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The Z-factor: helping us zoom ahead

We Love Our Business! And this single statement speaks volumes about the kind of organisation we are…

It reflects Rezidor's passion about taking care of our company: about vigilantly monitoring every change in the world or market that affects any aspect of our business - and continuously evaluating what we do in response, while constantly re-assessing the way we communicate new developments to our stakeholders.

This unique, pro-active zest and zeal is what we, at Rezidor refer to as the Z factor: our delight in daring to do things differently and adding the unexpected, zing-filled extras that makes working and staying with us so special.

Our dynamic business development team and fast decision-making process enable our front-line people to react quickly, helping us to maintain our momentum and pace of expansion – even during the downturn. Unlike many of our peers - who worked to consolidate their business during the credit crunch - we continued to make ours grow.

Rezidor's special Z-factor spirit is the backbone of our business model. It's helped us buck the trend and achieve our third successive year of record openings, as we vigorously pursue our ambition to become one of the world's biggest – and best – hotel operators.

Yes I Can!

Three little words - one all-powerful ethos: Yes I Can! sums up Rezidor's company culture, our service philosophy and our approach to hospitality.

It is:

The driving force of our whole organisation
The engine that fuels our growth
The attitude that makes us go the extra mile for each individual guest and business partner - all day, every day.

Yes I Can! is not just a slogan with no real effect on service and profitability: research by the renowned Hotel School of Lausanne proves conclusively that Yes I Can! makes a truly significant contribution to both guest and employee satisfaction.

It's seen us through the darkest days of the downturn and powerfully equips us to zoom ahead and take advantage of the many exciting opportunities that now lie ahead for Rezidor and for our carefully selected brands.

Boosting Brand Awareness

Unlike many other international hotel groups, Rezidor features a small - clearly positioned and well-defined - portfolio of brands, across Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

Moving forwards, our two key priorities are to improve awareness of Radisson Blu and Park Inn by Radisson and to increase our RevPAR penetration. Our luxury brand, Regent, and lifestyle brand, Hotel Missoni, complement our portfolio and our presence in key segments of hotel market.

Awareness of Rezidor's brands and values will also be enhanced by the closer, strategic co-operation between Rezidor and Carlson and our joint mission to globally align our brands. Carlson have announced an ambitious strategy for Radisson - with an investment programme of up to USD 1.5 billion - focused on establishing flagship hotels in key US destinations and on upgrading the existing portfolio.

These very positive developments will help drive many more US travellers to Rezidor's properties in EMEA.

As per our recently signed long-term Strategic Alliance Agreement with Regent Hotels and Resorts (RHR), wholly owned by Formosa International Hotels Corporation (FIHC), Rezidor has exclusive rights to develop and operate Regent hotels in Russia/CIS, Baltics, Middle East and Africa; and in the rest of Europe Rezidor has non-exclusive rights to develop and operate new Regent hotels in parallel with RHR. RHR will continue operating existing Regent hotels in Europe.

Whether you choose to stay at a Radisson Blu, a Park Inn by Radisson, a Hotel Missoni or a Regent, you'll find that each individual brand is designed to delight with a relevant, highly distinctive guest offering.

A brand is a promise. We, at Rezidor, never forget that...

We believe in growth

Rezidor has actively walked the talk since our public listing in 2006: our Z factor spirit has helped us to become a pioneer in many new initiatives and we have focused on profitable, asset-light growth, mainly in the emerging markets of Russia/CIS and Africa.

These new and dynamic markets present highly attractive development opportunities, with strong economic growth, fuelled by an undersupply or old inventory, combined with high room demand plus low operating costs. These areas offer excellent opportunities for profitable growth through management contracts – a business model that perfectly complements Rezidor's asset light framework.

And we are happy to report that our strategy is paying off: we saw a significant EBITDA contribution from these up-and-coming markets in 2010.

Another key to our fast expansion is building trust-based, productive relationships with our strategic partners: this has always been one of our strengths, as proved by our growing number of multi-property owners.

Our leading position throughout the whole of EMEA is driven by the strength of our Radisson Blu and Park Inn by Radisson core brands. Even during the recent global downturn, we continued to power ahead.

And our ever-expanding 20,000+ room pipeline continues to be one of the largest in the industry.

We care

Rezidor led the industry by launching our first environmental policy back in the late 1980s. Since then, we have expanded our efforts to create our comprehensive and award winning Responsible Business programme, with its 3 key focus areas:

The health and safety of our guests and employees
Respect for ethical issues within the company and community
A reduced negative impact on the environment.

Our Responsible Business programme led to Rezidor being named as one of the World's Most Ethical Companies for the second year running in 2011 – an achievement of which we are truly proud.

We are a people business

The Z-factor is the key to our success. But what keeps this Z-factor alive and kicking? The answer, of course, is our people. We are a people business with an industry-leading employee satisfaction score: our guests, employees, owners, developers, architects and designers, suppliers and other partners, all help put the Z in Rezidor.

You might be already be part of the buzz: you may work with Rezidor, be a guest at one of our hotels or simply want to know more about us – as a shareholder, analyst, journalist or potential business partner.

Our Yes I Can! people, our well-defined brand strategies, profitable business model and focus on cost control put us in a very strong position to vigorously pursue our ambitious expansion plans for 2012.

Our long-term strategy of further profitable growth stands unchanged. And are committed to expanding responsibly, living up to our recognition as one of the World's Most Ethical Companies.

The financial targets also remain and we will continue to focus on tight cost control, cash and margin improvement. Following the creation of Carlson Rezidor Hotel Group, we should enjoy more synergies from the size of our business as we continue to grow and grow profitably.

I send a warm, personal thank you for your support, your loyalty and your interest. And I hope you will explore and enjoy our website, discovering all the heartfelt hospitality and exceptional opportunities on offer in the ever expanding world of Rezidor.

OnwardZ and UpwardZ,