Accor and IHG Rumored Merger

French newspaper Le Figaro has reportedly examined a potential merger between Accor and InterContinental Hotels that would create the world’s biggest hotel group. The news comes as travel demand has sharply dropped and many hotel chains are strapped for cash, while there’s no relief in sight just yet. Accor shares are down 43% so far this year, and IHG shares are down around 23%.

IHG is a British multinational hospitality company with about 842,749 guest rooms and 5,656 hotels. Accor is a French company that operates over 700,000 rooms and 4,800 hotels. Each company has a presence in about 100 countries, with most of them overlapping. A potential merger would put them ahead of U.S. rival Marriott by number of hotel rooms, with close to 1.6 million between the two.

Le Figaro reports that no formal approach had been made by Accor just yet, but an internal task force has been set up to look into the matter. Based on current prices, a combined firm could have a market value of about $17 billion.