Carlson Rezidor Hotel Group is changing the name of midscale brand Country Inns & Suites By Carlson to Country Inn & Suites by Radisson to leverage its Radisson brand.
“We strongly believe that our Country Inn & Suites portfolio has the opportunity to be three to four times larger than it is today,” Ken Greene, president, Americas, Carlson Rezidor Hotel Group, told HOTELS.
The changes for the chain, which has 480 properties in the U.S., Canada, Latin America and India, are limited to marketing collateral, include a new visual identity and updated logo. Franchisees have until July 1 to make signage changes.
“Globally, the Radisson name has high consumer awareness. Aligning with the Radisson name as our brand endorser will allow our hotels to benefit from increased name recognition among new/prospective guests,” Greene said. “We aim to accelerate the transformation of our Country Inn & Suites hotels to our Gen 4 product, which has proven success based on owner validation and increases in ADR and (net promoter score),” he said.
The redirection to the Radisson brand is part of the company’s five-year strategic plan (see today’s briefs) covering operations, asset management, brands, products, commercial and IT areas, talent and culture, Greene said. “As part of our five-year plan, we will also tighten up the consistency and quality of our core Radisson brand, and hope to do so quickly,” he said.
Greene said he sees significant room for growth among all the company’s brands and “are going to be very aggressive in going after large markets (top 15) for our Radisson Blu and Radisson RED brands in the U.S.,” he said. “We will increase our market spend in order to gain a presence in those larger markets, which in turn we expect will provide a halo effect not only for Country Inn & Suites by Radisson, but all our brands.”