Radisson pursues global presence
by Richard Gordon
With the purchase last week of the Pastoria Hotel in central London, Radisson Edwardian Hotels has further advanced the European expansion plans of its franchise partner, Radisson Hotels International.
Radisson's parent company, the Carlson Hospitality Group, which recently signed a marketing alliance with SAS International Hotels, wants to be the largest travel and hospitality organisation in the world.
It has already sewn up the travel part of its strategy by forming an alliance with Wagonlit, and now runs 4,000 travel agents around the globe.
The hospitality division of Carlson accounted for $3.2b revenue in 1993 and 82,000 hotel bedrooms at the last count. However, Radisson wants to push that up to 113,000 bedrooms by 1997 and 146,000 by the year 2000.
It intends to meet those targets by forming strategic alliances around the world and getting its partners to fund (or find through franchise agreements) more hotels.
Following refurbishment, the Pastoria Hotel will add another 58 bedrooms to the Radisson Edwardian network of 10 London hotels. The hotel also has planning permission for another 20 bedrooms in a top-floor extension.
Last week, Jasminder Singh, the media-shy owner and chairman of Edwardian Hotels, told Caterer at the London launch of the Radisson/SAS partnership that the hotel would be run by the management of the adjoining Hampshire Hotel, with the Pastoria name probably disappearing.
He said the alliance with Radisson, formed in 1991, had been "phenomenally successful" for Edwardian, and there had been no attempt by Radisson to control or interfere with the Edwardian business.
Also speaking at the launch, Juergen Bartels, president of Carlson Hospitality Group, said that although the strong partnership with Edwardian would continue, Radisson SAS would be the main umbrella for growth in Europe.
The aim is to add 60 European hotels by 2000, and SAS, which has one London property - to be renamed the Radisson SAS Portman - has already identified Birmingham, Glasgow and Manchester as potential locations for expansion.
On a more global theme, Mr Bartels said he envisaged a future where "it will be possible to be served by what appears to be one travel agent, one airline and one hotel brand but what is actually several companies working together.
"It will be an interrelated world that speaks through computers," he said.
Mr Bartels predicted Asia would become the world's number one travel market within 10 years. The USA, he added, would fall from 32% to 25% of the world market.
He said the time of US hotel companies moving into Asia or Europe and running hotels was over. The future for US hotel companies was in global marketing and reservations.
It would, therefore, be no surprise if Radisson formed an alliance with an Asian-based hotel company such as Peninsula in the near future.
