hospitality travel founded 1938 headquarters minnetonka minnesota united states key people david berg president and ceo products hotel and travel services number of employees about 175 000 website www.carlson.com carlson often referred to by its previous name carlson companies is an american privately held international corporation in the hotel and travel industries . headquartered in minnetonka minnesota a minneapolis suburb carlson brands and services including franchised operations employ more than 175 000 people in more than 160 countries and territories . citation needed the company s 2012 sales including those from franchised operations totaled 37.6 billion . it is one of the largest family held corporations in the united states . contents 1 history 2 brands 3 references 4 external links history edit carlson was founded in 1938 as the gold bond stamp company by curt carlson who used a 55 loan to start his venture . founded during the great depression mr. carlson used gold bond stamps a consumer loyalty program based on trading stamps to provide consumer incentive for grocery stores . gold bond stamps were used as customer incentives in many supermarkets and gas stations and other businesses and they could be redeemed for a large array of merchandise from a set of steak knives up to a mink coat . during the 1950s carlson was the largest supplier of mink coats in the united states . sales were brisk until the late 1960s when trading stamps began to lose popularity . the company was renamed carlson companies inc. in 1973 as they diversified into the hospitality corporate incentive and travel industries . in 1962 carlson purchased their first radisson hotel in minneapolis . cci as it was known internally then went on to purchase t.g.i. friday s in 1975 and country kitchen international in 1977 . in 1987 carlson founded country inns & suites by carlson . in 2000 carlson acquired the park plaza and park inn brands . the original radisson acquisition was a vintage minneapolis hotel named for french explorer pierre radisson . mr. carlson and nine local businessmen friends bought it jointly each holding ten percent . the other owners later dropped out one by one curt carlson buying up each person s share until he owned the entire hotel . it was demolished in 1982 considered as being too old and deteriorated to renovate profitably . however carlson had built an associated hotel a few years earlier the radisson south in south suburban bloomington which was thriving . that and the success of a radisson inn built near the company headquarters motivated carlson to construct a new radisson on the downtown site of the demolished hotel . thereafter the chain grew rapidly by franchising the name and taking management contracts for new hotels throughout the usa . by the early 1980s curt carlson had acquired over 50 diverse businesses most of them small and some not running profitably . under the administration of president edwin c. skip gage husband of curt s younger daughter the majority of those small enterprises were sold . the company then purchased the macdonald plaid stamp business a public company listed on the new york stock exchange and merged it with the gold bond stamp business to become the largest trading stamp company in the world . in 1994 carlson travel group and paris based wagonlit travel signed an alliance to form carlson wagonlit travel cwt one of the world s largest business travel management companies . in a return to their roots the carlson companies started an electronic consumer incentive program named goldpoints.com in 1997 . the program later was modified and became goldpoints plus the incentive program of carlson hotels . effective march 31 2011 club carlson replaced the goldpoints plus hotel loyalty program . in 1998 curtis l. carlson named his daughter marilyn carlson nelson as his successor ; a year later he died . 1 hubert joly became carlson s president and chief executive officer in 2008 and served in this capacity until august 2012 when he was succeeded by trudy rautio . rautio most previously served as the company s cfo . in may 2013 diana nelson assumed the chairmanship of the board of directors succeeding her mother marilyn carlson nelson who also continues to serve on board . in 2016 hna tourism group acquisition of carlson hotels brands edit carlson s subsidiaries include carlson rezidor hotel group carlson wagonlit travel country inns & suites park inn by radisson park plaza hotels & resorts quorvus collection radisson hotels radisson blu radisson red references edit http www.usnews.com usnews news articles 061022 30nelson.htm external links edit minnesota portal companies portal official website carlson history contact . carlson companies . retrieved on february 9 2011 . carlson 701 carlson parkway minnetonka mn 55305 u.s.a. club carlsonsm v t e carlson hotels country inns & suites hotel missoni park inn park plaza radisson radisson blu travel carlson wagonlit travel v t e minnesota based corporations fortune 500 corporations by size unitedhealth group target best buy supervalu chs 3m u.s. bancorp medtronic general mills xcel energy ameriprise financial c. h. robinson worldwide mosaic hormel thrivent financial for lutherans ecolab st. jude medical nash finch other public companies pentair valspar patterson companies securian financial group regis polaris industries toro deluxe donaldson fastenal federated mutual insurance company mts systems corporation major non public corporations alphabetically andersen cargill carlson holiday stationstores land o lakes schwan food company securian financial group related topics list of companies based in minneapolis saint paul v t e hotel chains accor adagio formule 1 f1 formula 1 ibis budget styles mama shelter mercure grand mercure mgallery novotel suite novotel pullman the sebel sofitel thalassa sea & spa carlson rezidor country inns & suites park inn park plaza quorvus collection radisson radisson blu choice 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inn hiway house imperial 400 jack tar hotels nickelodeon resorts by marriott the real hotel company roundtowner inn shoney s inn statler hotels summerfield suites susse chalet tage inn united hotels company of america wilson world hotels lists hotels chained brand largest united states motels category commons authority control worldcat identities viaf 133799398 retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title carlson companies & oldid 743183836 categories companies established in 1938privately held companies based in minnesotaprivately held companies in the united statescompanies based in minnesotahospitality companies of the united stateshidden categories pages using infobox company with unsupported parametersall articles with unsourced statementsarticles with unsourced statements from june 2011wikipedia articles with viaf identifiers navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history 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