MINNEAPOLIS, MN— Emphasizing Carlson Hotels’ desire to step up development in Canada for all of its hotel brands, the company appointed industry veteran David Oliver as vp, development/Canada. The role is a newly created one within the Carlson organization, and places an industry executive with more than 30 years of experience in a region where Carlson’s hotel brands have significant opportunity for growth. “We are underserved in a lot of different markets in Canada, and my new responsibility will be to fill some of those gaps by seeking and securing managed, owned or franchised opportunities for the company’s lodging brands,” said Oliver. He now reports to Bill Sipple, vp/ development for full-service hotels in The Americas. Oliver will work on identifying potential growth markets for the Regent International, Radisson Hotels, Park Plaza Hotels, Country Inns & Suites and Park Inn brands. With regards to Park Plaza and Park Inn, Oliver will work in conjunction with AFM Hospitality Corp., the master franchisor of those two brands in Canada to grow their presence. AFM holds an exclusive license agreement for Park Plaza, and a non-exclusive license agreement for Park Inns. “David’s long history of successful hotel development in Canada is due in large part to the excellent relationships he has built with potential franchisees and lenders,” said Sipple. “His past work in market feasibility, financial transactions and construction brings an added level of value to the Carlson organization that will work to benefit franchisees, owners and management companies alike. We’ve been impressed with David’s strong track record from the start, and expect great things from him in the future,” added Sipple. With merely 40 properties in Canada across its five lodging brands, Oliver said in an interview with HOTEL BUSINESS® that he sees “tremendous” opportunities for growth in the Canadian marketplace. Initially, he said his focus will be to “build partnerships with developers looking to do multiple deals,” so he can really get the brands’ distribution up. At presstime there were 22 Radisson hotels, 13 Country Inns & Suites, and three Park Plaza hotels in Canada. However, Oliver said he is already working on several new projects. One such deal was inked at presstime, which will allow for the conversion of an existing hotel in Hamilton, Ontario to the Park Inn brand. The deal was presented through AFM Hospitality. In addition, the company just announced a deal for a 150-room new build Country Inns & Suites in Niagara Falls. The hotel, which is expected to break ground before the end of the year, is slated to open in 2005. Meanwhile, Park Plaza just celebrated the opening of a 450-room hotel near Toronto airport. “Regent International is the ideal brand to bring to some of Canada’s major markets. We’re underserved in many respects and have a lot of different places we can go with this brand,” Oliver said. Potential markets for Regent projects in the area are starting to be identified, and include Calgary, Vancouver and Montreal. Oliver said it is likely that the new Regent projects will be mixed-use developments, with other aspects including retail, office and condominiums incorporated in the deals.
