Rezidor and Carlson: old friends create new brand

Rezidor and Carlson: old friends create new brand

One of the leading players on the hotel real estate market - Carlson Hotels - decided to create a new brand with Rezidor Hotel Group. Carlson Rezidor Hotel Group will be the new name of the association.

Carlson Hotels is the largest shareholder of Rezidor Hotel Group. Rezidor Hotel Group, in turn is a franchisor company, which promotes well-known Carlson hotel brands in Europe, the Middle East and Asia. The companies have been cooperating for 17 years.

Creating of The Carlson Rezidor Hotel Group is not so much a capital union, but a strategic one. Each company will retain its original capitalization form. According to Reuters, Carlson will remain a private business, while Rezidor will continue to place their shares at the stock exchange in Stockholm.

Anyway, according to the companies’ directors, coordinated actions under one name will allow to clearly and accurately position the business in the international arena.

Under The Carlson Rezidor Hotel Group name two companies will implement a joint strategy on promoting such hotel chains as Radisson Blu and Park Inn to the world markets. Among the prior regions for the companies are the United States and India. Both countries are expected to become the main markets for promotion of hotels under the Radisson Blu brand. Although Rezidor will traditionally continue expansion to the European and Asian markets.

One of the future results of such consolidation can be creating of a new brand in the U.S. market - hotel chain Missoni, which is now owned by Rezidor. Previously Missoni entering to the U.S. market was impossible due to the international law that did not allow Rezidor to act as a sub-franchisor. Anyway, at the press conference in Chicago devoted to the creation of The Carlson Rezidor Hotel Group one of the top managers of Carlson Hotels Thorsten Kirshke noted that Missoni development is not the primary area for the new association.

Currently The Carlson Rezidor Hotel Group is the 9th hotel company in the world by the room stock. In total The Carlson Rezidor Hotel Group manages 1300 hotels in 80 countries.

Ilya Kalachev

Date: 24/01/2012