Radisson Hotel Group Isn't Finished With Transformative Strategy

Few hotel companies have changed as much in the past five years as Radisson Hotel Group. The company, which had struggled with mediocrity, did a strategy rethink and retooled itself. The European-based company is still relatively small, with about 1,700 hotels and resorts open or in development. But it aspires to double its portfolio by 2025.

Last year the group signed nearly 200 properties. This year it aims to open 15,000 rooms and sign 330 properties.

Its biggest growth market is Asia Pacific, where it has more than 400 properties in operation and development today and expects to add 1,700 by 2025. The company looks for a mix of organic growth, mergers and acquisitions, master license agreements, and leases.

The growth may make the company more compelling as a merger or acquisition target. Jin Jiang International Holdings, a Shanghai-based tourism powerhouse, became the majority owner of Radisson Hotel Group in late 2018. Jin Jiang also has a 13 percent stake in Accor, and it owns Louvre Hotels Group, parent of the Golden Tulip brand. Jin Jiang has a master franchise agreement with Radisson Hotel Group that let it sign last year more than 25,000 Radisson-branded rooms in Greater China via Jin Jiang's entities.

To learn more about Radisson Hotel Group's growth plans, we spoke on Tuesday with CEO Federico González, who took the top job in 2017.

The group didn't see a path for growing its North American business on its own resources, so this year the group sold it to Choice Hotels for $675 million. Most of the proceeds will go to paying down debts accrued during the pandemic, González said.

In May through August, Radisson Hotel Group generated revenues above 2019 levels in several markets, including the Nordics, the Middle east, Central Europe, and the UK and Western Europe —