Carlson Outlines Huge Expansion
HONG KONG, October 14, 2005. Carlson Hotels Asia Pacific today announced that it plans to increase its portfolio by 50% over the next three years. The hotel management company plans to aggressively increase the number of hotels across all five of its brands, with major growth driven by its three full service brands - Regent International Hotels, Radisson and Park Plaza Hotels & Resorts.
Carlson Hotels has agreements in place for 23 hotels, currently under development and due to open by the end of 2007, to add to its current portfolio of 45 hotels and 9,593 rooms across the Asia Pacific region. Paul Kirwin, president for Carlson Hotels Asia Pacific, said, "The current hotel market is extremely buoyant and we expect this trend to continue well into next year. This is an exciting time for Carlson Hotels and we see this as a perfect opportunity to further strengthen our current portfolio across the entire region.
"In particular, Hong Kong is a top priority for Carlson Hotels and we remain on the look out for quality stock. The luxury Regent brand was initially established in Hong Kong 30 years ago and really set the service and product standard for the Asian luxury hotel market. We would very much like to bring the Regent back to Hong Kong in the near future."
The majority of Carlson Hotels Asia Pacific's expansion activity will take place across China, India and Thailand. The growth will begin with the opening of Carlson Hotels' first Regent hotel for China, The Regent Shanghai, due to open next month and the second, The Regent Beijing, due to open September 2006.
The company's first Park Plaza for China, the Park Plaza Beijing Wangfujing, is also due to open in late 2005, marking a milestone for Carlson Hotels Asia Pacific with the company having brand presence for all three of its full service hotel brands in the one country for the first time.
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