For any Accor hotels fans

The Accor hotel brand includes luxury brands like Sofitel and Fairmont. I've only stayed at those two brands for business conferences in Chicago and Boston respectively. Quite luxurious! Accor spans from budget like Ibis to the ones I mentioned already.

And, adding to Continental's reply, Ibis itself now has three levels - Ibis, Ibis Styles (fancier) and Ibis Budget (more basic).

Ibis was my first hotel after I got into a pay scale where I do not have to stay in hostels anymore.
I still stay at all three brands and usually get two free drink tickets I can use at the bar

Just a brief reminisce of Accor hotels ... in 1997, on our first trip to Europe with two teen age sons, I booked 8 nights (Paris, Rennes, Ghent, Amsterdam, Luxembourg and CDG) under a promotion of kids stay free (~ $150). Now, I'll have to admit that the first 6 nights of our stay at a Thistle hotel with our bedroom window overlooking Kensington Place was hard to match (also a promo at ~ $150), the Novotel/Mecure/Ibis options were fantastic. It was hard to pull the boys out of the buffet breakfast each morning ... And, to this day twenty years and 25 trips later, I'll sometimes turn to Accor when I'm unable to find a more charming yet affordable option (although AirBnB has become my go to resource for affordable & charming). Cheers.

Absolutely a Hotel Mercure fan here! I have stayed at the Hotel Mercure Panorama in Freiburg, Germany, and both Mercures in Salzburg Germany, Love them, love their breakfasts!!

Mercure is Accor's 'non-conforming' catch-all brand for properties that don't fit neatly into another hotel type or category the chain offers. Sometimes they're a concrete box in the middle of a commerce park, and sometimes they're older properties that have some real character and charm with owners that are going the chain route because they want access to Accor's global reservations system.