Rio Olympics seen boosting Accor

* Accor better placed than European rivals for Rio Olympics

* Accor buys Czech meal voucher business

PARIS, Oct 5 (Reuters) - French hotel group Accor (ACCP.PA) is set to benefit more than European rivals from the decision to award the 2016 Olympic Games to Rio de Janeiro, analysts said on Monday.

Accor's hotels in Rio de Janeiro include one upmarket Sofitel, five Mercure apartment hotels and two budget Ibis.

"Accor has a strong position in Brazil, and in Rio," William Birch, an analyst with Jefferies in London, said.

The International Olympic Committee voted for the Brazilian city ahead of bids from Madrid, Chicago and Tokyo, bringing the world's biggest sporting event to South America for the first time. [ID:nN02327484]

Accor shares were 0.3 percent higher at 36.17 euros by 1448 GMT, broadly in line with a 0.4 percent gain on the French blue-chip CAC 40 index .FCHI.

Accor said on Aug. 27 it may split its prepaid services division from its main hotel operations to create two separate listed companies able to pursue growth independently and attract better share valuations. [ID:nLR542558]

The company said on Monday it had bought Czech meal voucher provider Exit Group for 15 million euros ($21.9 million) to give it a bigger chunk of a market Accor estimates at around 600 million euros with 1.2 million users.

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(Reporting by Lionel Laurent; Editing by Dan Lalor) ($1 = 0.6839 euro)