The Nordic market seems uninteresting or unpentrable for all the "major" hotel programs. Hilton (since losing its temporary affiliation with Scandic about a decade ago), Marriott, SPG, Hyatt, they all have pretty much no presence in Scandinavian countries except perhaps the big capital cities.

http://www.hotelnewsnow.com/Article/...-global-chains

The only hotel programs that work in much more of Scandinavia, that you would know from elsewhere in the world, are Club Carlson (Radisson), Best Western, and Choice (there's a separate Nordic Choice program; those who belong to Choice Privileges in the rest of the world can redeem at Nordic Choice but cannot earn at Nordic Choice).

Now, there's an obvious solution: IHG, on its buying spree, should buy some Nordic chain such as Scandic or Rica.