Choice Hotels International Creates Two New Pan-European Senior Management Roles to Drive Increased Demand Revenue

LONDON. 8 MARCH 2016 Choice Hotels International, one of the largest hotel companies in the world and known for the Comfort, Quality, Clarion and Ascend Hotel Collection brands here in Europe, announced today that it has expanded its commercial pan-European team with two newly-created roles to help drive increased demand and distribution for its European hotels and generate and optimise revenue.

Tess Mattisson is appointed to the newly-created role of Director, European Marketing. Based in London, she will be responsible for leading Choice’s marketing, online, social media, brand, loyalty and PR strategy across Europe. She joins from Nordic Choice Hotels where she was most recently Head of E-Commerce having previously established and executed their website development, content management and social media strategy. In addition to her hands-on experience of managing content management and digital marketing campaigns, Tess brings extensive experience of the hospitality industry having previously held the position of PR & Marketing Manager at the Clarion Hotel Stockholm. While there she was the recipient of the 2012 MKG Worldwide Hospitality Award for Best Marketing Strategy.

Nicolas Alsterdal joins as Director of Revenue Management, Europe, responsible for implementing effective revenue management strategies for Choice’s European hotel portfolio. Nicolas also joins from Nordic Choice Hotels where he held the position of Total Profit Manager. Previously, he led revenue management initiatives for Quality brand properties, which under his direction, significantly outpaced the revenue index of the competition. Prior to joining Nordic Choice Hotels, Nicolas held other revenue management roles with a number of hotel companies including Hilton, Rica and Scandic. He will be based in Amsterdam.

Both Tess and Nicolas report to Carl Oldsberg, Vice President, International Operations, who leads Choice’s franchise services, sales, marketing and distribution efforts in international markets.

The creation of the new pan-European marketing and revenue management roles completes Choice’s pan-European leadership team. Last year Guillaume Filly was appointed Senior Director, European Sales & Distribution in order to optimise business development and distribution channels across Europe, and leads Choice’s pan-European sales and distribution efforts.

Oldsberg commented: “I’m delighted to welcome Tess and Nicolas to our team in Europe and believe their expertise will help deliver both increased revenues, occupancy rates and brand awareness for our business and the franchisees who own and operate the hotels in our European portfolio.”

Choice is pursuing a strategy to grow and expand its portfolio throughout Europe. Since the beginning of 2016 it has announced the signing of new franchise agreements with Dema Hotels and Oxford Hospitality that will lead initially to three hotels in Antwerp, Belgium and BHKV Hospitality GmbH, that will deliver two new Comfort brand hotels in Frankfurt and the greater Düsseldorf Metropolitan area, eventually leading to further hotels and 1,000 additional rooms for the German portfolio. Last month the company launched the upscale Ascend Hotel Collection in the UK, with two new properties joining the portfolio in Edinburgh, Scotland.

The Choice Hotels Europe portfolio of franchised hotels offers business and leisure travellers a full spectrum from premium economy to upscale hotels. Choice Hotels Europe franchises nearly 500 hotels across Europe that are either open or under development. Brands franchised by Choice Hotels Europe include Clarion Collection, which is three to four star rated; Quality, which is three-star rated and provides a mid-scale full service offering, and Comfort, which is two to three star rated and is the largest Choice Hotels International brand worldwide, known for value, customer service and reliability.

Choice also provides guests with an upscale, boutique hotel offering through Ascend Hotel Collection, a portfolio of 4-5 star rated independent hotels located in key cities and destinations.