In 2009, its best year for openings to date, the Rezidor Hotel Group brought 36 hotels, with 7,100 rooms, into operation across Europe, the Middle East and Africa creating 4,000 new jobs.
With these numbers Rezidor even surpassed 2008 which saw 33 openings with 6,500 rooms, the group’s record year so far. And looking at 2007–2009, Rezidor noted an impressive 41 per cent cumulative growth in rooms in operation.
“We are proud to have achieved these results together with our owners and developers,” said Kurt Ritter, president and CEO of Rezidor. “2009 has been a challenging year, but even in tough times Rezidor believes in growth.”
The Brussels-based group especially focuses on fee-based contracts, which made up 87 per cent of all properties opened in 2009, and on business development in emerging markets such as Africa and Russia/CIS where Rezidor is the leading international player in the hospitality market.
Already being Europe’s leading airport hotel operator, the group grew the number of airport hotel rooms in operation by eight per cent in 2009 and opened flagships including the Radisson Blu Hotel, Hamburg Airport, Germany.
The growth of resort rooms in operation reached 30 per cent in 2009 with Rezidor welcoming the first guests to new and leading spa resorts such as the Radisson Blu Resort & Spa Dubrovnik, Croatia, the Radisson Blu Resort & Spa Cesme, Turkey, and the Radisson Blu Resort & Thalasso Monastir, Tunisia.
“Highlights in 2009 also saw the launch of our dynamic mid-market brand Park Inn in the
Middle East where we opened the Park Inn Al Khobar, Saudi Arabia, and the Park Inn Muscat, Oman,” said Ritter.
Rezidor’s first Park Inn hotel opened in early 2003 in Berlin, Germany, and within six years the portfolio has reached more than 130 properties in operation and under development with a total of more than 24,500 rooms.
Rezidor also brought a completely new brand to the hospitality market in June 2009 when it celebrated the opening of the first Hotel Missoni – a new luxury lifestyle brand developed in cooperation with the iconic Italian fashion house of the same name.
Hotel Missoni successfully debuted in Edinburgh, Scotland, and the brand’s future locations include Kuwait, which is due to open in the coming months, South Africa, Oman and Brazil.