HotelTravel.com Sponsors Accor’s "Race to Survive Phuket 2010" Charity Event

Phuket, Thailand, March 12, 2010 --(PR.com)-- HotelTravel.com is pleased to partner Accor Asia Pacific as a Gold Sponsor of its ‘Race to Survive Phuket 2010’ from 22 to 25 March, with proceeds raised going to Accor’s Yim Kids Foundation.

HotelTravel.com Chief Information Officer, Olivier Dombey, said the company was very keen to support Accor’s ‘Race to Survive Phuket 2010’ and its Yim Kids Foundation.

“It truly is a worthy cause that will benefit Thai children around the Kingdom from Chiang Mai to Bangkok and Phuket. HotelTravel.com is very grateful to Accor Asia Pacific for the opportunity to be a part of this dynamic charity event, and we hope it will be the beginning of a long-term partnership to support its Yim Kids Foundation.”

Paul Stevens, Accor’s Director of Operations for Thailand and one of the drivers of the Yim Kids Foundation, said: “Accor is delighted to have the support of like minded industry partners like HotelTravel.com. Their support is sure to heighten the profile of the event, which in turn will help the foundation attract more corporate contributions and result in an even greater contribution to the needy children of Thailand”.

In addition to HotelTravel.com, other Gold Sponsor’s of the ‘Race to Survive Phuket 2010’ include V Australia, Kingpower, Ecolab, Syntec and Accor Hospitality.

Companies or individuals who would like to contribute to either the ‘Race to Survive Phuket 2010’ or Accor’s Yim Kids Foundation can do so by logging on to the Yim Kids website.

Accor Race to Survive – Phuket, Thailand
Accor ‘Race to Survive’ is an established, dynamic fund-raising event to generate funds through team sponsorship made up of Accor employees and friends. Over the course of four days –from 22 to 25 March, 2010 - teams from all corners of the globe will travel to Phuket and will push themselves to the limit, completing strenuous daily combinations of swimming, mountain biking, kayaking and running, while camping at night on Lon Island (Koh Lon), a small isolated island southeast of Phuket. Many of the team members participating in the race are hoteliers, not professional athletes.

Participants in the ‘Race to Survive Phuket 2010’ will visit all five Accor hotels in Phuket. The race starts from its three Patong hotels, including Novotel Phuket Resort, Mercure Phuket Patong and Ibis Phuket Patong, before moving south to All Seasons Phuket Naiharn resort. They will then head east towards Novotel Phuket Panwa Beach Resort before the event concludes back in Patong Beach.

Each team is required to raise a minimum of US$7,000 as their entry fee and donate their time and energy to participate in this significant fund-raising event, bringing attention to the cause and show casing Thailand as a world-class tourist destination.

Yim Kids Foundation Projects
Through the Yim Kids Foundation, Accor is creating sustainable, incremental and prudent improvements to the social well being of Thai children. The funds raised will support four projects, each selected and planned carefully, ensuring sustainability and that it will reach out to assist those children that really need a helping hand:

· Support the cost for children’s education in the Mercy Centre’s Bangkok slum school. There are around 300 children at the school and the cost for each child to receive a proper education is approximately US$57 per child per year.
· Support the health and medical-related cost for 63 orphaned and abandoned children with HIV/Aids at the Mercy Centre.
· Assist communities in Koh Lon by expanding their sustainable fishing program to improve their livelihoods, enabling the children from these communities to continue their secondary-level education in Phuket.
· Provide education funds to help the children of Sea Gypsies and rubber tree tappers in Phuket whose livelihoods and way of life have been affected by the Tsunami in December 2004.

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About Accor Hospitality
Accor, a major global group and the European leader in hotels, as well as the global leader in services to corporate clients and public institutions, operates in nearly 100 countries with 150,000 employees. It offers to its clients over 40 years of expertise in two core businesses:

- Hotels, with the Sofitel, Pullman, MGallery, Novotel, Mercure, Suitehotel, Adagio, ibis, all seasons, Etap Hotel, Formule 1, hotelF1 and Motel 6 brands, representing 4,100 hotels and nearly 500,000 rooms in 90 countries, as well as strategically related activities, Accor Thalassa sea & spa, Lenôtre, CWL.
- Services, with 33 million people in 40 countries benefiting from Accor Services products in employee and constituent benefits, rewards and incentives, and expense management.

About HotelTravel.com
HotelTravel.com is a leader in worldwide hotel bookings and a pioneer in online customer service, providing the inside track to the best deals and discounts for hotels in more than 100 countries. Founded in 1999, the company’s multi-lingual website offers eight languages – English, Chinese, Japanese, French, German, Spanish, Italian, and Korean – supported by a 24-hour customer service centre staffed by native speakers in each language. The company employs over 300 staff with offices in Thailand, Malaysia and China.