Scandic Hotels is a hotel chain headquartered in Stockholm, Sweden, with its main operations in the Nordic countries. Alongside hotels in Sweden, Norway, Finland and Denmark, the company also has a presence in Belgium, Germany and Poland. It is owned by EQT Partners.
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History
The first hotel in what was later to become the Scandic chain was the Esso Motor Hotel in Laxå in the province of Närke, central Sweden. Opened in 1963, it capitalized on the increase in car travel, both for business and pleasure - the motel was a novel concept for Europe at the time. The chain grew to 59 hotels Europewide by 1972, when Esso sold the non-Scandinavian hotels. The remaining 32 hotels, five of them in Norway and Denmark, formed the largest hotel chain in its native Sweden in 1973.
Cumulus Hotel Helsinki Airport Video
Ratos
In 1983, the company was sold to a Swedish consortium headed by Ratos and the following year, it was named Scandic Hotels. Ratos became sole owner in 1985, and a year later, the first hotel outside Scandinavia opened in Koblenz, Germany.
The business was negatively impacted by the 1990/91 Gulf Crisis, and company management was replaced in 1992. In 1996, the group acquired Reso Hotels and became a publicly traded company on the Stockholm Stock Exchange. Two years later, the Arctia Hotels group in Finland followed, giving Scandic a presence in all the Nordic countries, and in 1999, the group expanded into Estonia.
In 2001, Scandic was acquired by the London-based Hilton Group. The hotel chain changed ownership again in 2007, this time bought by Swedish private equity firm EQT for EUR 833 million.
Facts and figures
As of 6 June 2013, the company employs 7,500 people and operates around 160 hotels with 30,000 guest rooms. Operating result (EBITDA) for 2012 amounted to EUR 923 million.
Sustainability efforts
Since 1994, Scandic profiles itself heavily as an ecologically sustainable business. Employees receive sustainability education and the company offers rooms built in an environmentally friendly way. In 2001, the breakfasts at all Swedish Scandics received the KRAV ecological product certificate, and by 2004, all Swedish hotels had earned the "Swan" ecolabel. Scandic has received national and international awards for its environmental efforts:
- St Julian Disability Award, S:t Julian - City of Stockholm, February 2006
- Glassbjörnen Environmental Award - GRIP Forum, Norway, May 2006
- Oslo's Urban Environmental Prize - City of Oslo, Norway, June 2006
- Best Environmental Work - Grand Travel Awards, Sweden, March 2007
- Scandic Elmia & Scandic Portalen - Jönköping Municipality Environmental Award, June 2007
- Stilpriset Hjärter Ess för tillgänglighet - Stil, Sweden, September 2007
- Swedish Recycling Award, October 2007
- The Sustainability Award - European Hotel Design Awards, London, October 2007
- Best CSR Programme - Hospitality Awards, Paris, November 2007
Growth
In 2014, Scandic acquired the Rica Hotels chain, which added 72 properties in Norway and Sweden to its portfolio.
In 2017, Scandic announced its buy-out of all 43 Restel hotels in Finland for 114,5 million euros, including those under the Cumulus and Holiday Inn brands.
List of Scandic Hotels
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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