Carlson Rezidor Hotel Group reported from its global business conference this week that its Club Carlson loyalty program has reached eight million members and that its portfolio and pipeline have crossed the 1,300-hotel threshold.
Looking ahead, the group expects to open 90 new hotels with more than 15,000 rooms during 2012, including 30 Radisson Blu hotels. Carlson President and CEO Hubert Joly said Carlson Rezidor will continue to focus on generating more than US$400 million in incremental revenue and a Revenue Generation Index (RGI) increase of more than nine points by 2015.
The group expects to add more than 30 Radisson Blu hotels in 2012, including of the conversion of the 13 Radisson Edwardian properties in the U.K. announced during the conference, and iconic hotels in key markets.
For the core Radisson brand, 49% of the North American portfolio will have completed their property improvement plans by the end of 2012. Investments committed to the elevation of the Radisson brand in the U.S. now exceed US$600 million.
Joly also cited the following milestones:
· Signed 84 hotels in 2011 with more than 16,600 rooms, the highest number signed in the last three years. Seventy-one percent of the new hotels signed are from emerging markets.
· Global portfolio is now at 1,319 hotels in operation and under development. Number of rooms in operation and under development has grown to 208,500 at the end of 2011, from 202,000 at the end of 2010 and 197,000 at the end of 2009, despite the removal of close to 15,000 rooms over the last two years.
· Expanded the Asia Pacific portfolio from one Radisson Blu property at the end of 2010 to 29 at the end of 2011.
· Radisson Blu hotels in operation grew from 192 at the end of 2010 to 229 at the end of 2011.
· Twenty-five percent of Radisson hotels in the U.S. and Canada have completed Property Improvement Plans (PIPs), up from 4% at the end of 2010.
· One-third of Country Inns & Suites By Carlson (CIS) hotels have implemented the third generation room prototype, up from 20% at the end of 2010.
· The group’s sales and marketing investments have increased 68% over the past two years to US$168 million in 2011.
· Global web revenue in 2011 increased 22% over 2010.