French hotel group Accor is ridding itself of its Red Roof Inn brand in order to concentrate on Motel 6, the company announced. The group is selling the economy chain of hotels to a consortium comprising of Citigroup's Global Special Situations Group and Westbridge Hospitality for $1.32 billion. Accor actively had been looking to sell the brand after deciding it had little chance of growing the brand further and also because of the active hotel-buying market. That said, Accor plans on stepping up development of its other low-price-point brand, Motel 6, by opening more than 200 units in the United States and Canada by 2010, chief executive Gilles Pélisson said. The sale of Red Roof involved 326 properties accounting for 35,238 rooms.
