Carlson Hotels to Open 75 Properties in Asia Pacific by 2013 and Launch 18 New Hotels This Year

BEIJING, May 24 /PRNewswire/ -- Carlson Hotels, one of the world's leading hotel companies, today announced that it has signed agreements to open 75 Radisson®, Country Inns & Suites By Carlson(SM), Park Inn®  and Park Plaza®  hotels in the region by 2013.  This was announced by Hubert Joly, Carlson president, CEO and director leading up to the 10th Global Travel & Tourism Summit in Beijing.

Carlson Hotels also announced today the signing of four new hotel management agreements in China. They include the Radisson Hotel Chongqing Shapingba in Chongqing city in southwest China, Radisson Hotel Wuxi Hi-Tech Zone in southeast Jiangsu province and Radisson Plaza Resort Huizhou in southeast Guangdong province - all scheduled to open in the first half of 2012, as well as the Park Plaza Chengdu South in Sichuan province which will open at the end of this year.

"Accelerated development in Asia Pacific is a key priority of our Ambition 2015 growth strategy," said Joly. "This market is a key focus area in our plans to increase Carlson Hotels' portfolio by at least 50 percent to more than 1,500 hotels in operation by 2015."

The signed agreements cover all of Carlson's hotel brands. Radisson, Carlson Hotels' vibrant, first-class brand is leading the charge with 43 hotels scheduled to open, bringing the total Radisson portfolio in the region to 72. This makes Radisson the fastest growing upscale brand in Asia Pacific.

"These future openings will strengthen Radisson's positioning as a powerful, globally consistent first-class brand," said Jean-Marc Busato, managing director, Asia Pacific, Carlson Hotels.

This year, Carlson Hotels plans to open 18 properties across the region. Nine of these properties will be Radisson hotels, including the recently opened Radisson Hotel Brunei Darussalam, which is the only internationally branded hotel in the capital city; Radisson Marina Hotel Connaught Place and Radisson Resort Temple Bay Mamallapuram in India, opening in May; Radisson Suites Bangkok Sukhumvit in Thailand, opening in August; Radisson Blu Hotel Cebu in Philippines, opening in September; Radisson Hotel Indore and Radisson Hotel Rudrapur in India, opening in September; and Radisson Hotel Amritsar and Radisson Hotel Greater Noida in India, opening in December.

About Carlson

Carlson is a privately held, global hospitality and travel company headquartered in Minneapolis, Minn. Carlson encompasses more than 1,060 hotels, including Radisson®, Country Inns & Suites By Carlson(SM), Park Inn®, Park Plaza®  and Regent®; more than 1,000 restaurants, including T.G.I. Friday's®  and Pick Up Stix®; and a majority stake in Carlson Wagonlit Travel®, the global leader in business travel management. Carlson operates in more than 150 countries and its brands employ about 150,000 people.  http://www.carlson.com

SOURCE Carlson Hotels