The Institut Pasteur and Accor announce the implementation of an innovative partnership for
health information and prevention aimed at travellers.
"As guests of the Earth, we welcome the world”
Since 2006, the social commitment of the 4000 hotels and 150,000 Accor employees has revolved
around the "Earth Guest" programme, based on eight action centres, one of which being the fight
against epidemics with efficient international prevention campaigns against the spread of
the AIDS virus and malaria.
Communiqué de presse
Paris, le 18 janvier 2010
Today the Accor group has decided to significantly bolster its involvement in the prevention of all emerging diseases through the signing of a partnership agreement with the Institut Pasteur and the immediate implementation of two wide-ranging initiatives.
- The ability to convert points earned through the AIClub loyalty scheme to donations for the Institut Pasteur
Starting from January 2010 over 3,600,000 Accor customers, already members of the AIClub loyalty scheme that was created one year ago can voluntarily convert the points they’ve earned through their stays in the group’s hotels into donations. The entirety of the donations will be passed on to the Institut Pasteur to be used to finance two projects that are dedicated to combating emerging diseases.
=> Two major projects financed by donations:
- A climate chamber that will let researchers recreate extreme climatic conditions in order to study the evolution of viruses behind epidemics as they could be in real situations.
- A mobile analysis laboratory that can be deployed onboard a plane at any time to allow emerging disease specialists from the Institut Pasteur to directly visit the homes where the new viruses appear in order to study and analyse them in situ.
- The financing of a health information and prevention website for travellers
Accor are financing the creation of a health information and prevention site called Pasteurtravel.com. Published in English and in French, the editorial content of this site is exclusively created by Institut Pasteur experts. Through a simple and ergonomic interface it will allow users to become informed about preventative treatments to take, obligatory and advised vaccines and the risks associated with certain destinations. Finally, thanks to a "news feed" section, the site will give real time information about the relative spread of potential epidemics during periods of health crises. Gilles Pélisson, Accor CEO, said "Accor is both happy and proud to be associated with the Institut Pasteur whose prestige and expertise are internationally recognised and acclaimed. As a responsible player in the world of the hospitality and travel industries, we’re happy to be able to support the Institut Pasteur by giving a research head start and so continuing to always best protect our clients and our employees around the world."
Alice Dautry, Director General of the Institut Pasteur, added, "Accor’s involvement, as an industry leader and major French economic player with the Institut Pasteur, is to our eyes a powerful symbol of the increasing international awareness for emerging diseases. This partnership appears in a world where global populations have never been so mobile and where the Institut Pasteur has just undertaken a very large investment, with the building of a centre for the integrative biology of emerging diseases. This building will, from 2012, bring together multidisciplinary research teams and the latest technological equipment to be able to fight ever more efficiently against epidemics."
Accor, a global group and European leader in the hotel industry, a global leader in prepaid services, operates in nearly 100 countries with 150,000 employees. It offers its customers the knowledge acquired over 40 years in its two core businesses:
- Hospitality, with brands such as Sofitel, Pullman, MGallery, Novotel, Mercure, Suitehotel, Adagio, Ibis, all seasons, Etap Hotel, Formule 1, hotelF1 and Motel 6, accounting for 4000 hotels and nearly 500,000 rooms in 90 countries, as well as the related activities of , Accor Thalassa, Lenôtre, CWL ;
- Prepaid Services, 32 million people benefit in 40 countries from Accor Services (benefits for employees and citizens, rewards, loyalty, and expense management).
About the Institut Pasteur
A centre for biology research, the Institut Pasteur is a private foundation recognised as a public non-profit. Its Parisian campus hosts 2600 people and 130 research laboratories. In parallel to its research on the workings of living things, a large part of its work is dedicated to the study of infectious diseases, genetic diseases, neuro-degenerative diseases and certain cancers. The Institut Pasteur is at the heart of an international network which brings together 32 institutes over 5 continents involving 9500 people.
Contacts presse
INSTITUT PASTEUR PRESS CONTACT
Sylvain Coudon - Director of Communication and Sponsorship - +33 (0)1 44 38 94 81
sylvain.coudon@pasteur.fr
ACCOR PRESS CONTACTS
Charlotte Thouvard - Director of the Media Relations Department - +33 (0)1 45 38 18 28
charlotte.thouvard@accor.com
Delphine Dumonceau - Press Officer - +33 (0)1 45 38 84 95
delphine.dumonceau@accor.com
