In the first quarter, The Rezidor Hotel Group pursued its long-term development strategy, focusing on profitable growth through management and franchise contracts in emerging markets. Through the end of March, it now operates 327 hotels and 71,600 rooms in over 50 countries across Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
“Rezidor is well on the way to achieve its targeted 2012 signings and is maintaining its momentum for openings. Upcoming flagships, such as the Radisson Blu Hotel Lusaka in Zambia, the Radisson Blu Hotel Doha in Qatar, the Park Inn London Wembley in U.K., and the Park Inn by Radisson Lille in France are scheduled to join the system this year,” says Puneet Chhatwal, executive vice president and chief development officer at Rezidor.
The hotels that opened during Q1 2012 are all under management and franchise contracts and include: Park Inn by Radisson Rosa Khutor, Russia, with 211 rooms; Radisson Blu Hotel Istanbul Asia, in Turkey, 195 rooms; Okoume Palace Hotel Libreville, Gabon, 320 rooms; and Radisson Blu Hotel Mersin in Turkey, with 246 rooms.
Organic growth has always been a key pillar of the Rezidor’s strategy and, today, it is the fifth largest hotel group in Europe, with Radisson Blu the largest upscale brand, according to MKG Hospitality. The emerging markets of Eastern Europe, Africa and the Middle East are the key development regions for Rezidor—about 75 percent of the group’s contracted rooms are located in these markets. Rezidor operates dedicated, full-service regional offices in Moscow, Dubai and Cape Town. Our local presence and expertise helps us reduce the risk of delays and cancellations that is higher in emerging markets than in mature markets.
Rezidor’s pipeline features 20,000-plus managed or franchised rooms due to open within the next three to four years. It is one of the strongest pipelines in the industry, and represents about 30 percent of the current number of rooms in operation (compared with an industry average of 20 percent). Once these rooms are operational, Rezidor’s EBITDA margin will increase by 2–2.5 percentage points, supporting the EBITDA margin target of 12 percent over a business cycle.
Rezidor’s overall goal by 2015 is to have 400-plus hotels with 100,000 rooms in operation, and 100-plus hotels with more than 20,000 rooms under development, covering a total of 75 countries.