Rezidor Signs Four New Hotel Projects, Opens Five New Hotels in 4Q12

By Gabriel Circiog, Associate Editor

The Rezidor Hotel Group has recently announced that the final quarter of 2012 was a successful one, as the Belgium-based group signed four new hotels with more than 1,200 rooms and opened five new ones with 1,100 rooms.

The fourth quarter of 2012 saw the Rezidor Hotel Group open hotels in mature markets of France (Lille and Nantes) as well as key cities in emerging markets such as Kiev, Sochi and Budapest. The new hotels opened by the group are:

–          Radisson Blu Hotel, Kyiv Podil, Ukraine 164 rooms;

–          Radisson Blu Hotel, Nantes, France 142 rooms;

–          Radisson Blu Resort & Congress Centre, Sochi, Russia 508 rooms;

–          Park Inn by Radisson Lille Grand Stade, France 127 rooms;

–          Park Inn by Radisson Budapest, Hungary 138 rooms.

The four new hotel signings in the fourth quarter 2012 include the Park Inn by Radisson Amsterdam and two conversions under the Radisson Blu brand in Dortmund and Bremen, Germany.

“Hotel conversions are an important part of our growth strategy, adding scale and contributing to our bottom line immediately,” said Elie Younes, senior vice president and head of group development.

As of the end of 2012, Rezidor’s operating portfolio consisted of 338 hotels with 74,000 rooms in 56 countries. Out of the total hotel signings in 2012, 80 percent were in Eastern Europe, the Middle East and Africa, confirming the group’s focus on these emerging markets. The group is continuing its expansion plan with an additional 100 hotels and 22,000 rooms announced in the pipeline.

In October 2012, the group announced the exit from seven unprofitable lease agreements in France with the hotels continuing to be operated by Rezidor under management agreements. The group also announced recently the conversion of two lease agreements into franchise agreements for the Park Inn by Radisson Hammarby Sjöstad and the Park Inn by Radisson Malmö in Sweden.