Hotel Management — February 2012
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Carlson, Rezidor join forces on name, united global vision
Minneapolis – In mid-January Carlson and The Rezidor Hotel Group aligned to form The Carlson Rezidor Hotel Group, with the primary goal of leveraging the group’s combined development and sales strengths on a global platform.
Thorsten Kirschke, COO of Carlson Hotels and president of Carlson’s Americas region, told Hotel Management that while the new company will leverage its new partnership to stakeholders and developers, the legal status and ownership of each company remains the same, as do the brand names associated with the companies.
“We are still Carlson, the majority shareholders in Rezidor,” Kirschke said. “We own 50.03 percent of fully diluted shares and that will not change.”
The two companies have been aligned since 1994, when Rezidor signed a master franchise agreement for the Radisson brand in the EMEA region. In 2005, the private, family-owned Carlson secured a 25-percent stake in Rezidor. Rezidor went public in 2006 and in 2010 Carlson secured its current 50.03-percent stake in Rezidor.
“For me, this is the summit, or the signature, if you will, on our joint collaboration over 17 years,” Kirschke said. “Nothing changes for employees. We have about 80,000 people around the world employed by [Carlson or Rezidor]. Rezidor employees continue to be employed by Rezidor, and Carlson employees continue to be employed by Carlson.”
What will change, Kirschke said, is the scope of the combined companies and how it presents itself to developers. A global steering committee, jointly led by Carlson CEO Hubert Joly and Rezidor CEO Kurt Ritter, is addressing the new company’s top priorities of revenue optimization and sales development.
“We don’t have to overcome a dual perception of being two companies anymore,” Kirschke said. “We can speak to the market as one company and do business as one.”
Combined global sales efforts are “our most important priority,” Kirschke said. The company is structuring its global sales forces to “explore inter-geographical sales management,” he said, to gain maximum yields on revenue management around the world.
Carlson, Rezidor join forces on name, united global vision
Minneapolis – In mid-January Carlson and The Rezidor Hotel Group aligned to form The Carlson Rezidor Hotel Group, with the primary goal of leveraging the group’s combined development and sales strengths on a global platform.
Thorsten Kirschke, COO of Carlson Hotels and president of Carlson’s Americas region, told Hotel Management that while the new company will leverage its new partnership to stakeholders and developers, the legal status and ownership of each company remains the same, as do the brand names associated with the companies.
“We are still Carlson, the majority shareholders in Rezidor,” Kirschke said. “We own 50.03 percent of fully diluted shares and that will not change.”
The two companies have been aligned since 1994, when Rezidor signed a master franchise agreement for the Radisson brand in the EMEA region. In 2005, the private, family-owned Carlson secured a 25-percent stake in Rezidor. Rezidor went public in 2006 and in 2010 Carlson secured its current 50.03-percent stake in Rezidor.
“For me, this is the summit, or the signature, if you will, on our joint collaboration over 17 years,” Kirschke said. “Nothing changes for employees. We have about 80,000 people around the world employed by [Carlson or Rezidor]. Rezidor employees continue to be employed by Rezidor, and Carlson employees continue to be employed by Carlson.”
What will change, Kirschke said, is the scope of the combined companies and how it presents itself to developers. A global steering committee, jointly led by Carlson CEO Hubert Joly and Rezidor CEO Kurt Ritter, is addressing the new company’s top priorities of revenue optimization and sales development.
“We don’t have to overcome a dual perception of being two companies anymore,” Kirschke said. “We can speak to the market as one company and do business as one.”
Combined global sales efforts are “our most important priority,” Kirschke said. The company is structuring its global sales forces to “explore inter-geographical sales management,” he said, to gain maximum yields on revenue management around the world.
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