May 22, 2012 // Franchising.com // Parsippany – Wyndham Hotel Group, the world’s largest hotel company with over 7,150 hotels and part of Wyndham Worldwide Corporation (NYSE: WYN), today announced an agreement with Hospitality Properties Trust (HPT) (NYSE: HPT) to brand 20 hotels with the Wyndham Hotels and Resorts® and Hawthorn Suites® by Wyndham brand names.
As part of the agreement, four of the hotels will become Wyndham Hotels and Resorts properties and 16 will become Hawthorn Suites by Wyndham hotels. All 20 properties will be managed by the Wyndham Hotel Group management company under a 25-year management contract. Wyndham Hotel Group will have two consecutive 15-year renewal options, which may be exercised for all of the hotels.
“We are proud to align with HPT, a prominent ownership group which clearly believes in and supports our brand growth strategy,” said Eric Danziger, Wyndham Hotel Group president and CEO. “We look forward to a rewarding alliance and to furthering our association with HPT.”
John Murray, HPT president, echoed Danziger’s commitment to the relationship.
He said, “HPT is delighted to add Wyndham Hotel Group as a hotel management partner and we believe that the refurbishment and rebranding of these 20 hotels and their management by Wyndham Hotel Group will result in improved operating results at the hotels. Also, HPT expects it may in the future add to its ownership of Wyndham branded hotels.”
Hospitality Properties Trust will provide up to $75 million for refurbishment and rebranding of the hotels, which is expected by the third quarter of this year. The management contract also requires that up to five percent of the hotels’ gross revenues for an FF&E Reserve be escrowed for future periodic refurbishments of the hotels. Management fees due to Wyndham Hotel Group are contractually subordinated to the owner’s priority return due HPT and the FF&E Reserve funding. The payment of these amounts to HPT is guaranteed by Wyndham Worldwide for the first seven years subject to a maximum cap of $20 million and an annual cap of $10 million. All amounts are subject to future recapture by Wyndham Worldwide and any payments or recapture is done on a consolidated portfolio basis.
Hospitality Properties Trust is a real estate investment trust headquartered in Newton, Massachusetts which currently owns 290 hotels and 185 travel centers located throughout the United States and in Puerto Rico and Ontario, Canada.
Wyndham Hotel Group, part of the Wyndham Worldwide (NYSE:WYN) family of companies, is the world’s largest hotel company with over 7,150 hotels and approximately 609,300 rooms in over 65 countries under the hotel brands: Wyndham Hotels and Resorts®, Ramada®, Days Inn®, Super 8®, Wingate by Wyndham®, Baymont Inn & Suites®, Microtel Inn & Suites by Wyndham®, Hawthorn Suites® by Wyndham, TRYP by Wyndham™, Howard Johnson®, Travelodge® and Knights Inn®. In addition, the company has license agreements to franchise the Planet Hollywood Hotels, Dream® and Night® brands and provide management services globally.
All hotels are independently owned and operated excluding certain Wyndham and TRYP by Wyndham hotels as well as certain international Ramada, Days Inn and Super 8 hotels, which may be managed by one of the affiliates of Wyndham Hotel Group. Wyndham Hotel Group is based in Parsippany, N.J. Additional information is available at www.wyndhamworldwide.com. For more information about hotel franchising opportunities visit www.whgdevelopment.com.
Christine Da Silva
Vice President, Marketing Communications
Wyndham Hotel Group
22 Sylvan Way
Parsippany, NJ 07054
(973) 753-6590
christine.dasilva@wyn.com
Wyndham Hotels & Resorts (NYSE: WH) is a hotel franchising company.