Scandic Hotels

{{Short description|Swedish hotel chain}} {{Lead rewrite|date=November 2025}} {{Infobox company | name = Scandic Hotels Group AB | logo = 150px | type = Publicly traded Aktiebolag | traded_as = {{OMX|SSE115964|SHOT}} | foundation = 1963 (as Esso Motor Hotel)<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://investing.businessweek.com/research/stocks/private/snapshot.asp?privcapId=743961|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100703105839/http://investing.businessweek.com/research/stocks/private/snapshot.asp?privcapId=743961|url-status=dead|archive-date=July 3, 2010|title=Scandic Hotels AB - Company Profile and News}}</ref> | location = Stockholm, Sweden | key_people = Jens Mathiesen, President and CEO<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.scandichotelsgroup.com/en/executive-committee/|title = Executive Committee | Scandic Hotels Group AB}}</ref> Per G. Braathen, Chairman of the Board of Directors <ref>{{cite web |title=Board of Directors {{!}} Scandic Hotels Group AB |url=https://www.scandichotelsgroup.com/en/board-of-directors/ |website=www.scandichotelsgroup.com |language=en}}</ref> | area_served = Nordic countries Germany Poland | industry = Hospitality | products = Hotels | revenue = {{increase}} SEK 18,007 million (2018) | operating_income = {{increase}} SEK 1,957 million (2018) | net_income = {{decrease}} SEK 678 million (2018) | num_employees = | parent = | subsid = | homepage = {{URL|http://www.scandichotels.com}} | footnotes = }}

'''Scandic Hotels''' is a Swedish hotel chain headquartered in Stockholm, Sweden, with its main operations in the Nordic countries. Alongside hotels in Sweden, Norway, Finland and Denmark, the company also has a presence in Germany and Poland. As of 31 December 2018, the company had 11,560 employees and operated 283 hotels with 51,693 guest rooms.{{needs update|date=May 2024}}

== History == [[File:Scandic Hotel - panoramio.jpg|thumb|Scandic Hotel in Hamburg]] [[File:Scandic hotell Kiruna 2018 01.jpg|thumb|Scandic Hotel in Kiruna]]

===Foundation and early years===

The first hotel in what was later to become the Scandic chain was the Esso Motor Hotel in Laxå in the province of Närke, central Sweden. Opened in 1963, it capitalized on the increase in car travel, both for business and pleasure – the motel was a novel concept for Europe at the time. The chain grew to 59 hotels Europewide by 1972, when Esso sold the non-Scandinavian hotels. The remaining 32 hotels, five of them in Norway and Denmark, formed the largest hotel chain in its native Sweden in 1973.

In 1983, Esso sold the Esso Motor Hotel company to a Swedish consortium headed by Ratos, a private equity firm. The following year, it was renamed Scandic Hotels. Ratos became sole owner in 1985, and a year later, the first Scandic hotel outside Scandinavia opened in Koblenz, Germany.

The business was negatively impacted by the 1990/91 Gulf Crisis, and company management was replaced in 1992. In 1996, the group acquired Reso Hotels and became a publicly traded company on the Stockholm Stock Exchange. Two years later, the Arctia Hotels group in Finland followed, giving Scandic a presence in all the Nordic countries, and in 1999, the group expanded into Estonia.

===Developments since 2000=== In 2001, Scandic was acquired by the London-based Hilton Group. The hotel chain changed ownership again in 2007, this time bought by Swedish private equity firm EQT for EUR 833 million.<ref>Scandic Hotels Corporate Information, http://www.scandichotels.com/settings/Side-foot/About-us-Container/Corporate-information/History/ {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120331184654/http://www.scandichotels.com/settings/Side-foot/About-us-Container/Corporate-information/History/ |date=2012-03-31 }}. Accessed 2012-12-06.</ref> In 2014, Scandic acquired the Rica Hotels chain, which added 72 properties in Norway and Sweden to its portfolio.<ref>{{cite news|title=Scandic acquires Rica Hotels - Strengthens its portfolio with the addition of 72 new hotels in Norway and Sweden|url=http://www.hospitalitynet.org/news/4063983.html|access-date=19 November 2015|work=Hospitality Net|date=11 February 2014}}</ref>

In December 2015, Scandic once again was listed on the Stockholm Stock Exchange.<ref>{{cite web |title=Our history {{!}} Scandic Hotels Group AB |url=https://www.scandichotelsgroup.com/en/our-history/ |website=www.scandichotelsgroup.com |language=en}}</ref>

In 2014 Scandic Hotels launched its HTL hotel brand. In June 2016 the company dropped the brand. The brand was applied to four hotels in the group in Stockholm and Oslo, which were turned back into Scandic Hotels after the HTL brand was abandoned.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.hospitalitynet.org/news/4076414.html|title=Scandic Hotels Group drops HTL brand - Current HTL Hotels to Change Name to Scandic|website=Hospitalitynet.org|date=3 June 2016|access-date=27 December 2019}}</ref> In 2017, Scandic announced its buy-out of all 43 Restel hotels in Finland for 114.5 million euros, including those under the Cumulus and Holiday Inn brands.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://yle.fi/uutiset/3-9682907|title=Scandic ostaa Restelin hotellit|website=Yle Uutiset|date=21 June 2017|language=fi|access-date=2017-06-21}}</ref>

In March 2020, more than half of Scandic's permanent employees were notified of layoffs as a result of the Coronavirus pandemic. In April the same year, Scandic Hotels had a room occupancy of six percent, which was the lowest occupancy the hotel chain had ever had.<ref>{{Cite web |title=StackPath |url=https://www.affarsvarlden.se/artikel/scandic-hotels-omsattning-foll-86-procent |access-date=2022-08-09 |website=www.affarsvarlden.se|date=17 July 2020 }}</ref> The low occupancy and reduced revenue during the year led to Scandic reporting a loss of just over six billion SEK for 2020.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Hellekant |first=Johan |date=2021-02-17 |title=Scandic blöder 300 miljoner per månad |language=sv |work=Svenska Dagbladet |url=https://www.svd.se/a/rgdOPl/scandic-bloder-300-miljoner-per-manad |access-date=2022-08-09 |issn=1101-2412}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Wande/TT |first=Joakim Goksör/TT, Helena |date=2021-02-17 |title=Scandic redovisar brakförlust |language=sv |work=Svenska Dagbladet |url=https://www.svd.se/a/rgd3eA/scandic-hoppas-pa-aterhamtning-2021 |access-date=2022-08-09 |issn=1101-2412}}</ref>

== Corporate affairs == === Business figures === As of 31 December 2018, the company employed 11,560 people and operated 283 hotels with 51,693 guest rooms. Operating result (EBITDA) for 2018 amounted to SEK 1,957 million.<ref>{{cite web |title=Scandic Annual Report 2018 |url=https://www.scandichotelsgroup.com/annualreports/2018/en/ |website=www.scandichotelsgroup.com}}</ref>

=== Sustainability === {{advert section|date=April 2024}} In recent years, Scandic has made efforts to advance sustainability, focusing on reducing carbon emissions, minimizing waste, and implementing environmentally friendly practices across its hotels.<ref>Bohdanowicz, Paulina et al.: "Environmental Training and Measures at Scandic Hotels, Sweden". Research paper presented at B.E.S.T. Sustainable Tourism Think Tank IV, "Sustainability and Mass Destinations: Challenges and Possibilities", 2004-07-01-2004-07-04, Esbjerg, Denmark. http://www.greenthehotels.com/eng/BohdanowiczSimanicMartinacTT4Abstract.pdf. Accessed 2010-03-14.</ref> Scandic Hotels partnered with Too Good To Go and Karma to reduce food waste within its hotels in 2019.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.hospitalitynet.org/news/4092881.html|title=Scandic Climbs In The Sustainable Brand Index – Ranked Higher In All Countries|website=Hospitalitynet.org|date=12 April 2019|access-date=27 December 2019}}</ref>

==References== {{Reflist}}

==External links== * {{Official website|http://www.scandichotels.com}}

Category:Companies based in Stockholm Category:Hospitality companies established in 1963 Category:Hotel chains Category:Travel and holiday companies of Sweden Category:Companies listed on Nasdaq Stockholm Category:Swedish companies established in 1963