buenos Aires in 2003.

She then became General Manager of Air France KLM Brazil, based in Sao Paolo, where she was notably responsible for the integration of the Air France and KLM teams.

Since 2009, Isabelle Birem was responsible for Air France KLM’s loyalty program Flying Blue.

“With her experience and skills Isabelle will enable us to pursue and intensify the development and contribution of our key projects in the „battle for the client,‟” explained Jean-Luc Chrétien.

Accor, the world's leading hotel operator and market leader in Europe, is present in 90 countries with more than 4,400 hotels and 530,000 rooms. Accor's broad portfolio of hotel brands - Sofitel, Pullman, MGallery, Novotel, Suite Novotel, Mercure, Adagio, ibis, all seasons/ibis Styles, Etap Hotel/Formule 1/ibis budget, hotelF1 and Motel 6 - provide an extensive offer from luxury to budget. With 145,000 employees worldwide, the Group offers to its clients and partners nearly 45 years of know-how and expertise.