COPENHAGEN, Denmark—Nordic Choice Hotels is ambitious, even if it has no plans to grow outside of its core market—the Nordics and the Baltics—but Nordic Choice Hotels’ CEO Torgeir Silseth said he would like franchisor Choice Hotels International to increase development in continental Europe.
- For Choice Hotels International's response, read "Choice sees Europe as absolute key to global growth"
“We have a master franchise with Choice Hotels International, and it runs to the beginning of the 2020s, (and) we are in discussions with them how to take this on,” Silseth said in an interview with Hotel News Now during the Nordic Hotel Consulting Conference. “Some kind of relationship there will be, but there is no secret that we feel Choice’s development in the rest of Europe is not proportional to our development in the Nordics. … (Choice International) is working hard to grow in continental Europe, and we want them to grow in continental Europe, but we are impatient on the growth.”
Based in Oslo, Nordic Choice Hotels, which is owned by Norwegian businessman Petter Stordalen, reached 190 hotels on 31 May. Its portfolio is limited mostly to the Nordic region, with the exception of two properties in Latvia and Lithuania.
The company re-entered Denmark after having some setbacks with lease arrangements, Silseth said, but now the firm has put its own muscle into that market with real estate buys.
“The fundamentals in the Nordics are right,” Silseth added.
For more of Silseth’s views on the Nordic region’s business fundamentals, the new demand for its edgy offerings and on working with Stordalen, please watch the video below.