About Scandic Hotels Gessie Villastad
With around 280 hotels and approximately 57,000 rooms under its management, five-decade-old Scandic Hotel Group is hailed the largest Nordic hotel operator. More than 90% of its portfolio are under lease agreements and as of December 2018, the hotel chain has additional 15 hotels with 6,000 room in the pipeline. It currently employs over 18,000 across various locations in six countries.
The hotel chain was founded in 1963 as Esso Motor Hotel and targeted mid-market segment. Business travel and conferences account for about 70% of its revenue, while the remaining 30% comes from leisure travel. As such, most of its hotels are conveniently located in major highways, airports, and business centers.
From its first hotel which opened in Laxå, Sweden, Scandic Hotels has expanded to 23 more hotels in just less than 10 years. Its first hotels outside of Sweden opened in Denmark and Norway in 1972.
Scandic Hotel Group boasts of having many loyal customers with 35% of their bookings coming from their loyalty program members, including the Scandic Friends. It is the largest hospitality loyalty program in the Nordic region. Its customer base is mostly composed of domestic visitors, with a growing share of foreign travelers mostly from Germany, Russia, U.S., and the U.K.
