Nordic Choice Hotels

The headquarters in Oslo, Norway.

Nordic Choice Hotels (until December 31, 2010 known as Choice Hotels Scandinavia) is one of the largest hotel chains in Scandinavia with approximately 170 hotels in Scandinavia and the Baltic and over 12 000 employees.

The Norwegian company is owned by Petter Stordalen through his company Home Invest, in which he is the only owner. In 2006 Torgeir Silseth became CEO for the Nordic Choice Hotels Group.

Nordic Choice Hotels is a franchisee of Choice Hotels International. The franchise agreement gives the company the right to use three brands and their umbrella brands. Apart from that, Nordic Choice Hotels is in most aspects run independently from Choice International.

Brands

The hotels is marketed under six chains; Clarion Hotels, Clarion Collection, Comfort Hotels, Quality Hotels, Quality Resort and Nordic Hotels & Resorts.

• Clarion Hotels is the luxurious alternative, often decorated with art and contemporary design. The hotels are located in large cities and at airports in Norway, Sweden and Denmark.
• Clarion Collection have a lot of customers in the frequent business travel segment. All hotels include tea and coffee and an evening meal in the stay. The strategy to offer a homely feeling with a central location, in most cases combined with a calmer environment, also attracts a large segment among seniors.
• Quality Hotels is located centrally in smaller cities, alternatively outside of large cities. The chain has a main focus on conferences. At weekends and during off-season the chain often have special offers for families.
• Quality Resorts have establishments in 12 cities in Norway and Sweden and specializes on activities like golf, adventure baths, horse riding, tennis, spa, hiking and skiing.
• Comfort Hotels with its approximately 30 hotels in Norway, Sweden and Lithuania markets itself as a central and low budget alternative.
• Nordic Hotels & Resorts doesn’t market its hotels under a mutual name. Instead, they are marketed under the hotel’s own unique names. These hotels have often been acquired after the brands been established by building a strong brand themselves.

The hotels within Nordic Hotels & Resorts are Yasuragi Hasseludden in Stockholm, Aronsborg in Bålsta, Farris Bad in Larvik, Copperhill Mountain Lodge in Åre, Stenungsbaden Yacht Club in Stenungsund and Selma Spa+ i Sunne.

History

Nordic Choice Hotels was established in Norway 1990 as Choice Hotels Scandinavia. During 1994 the company signed an franchise agreement with Choice Hotels International that gave them the right to market its hotels as Comfort, Clarion and Quality hotels. The company was listed at the Oslo stock exchange in 1997, but was lifted in 2005 when Home Invest (owned by business man Petter Stordalen) bought 100 percent of the stocks.

Location by nations

The hotels are mainly located in Norway and Sweden with about 160 hotels, spread quite evenly between the countries. The company also runs and/or owns five hotels in Denmark and three hotels in the Baltic.

Nordic Choice Hotels has a history of expanding fast, both through new establishments and acquisitions, with several planned openings in 2013-2015.

CSR

Nordic Choice Hotels has a CSR program referred to internally as WeCare. The program focuses on global and local social responsibility, the environment, employee health and a sustainable hotel experience for guests.

All 25,000 rooms and common areas have been 100 percent smoke-free since January 1, 2007. One year later the chain started offering organic breakfast alternatives on all hotels.

All hotels are certified by the ISO 14001 standard. New hotels are continuously investigated and certified.

Since May 23, 2014 all Clarion hotels within the Nordic Choice Hotels chain are palm oil free with regards to restaurant items and products for sale,^[1] because of the destruction of rain forest that palm oil production causes.^[2]

References