A year after its acquisition of Radisson Hotel Group Americas, Choice Hotels International is set to complete the integration of nearly 600 Radisson-branded hotels into its reservation system and loyalty program.
The company has already made several significant strides since acquiring the brand. Notably, it has boosted the revenue of Radisson properties and is projecting cost savings for 2023 and 2024 that surpass initial estimates. In addition, Choice Hotels has enabled point transfers and status matching between Radisson Rewards Americas and its own Choice Privileges loyalty program.
The integration also allowed the company to leverage approximately 100 new corporate customers to boost group bookings. Furthermore, since the acquisition, seven new Radisson-branded hotels have opened and contracts for eight additional ones have been awarded. Owners have signed renewals of contracts or relicensed agreements with 27 Radisson Americas hotels.
The company also revealed plans to revamp guestrooms at Country Inn & Suites during the 67th Annual Convention of Choice Hotels. Radisson franchisees have also been provided access to the Choice University learning platform.
Milestones
Choice Hotels is set to achieve several major integration milestones much earlier than planned. Notably, during the third quarter, less than a year after the acquisition closed, the company is expected to make Radisson Americas properties available for booking on ChoiceHotels.com and to fully integrate the Radisson Rewards Americas loyalty program with its own. Eligible Radisson Americas hotels will begin transitioning to the ChoiceAdvantage property-management system and the ChoiceMAX revenue-management system, both of which are mobile-friendly and cloud-based.
“Our proven expertise in integrating hotel brands is enabling us to complete the onboarding of the Radisson Americas properties onto our industry-leading business platform well ahead of plan,” Choice Hotels President and CEO Pat Pacious said in a statement. “Complete integration of the nearly 600 hotels will enable us to help drive their performance and profitability to the next level.”
“We've already seen a bump in direct bookings thanks to the improvements Choice made to the Radisson Americas website, and they've given us benchmarking data and profitability consultations to help further drive our revenue,” said Bob Patel, owner of four Country Inn & Suites hotels.
Choice Hotels has a history of acquisitions, having purchased WoodSpring Suites in 2018 and subsequently introduced a new development model for the extended-stay brand. The WoodSpring Suites brand has since seen considerable growth, with 12 new hotels opened this year and another 300 in the pipeline.