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Plans in Asia Pacific |
| February 10, 2003 - Carlson Hotels has
enumerated its expansion plans in Asia Pacific - it hopes to grow from
its current 37 hotels to at least 100 before end - 2007. That would require
an average of almost 13 additional hotels each year.
A unknown with this projection is what will happen with Carlson's half-controlled brands of Park Inn and Park Plaza. In Asia Pacific the Park Inn and Park Plaza brands are controlled by a separate company, Park Plaza Kemayan, a Malaysian company based in Australia. There seems little incentive for Park Plaza Kemayan to expand so Carlson (along with the other part owner of the Park Inn and Park Plaza brands, Olympus) may need to buy out PPK's franchise. A precedent was set earlier, in 1998, when Carlson bought a controlling share in DCI, Radisson's franchise owner in Asia Pacific. Park Plaza Kemayan's growth record is poor. In 1997, PPK (then known just as Kemayan), signed a franchise agreement for Asia Pacific with Park Plaza International for the Park Inn and Park Plaza brands. The agreement covered 20 hotels at the time, with 50 more expected to be added over the subsequent five. Although this was a tough target, PPK went backwards; it now has about 10 hotels, most in Australia. Meanwhile, Carlson's troubled brand Regent
was the first to announce a new project in Asia Pacific; a 377-room Regent
hotel is due to open in Beijing in early 2004.
Murray Bailey is Editor/Research Director of Travel Business Analyst. He has also been editor of various periodicals and publications, including the Sourcebook on Travel and Tourism, Asia Pacific's only comprehensive annual compendium of regional and local-market travel industry statistics, and the International Hotel Industry, a 600-page report of which Bailey was the author. From his current position, Bailey has conducted research and analysis for a number of major organisations in the travel industry, including American Express, Cathay Pacific Airways, the Economist Intelligence Unit, the European Travel Commission, the Hong Kong Tourism Board, the Inter-Continental hotel group, and the World Travel & Tourism Council. Bailey divides his time between France and Hong Kong. |
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Murray Bailey Editor/Research Director TRAVEL BUSINESS ANALYST 46 Blvd des Arbousiers 83120 Ste Maxime, France Tel: (33-4)-9443-8160 Fax: (33-4)-9449-0949 Email: [email protected] www.travelbusinessanalyst.com |
| Also See | Retro Rates?; Big Event Blues - Murray Bailey, Editor, Travel Business Analyst / Oct 2002 |
| Despite Push in Europe, Regent Is Losing More Hotels than Adding / Sept 2002 | |
| Seoul and Tokyo Hoteliers Score During World Cup / Aug 2002 | |
| Starwood's Asia Pacific President, Miguel Ko - Exclusive Interview with Hotel Asia Pacific / April 2002 |