Rezidor appoints new president and CEO

"We are pleased to announce the planned transition of Wolfgang M Neumann as incoming president and CEO. He is an internationally experienced hotelier who will build on Rezidor's strengths as an industry leader and valuable member of the Carlson Rezidor Hotel Group - with a continued focus on revenue generation and profitable growth," said Trudy Rautio, chairman of Rezidor's board of directors and president and CEO of Carlson.

Rautio added: "Kurt Ritter is one of the hotel industry's great leaders. We are grateful for the role he played in guiding the growth of Rezidor for more than two decades to be one of the fastest growing hotel companies. More recently he was instrumental in the integration of the Carlson Rezidor Hotel Group to become one of the largest and most dynamic hotel groups in the world". Rautio noted that Ritter will assist Wolfgang M Neumann as an advisor during a transition period of three months as from 1 January, 2013 on, and afterwards continue to serve as a key strategic advisor to herself.

Ambitious Route 2015 strategy

Neumann joined Rezidor in May 2011. As he prepares to assume the CEO role, he stated: "I am honoured to succeed Kurt Ritter and look forward to leading Rezidor in our ambitious Route 2015 strategy. We will continue to focus on meeting the needs of our guests, owners and shareholders while building with our team members on the unique culture of this dynamic company."

Through Route 2015 - a comprehensive programme launched in December last year - Rezidor aims to increase its EBITDA margin by 6 to 8 percent by the year 2015. The strategy puts a strong focus on revenue generation including: global strategic partnership activities with Carlson, cost-saving initiatives, accelerated asset management programmes and further growth of the fee-based hotel portfolio - with a focus on new and emerging markets such as Russia/CIS and Africa.