Carlson Rezidor Hotel Group

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Carlson Rezidor Hotel Group is one of the largest hotel and hospitality companies and includes 1,440 hotels in operation and under development with more than 230,000 rooms and locations in 115 countries and territories. The Carlson Rezidor portfolio includes many global brands: Quorvus Collection, Radisson Blu, Radisson, Radisson RED, Park Plaza, Park Inn by Radisson and Country Inns & Suites By CarlsonSM. The company offers a loyalty scheme called Club CarlsonSM. Over 95,000 people are employed in the group's hotels. The company is headquartered in Minneapolis, Singapore, and Brussels.

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Operations

The group has more than 1,300 hotels in operation and under development in 115 countries and territories. It is one of the world's top 15 largest hotel groups.

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History

In 1938, Curtis L. Carlson founded the Gold Bond Stamp Company in his hometown of Minneapolis, Minnesota. Over the next 75 years, Gold Bond grew into an international travel and hospitality corporation, operating thousands of hotels, hundreds of restaurants.

Rezidor was originally the hotel subsidiary of SAS Airlines. Rezidor opened its first hotel 1960 in Denmark, the Royal Copenhagen, designed by Arne Jacobsen. The group developed from a regional player in Scandinavia to an international company. In 1980, Radisson SAS opened in Kuwait, the first to open outside of Scandinavia. In 1994, Rezidor signed the first master franchise agreement with Carlson for operation and development of the Radisson brand in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. In 2002, the second master franchise agreement followed for the Park Inn, Country Inn and Regent brands in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. When SAS sold the hotel business in 2006 and Rezidor went public (listed at Stockholm Stock Exchange), Carlson became the largest shareholder and is today the majority shareholder.

Carlson and Rezidor launched their strategic partnership in January 2012.