Brussels, Radisson SAS Hotels & Resorts, the first-class, full-service international brand of Rezidor SAS Hospitality, announces the opening of the new Radisson SAS Hotel in Hasselt, Belgium, located about an hour’s drive outside of Brussels. The new hotel is part of the “TT Center,” a 1970’s office complex in the center of Hasselt that has been totally renovated during the last two years.

Housed in the TT Tower, one of the most fashionable malls in the city center and close to the business district, the Radisson SAS Hotel in Hasselt features distinct room styles, dining and meeting facilities. The hotel offers 124 spacious and comfortable rooms and two suites. The hotel has a direct connection to the adjacent health and fitness center with an indoor swimming pool and sauna.

Named for the copper that was imported from the Falun copper mines in Sweden during the Seventeenth Century, the “Koper” Bar and Restaurant evokes the feeling of being in a modern open loft apartment. The restaurant was created by blending parts of an old Flemish merchant’s warehouse, a Dutch Grand Café, a distillery from Geneva and a bourgeois kitchen from Hasselt with modern design elements from Antwerp and Copenhagen. The “Koper” restaurant will be the first smoke-free restaurant in Hasselt.

The new Radisson SAS Hotel Hasselt offers free high-speed and wireless Internet access throughout the hotel. All hotel guests and visitors can access the Internet from anywhere in the hotel, including rooms, meeting facilities or public areas, at no additional charge. Hotel guests will have access to the underground parking at the TT center.

Hasselt, the capital of the Limburg province, is close to important regional cities such as Maastricht, Liège and Aachen. The city has several museums and art galleries, is home to the largest Japanese garden in Europe and hosts dozen of cultural events each month. The attractive, traffic-free streets of Hasselt are dotted with numerous boutiques, luxury goods and specialty shops.

Since 1997, Hasselt has been the European model for a new and innovative transportation policy. The city provides free public transportation, and all the main roads have been re-built. Hasselt has also taken the lead on the information highway; in the near future the entire city will become a hotspot where people can get wireless access to the Internet.

In Belgium, Radisson SAS Hotels & Resorts manages one hotel in Antwerp, two in Brussels, including the recently opened Radisson SAS EU Hotel, and two in Spa.

Rezidor SAS Hospitality is one of the fastest growing hospitality companies in the world and currently has 263 hotels, encompassing over 50,000 rooms, in operation and under development in 48 countries, with the aim to develop 700 hotels across its different brands by 2012.

In September 2002, Rezidor SAS announced a unique deal with US-based Carlson Hotels Worldwide to expand selected Carlson brands in Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA). Rezidor SAS now operates Radisson SAS Hotels & Resorts, Regent International Hotels Park Inn and Country Inns & Suites in these areas. Initially Rezidor SAS Hospitality was a wholly owned subsidiary of the Stockholm-based SAS Group. In June 2005 Rezidor SAS Hospitality completed the strategic agreement with US-based Carlson Hotels Worldwide, which resulted in an enhancement of their long-time franchise partnership into a shareholder agreement. Carlson Hotels Worldwide acquired a 25 percent shareholding in Rezidor SAS Hospitality from SAS group in return for renegotiated commercial terms of the parties’ current Master Franchise Agreement. Rezidor SAS Hospitality head office is based in Brussels. For more information on Rezidor SAS and its different brands, visit .

Radisson SAS Hotels & Resorts, part of Rezidor SAS Hospitality, offers first class service, providing guests with a contemporary, upscale hospitality experience. Radisson SAS has received numerous awards for Best Hotel Chain and is renowned for its "Yes I Can" spirit of service and the "100% Guest Satisfaction Guarantee". September 2005 saw the roll out of a free broadband service across the portfolio - the first international hotel chain to offer this service. It currently includes 175 hotels either in operation or under development, in 44 countries, in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. For more information, visit

Emily Easter
212-219-7560, ext. 6768
Radisson Hotel Group