NETHERLANDS - Horeca & Catering (PH&C) is to provide employees of Accor Hotels in the Netherlands with additional pension products.

The industrywide provider for the hotel and catering sector will offer almost 3,000 Accor employees the chance to build up extra pension on top of the basic scheme and  maximum pensionable salary of €30,623 as of January 1, 2007, it said.

In addition, Accor Hotels workers can also take out surviving relatives' insurance with Horeca & Catering as of June 1.

PH&C's new scheme comprises of mandatory basic arrangements and optional additional schemes on a collective and/or individual basis.

According to PH&C, Accor Hotels is the first employer to sign a collective contract for all extra benefits.

"We have chosen PH&C for its additional products, because of its performance and communication to our participants," Martin Geerdink, director of human development at Accor Hotels Netherlands told IPE.

Up to now, the additional pension arrangements for Accor Hotels have been provided by insurer Nationale Nederlanden, Geerdink said. He declined to mention the value of the contract.

The €2.6bn PH&C has approximately 700,000 participants in total and over 34,000 connected employers.

Accor Hotels group Netherlands covers 50 hotels and Accor Corporate Services.