Rezidor growth continues
Rezidor SAS Hospitality has reported its seventh consecutive year of growth in hotel numbers and volume of business.
Turnover for the group's owned and leased hotels, including franchise fees, rose by 2% during the calender year 2001 to €379m (£234.4m).
Group-wide turnover for all Rezidor's owned, leased, managed and franchised Radisson SAS and Malmaison hotels rose from €1.04b (£640.2m)in 2000 to €1.09b (£674.2m) last year.
In 2001, pre-tax profit was €22m (£13.6m). Although the 2001 figure was substantially lower than the previous year's €68m (£42m), the 2000 figure included €31m (£19m) from property sales.
By the end of 2001, Rezidor SAS had 160 hotels in operation or under construction in 38 countries, compared with 146 the previous year.
During the year the group opened ten Radisson SAS hotels: five new-builds in Sofia, Bulgaria; Tallinn, Estonia; Kalaipedia, Lithuania; Sharm El Sheik, Egypt; and Galway, Ireland, and five converted properties in St Petersburg, Russia; Bratislava, Slovakia; Linko(umlaut)ping and O(umlaut)rebro, Sweden; and Espoo, Finland.
For comparable hotels, occupancy remained high at 68% (69% in 2000). Average room rate dropped by just 2% to €105 (£65), and revenue per available room (RevPAR) fell by 3% to €71 (£44).
Rezidor SAS currently operates three Radisson SAS hotels in the UK in London, Manchester and Stirlingshire. A 147-bedroom Radisson is due to open in Leeds in April.
The group operates five Malmaison hotels in Glasgow, Leeds, Edinburgh, Newcastle, and Manchester. Another is due to open in London in early 2003, and a further two are under construction in Birmingham and Brussells.
Kurt Ritter, president and CEO, said: "Although business growth rates have slowed, the Rezidor SAS trend continues on an upward curve. This is particularly gratifying in a year of unusually difficult trading conditions."
