Scandic teams up with copthorne
Copthorne Hotels has forged a strategic alliance with Scandic Hotels that will create a portfolio of 112 European hotels for sales, marketing and promotional purposes.
Under the terms of the agreement, unveiled on Monday, each will sell the other's properties through their sales teams, reservations systems and promotional and marketing literature. However, there will be no cross-investment or joint branding.
The main thrust of the alliance - or "co-operation agreement", as they are calling it - will be the similarities between Copthorne's portfolio and the Swedish group's four-star Scandic Crown properties, though its 71-strong three-star network will also be included.
One of the main benefits to Copthorne is that its 18 hotels will be able to receive business booked through Scandic's reservations centres in Stockholm, Helsinki, Copenhagen, Oslo and Frankfurt.
Based on a similar deal between Scandic and its Finnish neighbour Arctia Hotels, the two sides are predicting a sales uplift of between 2% and 10% depending on a property's location.
Peter Taylor, chief executive of Copthorne, said: "This agreement will stand as a milestone for the European hotel industry and provide both groups with increased size and strength to compete more effectively."
He said there was very little overlap between the two groups' properties, and even where there was - as at Gatwick - there was still scope for cross-referral of certain types of business, particularly at busy periods.
Scandic chief executive Roland Nilsson said the deal made it "highly unlikely" that the Swedish group would develop any further hotels of its own in the UK. It operates four hotels in London, Gatwick and Edinburgh.
If the partnership proves successful, the intention is to develop further alliances. For example, Copthorne will probably join the Arctia-Scandic alliance, and new partners may be sought in the USA and southern Europe.
The emphasis will be on finding partners with a similar product in countries which are already important sources of business. Talks with a hotel group in the Far East are already fairly well advanced.
