Hotel operating company Rezidor SAS Hospitality expects new brand developments to provide a positive future for the hotel sector.

Opening the 2006 International Hotel Investment Forum yesterday (7 March), conference chairman and chief executive of Rezidor, Kurt Ritter, said new brands would come-and-go and old ones would disappear.

“New brands will evolve and only the fittest will survive,” he said.

Some would fail because they had the wrong geographical base and wouldn’t obtain critical mass, which is essential for brands to survive, he added.

Ritter was bullish about Rezidor’s latest brand partnership in conjunction with Italian fashion house Missioni.

“It’s an iconic label and we believe it will go very well. We will announce three more developments next week and hope to grow by five to six a year.

“We’re very positive about the future of this brand,” Ritter said.

By James Garner

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