Here's an update on the nasty legal battle among members of the Carlson family. Lodging Hospitality Features Editor Carlo was in Paris last week to cover the Carlson Hotels worldwide conference. Here's part of a dispatch he sent from the front lines:
"I can't talk about family affairs," Marilyn Carlson Nelson said at a May 8 press luncheon at EuroDisney, where Carlson Hotels is holding its first global conference. A search committee is looking at both internal and external markets for a possible successor to her, she said. "My bias would be to have someone from the inside" be Carlson president, she added, noting she "will stay until we find the right person." Then she'll step down as president to be chairman of the board.
"It seems like a wonderful time to be handing this off to someone who can bring it to new heights," Carlson Nelson said, adding she hopes the role change will be in effect when Carlson holds its next conference in Las Vegas in 2008."