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'Carlson Companies' (sometimes referred to as 'Carlson') is a privately held international corporation in the marketing, service, travel, and hospitality industries. Headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota, in the United States, as of 2005 Carlson Companies owned 5,300 travel agencies, an incentive travel and marketing company plus over 1,700 hotels, resorts, restaurants, and cruise ships. It employs 170,000 people in nearly 150 countries and territories; with revenues totaling $4.93 billion in 2005.The family business, ''Star Tribune'', May 1, 2007. It is one of the largest family-held corporations in the country.David Phelps and Rochelle Olson, From hospitality to hostility, ''Star Tribune'', May 1, 2007.

Contents

Portfolio

History

Diversity

External links

Portfolio

The Carlson Companies' subsidiaries include:

★ All Aboard Travel

★ Carlson Marketing Group - provider of reward and incentive programs to other companies

★ Carlson Restaurants Worldwide

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★ Pick Up Stix

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★ T.G.I. Friday's

★ Carlson Wagonlit Travel

★ Country Inns & Suites by Carlson

★ Park Inn Hotels

★ Park Plaza Hotels & Resorts

★ Radisson Hotels

★ Regent International Hotels

★ Regent Seven Seas Cruises

History

The Carlson Companies were founded in 1938 as the Gold Bond Trading Company by Curtis L. Carlson, who used a $55 loan to start his venture.David Phelps and Rochelle Olson, From hospitality to hostility, ''Star Tribune'', May 1, 2007. Founded during the Great Depression, Carlson used "Gold Bond Stamps", a consumer loyalty program based on trading stamps, to provided consumer incentive for grocery stores.David Phelps and Rochelle Olson, From hospitality to hostility, ''Star Tribune'', May 1, 2007.
Revenue from this business was brisk until the late 1960s, at which time trading stamps began to lose popularity and the company was renamed "Carlson Companies" in 1973 as it diversified into various hospitality and travel industries. In 1962, Carlson purchased its first Radisson Hotel in Minneapolis.The Carlson Companies' saga, ''Star Tribune'', May 1, 2007. It then went on to purchase T.G.I. Friday's in 1975, Country Kitchen International in 1977, Comfort Suites, and started Country Inn and Suites in 1987.The Carlson Companies' saga, ''Star Tribune'', May 1, 2007. In a return to its roots, the Carlson Companies started an electronic consumer incentive program named GoldPoints.com in 1996. The program is not only used at Carlson properties such as
TGI Fridays restaurants and Radisson Hotels & Resorts, but also at major grocery, and department stores and major online retailers.
Curt Carlson died in 1999, and the position of CEO was soon taken up by his daughter, Marilyn Carlson Nelson.David Phelps and Rochelle Olson, From hospitality to hostility, ''Star Tribune'', May 1, 2007. Carlson Nelson planned to retire at age 65 in 2005, but was unable due to issues with her planned successor, Curt Carlson's grandson Curtis Nelson, who was fired from the company in January 2007.David Phelps and Rochelle Olson, From hospitality to hostility, ''Star Tribune'', May 1, 2007. Nelson is currently suing the Carlson Companies, claiming a 14 percent beneficial interest; however there is conflict with Curt Carlson's final wishes, manifested in a sophisticated trust structure that impedes the company from being broken apart and sold in a family conflict.The Carlson Companies' saga, ''Star Tribune'', May 1, 2007.

Diversity

Carlson Companies was named one of the 100 Best Companies for Working Mothers in 2004 by Working Mother magazine.

External links

★ Official Corporate Website

★ GoldPoints.com

★ Marilyn Carlson Nelson