Yesterday at its annual conference, Carlson launched a rebranded and revamped loyalty program and outlined broad plans to add new brands in the economy and luxury lodging segments. But company officials were most anxious to talk about Carlson’s ongoing Ambition 2015 initiative to grow the company’s revenues and portfolio and to revitalize its lodging brands.

Club Carlson is the new loyalty program, replacing the long-standing goldpoints plus. The new program, which launches Mar. 31, features a greater array of benefits and redemption options. Club members earn points through stays at Carlson’s more than 1,000 hotels and can redeem them for a variety of lodging options, including all properties in the Carlson portfolio, 80 Club Med all-inclusive resorts and vacation packages through a partnership with sister company CWT Vacations. Redemption is also possible at 20 restaurant chains and retailers, including Amazon, Best Buy and T.G.I. Friday’s, another Carlson company.

Calling it “a key pillar of our Ambition 2015 growth strategy,” Carlson President and CEO Hubert Joly said the new loyalty scheme will help hotels increase their revenues. “Last year, we announced a plan to double our loyalty program to 10 million members by 2013. In 2010, it grew by 24 percent to 6.3 million members.”

Members who achieve elite status in the program will receive additional benefits, including room upgrades, free continental breakfast and Internet access, bonus points on each stay and, starting in mid-year, access to a concierge service.

Carlson plans to promote the new club through a smartphone app and a $10-million marketing spend.

New brands?
Carlson officials were more cryptic in talking about their interest in two more segments of the hotel business: economy and luxury lifestyle. Carlson Hotels COO Thorsten Kirschke said the company will be selective in its pursuit of additional brand opportunities.

Carlson Hotels COO Thorsten Kirschke only wants to add brands with strong identities

“Unlike some other companies, we’ll never have 25 different brands that no one can even tell apart,” said Kirschke. “We only want flags with strong brand profiles.”

If developed, the economy brand may be a start-up, which Chief Branding Officer Gordon McKinnon dubbed a “styleconomy” chain. The product will be driven by both budget and design parameters with rooms slated to be about 180 square feet in size.

McKinnon also said Carlson may look at adapting Hotel Missoni, the fledgling lifestyle brand launched by European partner Rezidor, as a platform for a luxury brand. No other specifics or timetable were presented.

Growth is the priority
Calling himself “a revenue animal,” Kirschke announced a 12-percent increase in worldwide system sales (to $6.5 billion) last year. Part of the revenue boost, said Kirschke, was a 33-percent increase in Carlson’s worldwide sales team (from 169 to 226 professionals).

Unit growth is a prime part of the Ambition 2015 strategy launched at last year’s global conference. During 2010, the company signed 87 properties and opened 66 hotels. Forty-two non-compliant properties left the system, leaving it with 1,071 hotels at the end of ’10. Kirschke said the company has more than 200,000 rooms open or in its pipeline.

The first North American Radisson Blu opens in October in downtown Chicago.

Reinventing the Radisson brand in North America, another key component of the Ambition 2015 initiative, is well underway, reported Kirschke. Carlson and its Radisson owners have committed about $500 million to the brand’s upgrading so far. (Last year, the company said it will take between $1 billion and $1.5 billion to complete the project.) More than 80 percent of Radissons in North America have committed to product improvement plans, and Kirschke said 70 percent of projects will be complete by 2013.

The brand will get a boost this fall when the first upper upscale Radisson Blu opens in Chicago. Next two North American Radisson Blus will be in Minneapolis, one at the Mall of America and one downtown. During the general session presentation, the executives also hinted at a new-build flagship Blu property in Manhattan.

In addition to the newsworthy general sessions, the conference also featured a full state of educational sessions, most of which focused on ways Carlson owners and operators can boost revenues. Sessions covered revenue optimization, e-commerce and social media, working with travel agencies and more. President and CEO Joly told the audience, “Winston Churchill once told Franklin Roosevelt during World War II, ‘give us the tools and we’ll finish the job.’ That’s what we’re doing for our owners.”