Radisson Hotel Group would like to double its hotels in Ukraine in five years, to 10 hotels in five cities

Radisson Hotel Group would like to double its hotels in Ukraine in five years, to 10 hotels in five cities, says Jesper Henriksen, Kyiv director for Radisson Hotel Group. In addition to its four hotels in Ukraine, Radisson plans to open a 200-room hotel in Odesa on Primorsky Boulevard by 2022. “We want to be in Lviv, in Kharkiv, and to have two or three more hotels in Kyiv,” Henriksen, a veteran hotel manager for Radisson, tells the Morning News. In Kyiv, the most profitable path, he says, will be to take over existing, locally managed mid-market hotels. With Wizz Air and now Ryanair offering direct flights from EU capitals, Henriksen, a Dane, says the city government should market Kyiv as a 48-hour ‘city break’ weekend destination. The Radisson Blu’s clientele is 80% business, leaving weekend occupancies low.