The main line of business of all major hotel groups is franchising. Franchising brands is a great way to expand a business because it avoids having to have the boatloads of cash (or credit) necessary to purchase real estate.

The downside to franchising is that it requires finding business partners who see value in your brands. When looking at franchising internationally, there are places where the benefits of a global brand can be significantly less than benefits of staying an independent, regional, or national business.

In terms of hotels, brand standards can be a double-edged sword. Needing to meet brand standards can result in a cookie-cutter hotel. Those types of hotels don't always mesh well with hotel owners. Additionally, some guests will prefer to prefer to stay at a locally or regionally owned brand instead of a brand imported from the United States. In those cases, if most of your business comes from within the country/region, a hotel owner would be reticent to join a global hotel group.

Caveat: I have no direct knowledge about the hotel industry in Scandinavia. The above is how international branding was explained to me by someone working in revenue management in a major US-based (at the time) hotel group.