Abstract: An armrest for motor vehicle seats has an armrest body with a storage compartment and a cover which constitutes an arm support and is articulated on the armrest body. A receptacle for an accessory such as a telephone is disposed in the storage compartment and a mechanism is provided for moving the receptacle from the storage position to the use position. To provide improved ergonomics the receptacle is supported by two pairs of links in the base region of the storage compartment and, when the cover is open, it can be pivoted by the links from a storage position in the vicinity of the base into an operating position above the armrest body. The carriage has an extension arm by which the accessory can be moved into a predetermined use position.