THE NEWLY-established Carlson Rezidor Hotel Group brings together a consolidated footprint it will jointly market, clinching it the ninth position among the largest hotel companies worldwide. It will also see global alignment and management of its brands, and collaboration on revenue generation engines, purchasing opportunities and staff development.
According to 2010 room count ranking results published by Hotels Magazine last September, Rezidor was 13th while Carlson was 19th. With its latest move, Carlson Rezidor leapfrogs over companies such as Hyatt Hotels Corp and Westmont Hospitality Group.
However, there is no change in the legal status or ownership structure of both companies, and Carlson continues to be the majority shareholder in Rezidor with a 50.03 per cent ownership on a fully-diluted basis.
Carlson Rezidor has 1,319 hotels operating and contracted pipeline hotels worldwide, with 154 in Asia-Pacific. Rezidor oversees the bulk of the group’s portfolio in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
In an e-mail interview with TTG Asia e-Daily, Carlson’s president and CEO, Hubert Joly, said the group saw a “strong growth momentum” in Asia-Pacific last year, with 20 openings and a record 29 signings.
Joly added that 18 hotels were scheduled to open in the region in 2012, even as it planned for “some big news around the Park Inn by Radisson brand”.
“The partnership facilitates developing global relationships with key travel intermediaries…The main change for travel (consultants) is that we will be better able to represent the entire brand portfolio globally,” he explained.
Joly reiterated that the Carlson Rezidor’s development priorities continue to be those laid out in its Ambition 2015 strategy.
“On a global basis, this means the growth of Radisson Blu and Radisson as global first-class brands, the roll-out of Park Inn by Radisson in key markets around the world, the continued growth of Country Inns & Suites primarily in the US and India, and generally speaking, an increasing focus on key emerging markets where we have 70 per cent of our contracted pipeline,” he said.
