The Grand Hôtel Stockholm is implementing the ZDirect eCRM platform (Electronic Customer Relationship Management), ZMail®. Mr. Tuomas Liewendahl, Commercial Director, states "We chose ZMail because it's an effective way to keep personal contact with our guests, and we find the system integration with our Property Management System extremely important."
A group of leading Swedish meeting industry organizations has formed the Swedish chapter of the Green Meeting Industry Council (GMIC), a global organization that focuses on environmental and sustainability issues in the meetings industry. GMIC, a not for profit organization with members in over 20 countries, has a mission to advance meetings industry innovation through knowledge sharing, education, and research.
The Rezidor Hotel Group, one of the fastest growing hotel companies worldwide, and Winn Hotel Group announce the Radisson Blu Riverside Hotel Gothenburg in Sweden. The property featuring 266 rooms is scheduled to welcome the first guests in Q1 2013.
This market snapshot is part of a series of articles that HVS is producing every month on a series of key hotel markets. In writing these articles we aim to combine the market expertise of HVS with STR Global data for each key market. Our analysis for this market is based on data for a sample of 100 mainly branded properties as provided by STR Global. Stockholm has emerged as the star performer in Scandinavia and within Europe in general, thanks to occupancy and average rate returning to previous peak levels as early as mid‐2010, despite increases in supply;
In line with its asset-right strategy, Accor announced today a large real-estate transaction in Sweden involving the sale of 18 hotels, totaling 1,760 rooms and representing all the Group's local hotel assets.
The Rezidor Hotel Group, one of the fastest growing hotel companies worldwide, announces two new Park Inn by Radisson properties in Sweden which are scheduled to open in 2013: Park Inn Lund (190 rooms) and Park Inn Helsingborg (215 rooms). Both hotels are owned by Midroc, and will be operated by the Winn Group under a franchise agreement with Rezidor.
The Nordic countries' hotel industries outperformed Europe as a whole during the first nine months of 2010, according to data from STR Global, the leading provider of market information to the global hotel industry. The recovery of the Nordic hotel market after the worldwide economic downturn was evident in the year-to-date September performance results, with the region's average daily rate (ADR) growing by 8.5 percent in Euro-terms and revenue per available room (RevPAR) by 10.7 percent. The European average showed higher occupancy growth (5.6 percent) resulting in a 9.5 percent RevPAR growth, as seen in the chart below.
A world’s first pilot is starting at the Clarion Hotel Stockholm in Sweden. ASSA ABLOY, Choice Hotels Scandinavia, TeliaSonera, VingCard Elsafe and Venyon, a fully owned subsidiary of Giesecke & Devrient, have joined forces to replace hotel room keys with NFC-enabled mobile phones. The technology makes it possible for hotel guests to check-in and out using their mobile phones.
Many hotels around the world offer guests the chance to get closer to nature, but only this one, in the forests of Swedish Lapland, lets them disappear within it. It’s 3am and, rather than sleep, I’m standing watching the early morning sun play on the branches outside my suite – a self-contained, mirror-clad cube, clamped to the trees four metres above ground. I’m utterly isolated, and from the ground outside, the cube is almost invisible. The silence is intoxicating.
TRAVELCLICK®, the market leader in hotel ecommerce solutions, has announced an agreement with Nobis Hotel, Stockholm’s first contemporary luxury hotel, to provide a complete suite of TRAVELCLICK products including distribution, business intelligence, and digital agency services. Originally opened in 1899, the iconic building has been completely refurbished and is scheduled to open as a hotel on 1 December 2010. Designed by Oskar Ericsson, it was originally a private residence for industrial magnate Walter Hirsch before housing many legendary restaurants at the turn of the century.
Anders Ehrling will be taking over from Scandic’s current President and CEO, Frank Fiskers, who is moving on to become a partner in a hotel property company in London, but will continue to serve on the board and as an investor in Scandic.
This week Marriott International, Inc. hosts grand openings for its first two hotels in Sweden -- the Courtyard Stockholm Kungsholmen and the Renaissance Malmo. Leading the festivities are Arne Sorenson, president and chief operations officer of Marriott International and Amy McPherson, president and managing director of Marriott International in Europe. In addition to VIP guests and hotel associates, US Ambassador to Sweden, Matthew Bazrun, will be on hand for today’s grand opening in Stockholm.
Courtyard by Marriott has opened its first hotel in Scandinavia, the Courtyard Stockholm Kungsholmen under a franchise agreement with Scandinavian Hospitality Group (SHG). With 278 guest rooms and more than 1,000 square meters of meeting space, the hotel is the largest Courtyard by Marriott hotel in Europe.
The Rezidor Hotel Group, one of the fastest growing hotel companies worldwide, announces the Radisson Blu Hotel, Uppsala in Sweden. The property featuring 176 rooms is scheduled to open in 2012.
Renaissance Hotels has opened the latest gem in its global portfolio, the 128-room Renaissance Malmo Hotel in Malmo, Sweden under a franchise agreement with Scandinavian Hospitality Group (SHG).
Despite a global industry downturn, Stockholm’s hotel market has experienced only a moderate occupancy decline for the year through October, according to STR Global, the leading provider of market data to the world’s hotel industry. “Compared with the previous year, the overall decline of 4.5 percent has not been as bad as expected”, said Elizabeth Randall, managing director of STR Global. “The summer months of 2009 actually saw occupancy rise in Stockholm compared with the previous year”.
The area around Vasagatan is one of Stockholm’s most expansive and exciting, with its central location and numerous ongoing development projects. And this is where the city’s big new hotel – Scandic Stockholm – will be built. The flagship hotel will have over 400 rooms, meeting facilities, a restaurant and a large hotel bar/lounge that is open to everyone.
StayAt Hotel Apartments is the leading apartment hotel chain in Scandinavia. Its doors are operated by VingCard’s touch-free Signature RFID locks. In just three years, the StayAt hotel chain has expanded from seven hotels to thirteen. Company president Johan Göthberg says that even if bookings have decreased during the financial crisis, the company’s focus on hotel apartments was a good choice.
3 December is the UN's International Day of Persons with Disabilities and Scandic offers its congratulations to Magnus Berglund, who has worked as the hotel chain's Disability Coordinator for five years now. The trend is clear; more and more people with disabilities are working, attending conferences and meetings and enjoying leisure stays at hotels. Europe has around 50 million people with disabilities and many companies have a strong focus on the differing needs of their staff. One person in a wheelchair can affect where a conference of several hundred people will be held.
Scandic is filling in another blank on its map of Sweden with further expansion in Stockholm. On 1 February 2009, the well-respected hotel Foresta on the island of Lidingö will be joining the Scandic chain.