* Accor to open its booking website to independent hoteliers

* Company also changes name to "AccorHotels"

* To spend extra 22 million euros on the plan

(adds details, analyst, CEO comments from conference)

By Dominique Vidalon

PARIS, June 3 (Reuters) - French hotel group Accor ACCP.PA will allow independent hoteliers to offer their rooms on its booking website to fight back against online travel agents and gain greater control over profit margins.

The world's fourth-largest hotel group said it would spend 22 million euros ($25 million) on the initiative, which could increase the number of hotels available through its website to 10,000 by 2018 from 3,700 now.

Europe's largest hotel group, being reorganised by Chief Executive Sebastien Bazin, is also changing its name to "AccorHotels", in line with its website, to boost its brand.

"We are launching the first marketplace made by an hotelier for other hoteliers," Bazin told a news conference.

The decision to work with independent hotels comes as Accor and rivals face rising competition from online travel agents (OTAs) such as Expedia EXPE.O and Booking.com PCLN.O , who are earning commission fees that can reach 20 percent of the cost of a room. Online home-sharing site Airbnb is another threat to their business model. ID:nL5N0XI2H2

Accor, whose hotels range from the luxury Sofitel to the budget Ibis brands, is betting that increasing the breadth of hotels supplied by its website will boost traffic and ultimately bolster revenue.

Airlines are also seeking more control over profit and revenue from online ticket sales. Germany's Lufthansa LHAG.DE said on Tuesday it will levy a 16 euro ($18) surcharge from September on tickets not booked through its own websites and other direct sales channels. ID:nL5N0YO34G

Accor makes a third of sales online, evenly split between bookings made via its own website and via OTAs.

Exane BNP Paribas analyst Guillaume Rascoussier said Accor's move was "opportunistic" but that visibility on the costs associated and the potential success seemed "fairly low".

One concern was that the size of Accor's platform was limited compared with Expedia's, which offers a choice among 500,000 properties, he said.

Accor, which also competes with InterContinental IHG.L , Marriott MAR.O and Starwood HOT.N , said the investment comes on top of the 225 million euros it has announced it would spend to beef up its digital business between 2014 and 2018.

Accor last year bought French start-up Wipolo, a travel software company. In April, it bought FASTBOOKING, a digital services provider for the hotel industry.

The new service starts in July. Hotels will be selected according to their rating on Tripadvisor, their size and locations. Accor said it will charge a booking commission that will be 30-50 percent below that charged by rival OTAs. ($1 = 0.8949 euros)

(Additional reporting by Pascale Denis; Editing by Keith Weir) ((dominique.vidalon@thomsonreuters.com; +33149495432; Reuters Messaging: dominique.vidalon.reuters.com@reuters.net))

Keywords: ACCOR DIGITAL/