In the first half of the year, the group opened 9 hotels featuring 2,300 rooms; and added 16 hotels featuring 3,700 rooms to the pipeline.
The Rezidor Hotel Group announces the opening of five hotels (1,300 rooms) and signing of 10 hotels (2,300 rooms) in the Second Quarter of 2012 which is ahead of last year's quarterly results.The Q2 new openings include two stunning flagship resorts in Corsica and Gran Canaria, further strengthening the group's resort portfolio which now features almost 50 properties and 13,000 rooms across Europe, the Middle East & Africa.Second quarter saw the opening of the following hotels, all under management and franchise contracts, the 5th consecutive quarter without any leased hotel opening which lays the foundation of profitable growth:
In line with the group's Route 2015 strategy to uplift the EBITDA margin by 6-8 percentage points by 2015 Rezidor has successfully converted a committed contract in Rome to a Franchise contract, securing more profitable income streams in the years ahead and reducing its risk exposure. The group also extended a favourable lease in the Nordics, the Radisson Blu Hotel in Trondheim. Rezidor hosts one of the strongest pipelines in the industry in the upscale and mid-market segment. Currently it features 22,000 rooms all with managed or franchised contracts; all due to open within the next three to four years. It represents ca. 30% of the number of rooms currently in operation (as compared to the industry average of ca. 20%). Once the pipeline is operational, Rezidor's EBITDA margin will increase by 2-2.5 percentage points, contributing to the 12% target over a business cycle."Despite the economic turbulence in the eurozone, Rezidor is confidently progressing towards achieving its 2012 target of signings and new hotel openings,"declares Puneet Chhatwal, Executive Vice President and Chief Development Officer of The Rezidor Hotel Group.Rezidor is soon to open some key flagships in 2012, i.e. Radisson Blu Hotel Lusaka in Zambia; Park Inn by Radisson Lille in France; Park Inn by Radisson Budapest in Hungary and Radisson Blu Congress and Resort Hotel, Sochi in Russia.By the end of June 2012, Rezidor operated 332 hotels and 72,900 rooms in 54 countries across Europe, the Middle East and Africa. The group's portfolio features additional 100 hotels and 22,000 rooms in the pipeline.
