US: Radisson Hotel Group has launched a new brand aimed at the urban, limited-service space.
Radisson Inn & Suites is intended to be a companion brand to Country Inn & Suites and initially a conversion brand in the upper midscale, limited-service segment.
It is intended to offer owners flexible standards to drive profitability with hotels in airport locations, metropolitan areas and mixed-use developments.
With an expected ADR in the mid-US$70s, Radisson says its competitive set will be the likes Hampton Inn by Hilton, Holiday Inn Express, Fairfield Inn, La Quinta and Best Western Plus.
Tom Buoy, interim CEO and chief commercial officer at Radisson Hotel Group Americas, said: “It is an opportunity to really leverage the Radisson brand awareness and position us against those ‘sea of sameness’ brands in more urban markets. This brand will go grow the quickest with high-quality conversions. There have been a lot of three-, four-, and five-storey products coming out of our competitors that would make great conversions, especially among owners that are unhappy with the direction of those brands, or unhappy with the cost associated with them. It offers our franchisees another option to expand their presence into urban markets and allows us to expand our footprint considerably in markets where we didn’t have the opportunity with Country Inn & Suites.”
Radisson says it has already signed the first couple of properties under the new flag, and there is already a lot of interest from new franchisees and some existing franchisees that want to convert to the new sister brand. The first property could be open by June with 10 or more by the end of the year. New-builds are also being considered.
Chief development officer Phil Hugh said: “Some of our owners in high barrier to entry, higher RevPAR markets have expressed interest that it is time for them to renovate, and they feel that putting Radisson first in their name will allow them to drive rate and pick up additional corporate clientele. We still sell a lot of Country Inn & Suites franchises and will continue to do so, but we believe it’ll be in more rural markets that are in the US$65 to US$70 RevPAR area, unlike where we believe Radisson Inn & Suites will drive into the US$80s and US$90s.”
