Frankfurt (TAN): International hotel chain Radisson Hotel Group has announced that Radisson Blu Hotel here will be the first co-branded property with Chinese hospitality company Jin Jiang International, after the group’s acquisition by Jin Jiang International and Hong Kong-based private equity firm Sino-Cee Fund last year.
Radisson identified co-branding as one of the opportunities to capture the potential of the Chinese market.
President and Chief Executive Officer of Radisson Hospitality AB and Chairman of the Global Steering Committee for Radisson Hotel Group, Federico J. González Tejera, said: “We are keen on offering the leading hotel brands from Radisson Hotel Group to guests, owners and talent around the world. The launch of the first co-branded hotel with Jin Jiang International is an important milestone in reaching this goal.”
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“The co-branded hotels have a bright future, with the potential to extend to more than 30 properties across EMEA – including five Radisson Collection hotels in key destinations for Chinese travelers,” he added.
German city Frankfurt was the ‘obvious’ choice for the first location of the co-branded hotel as the city has for several years been ‘the number one destination within Germany for Chinese tourists’, the company said. Also, Frankfurt offers more direct flights to China than any other region in Europe so that Chinese travellers can begin or end their trips in the city. Moreover, the hotel would be able to flaunt its recent renovation to Chinese guests.
“We are thrilled that we will now take the next step in our journey together after the acquisition. China has become the world’s largest travel market, offering a wealth of opportunity and potential. Co-branded hotels are positioned to not only improve awareness of our Chinese and Radisson brands in EMEA and China respectively, but also promote people-to-people exchanges between China and the rest of the world. We very much look forward to making the most of the available potential together,” said Chen Liming, Vice Chairman of the Board for Jin Jiang International.
New features were added for Chinese guests, including menus such as Chinese traditional dishes for daily breakfast, and Chinese meals at the hotel’s restaurant and room service, welcome cards in Chinese, and the ability to pay with Chinese Union pay cards. Guestrooms will offer a selection of Chinese teas, television channels and newspapers.
A talent exchange programme was conducted for employees earlier this year. While Radisson employees including chefs and reservation managers from Europe were trained for three months in Shanghai, a team from China were trained in Europe.
Jin Jiang International’s global hotel booking platform WeHotel Platform will feature 53 Radisson Hotel Group properties starting June 30 for reservations by Chinese-speaking visitors, while the rest of the hotels will be made available by the end of this year.
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Radisson’s loyalty programme Radisson Rewards and Jin Jiang’s high-end hotels loyalty programme WeHotel Prime, could provide localised, in-hotel benefits to members of both programmes.
