Radisson CEO shares vision for owner-driven change

John Kidd, president, COO and CEO of Radisson Hospitality, is convinced the road to growth for his company is by putting owners first and having them understand the company’s newly devised five-year strategic plan.

On 5 March, the new company’s go-to-market name of the Radisson Hotel Group was announced at the International Hotel Investment Forum in Berlin to give customers and owners a better notion of the company’s eight brands and their guest promises, Kidd said.

Carlson Hotels and Carlson Rezidor are no more, and soft-brand Quorvus Collection is also being retired in favor of the newly named Radisson Collection.

Kidd said the plan had three major goals:
•to provide guidance and strategic counsel to the management teams and to the boards of directors themselves;
•to enhance collaboration and cooperation, which Kidd said had been lacking, to instigate strategic alignment and thus growth; and
•to grow, initially, the portfolio in Europe, Middle East and Africa by approximately 13,000 to 14,000 rooms and in the Americas and Asia/Pacific by approximately 56,000 to 57,000 rooms.