GlobeSt.com UPDATE: New Union Takes First Step With $70M Sale

DALLAS-Wyndham International Inc. has structured a long-running relationship with Thayer Lodging Group for extra leverage on its transition from hotel owner to management company. The first step in the new union is the $69.6-million sale of four hotels that Wyndham wanted to ensure would stay in its branded portfolio.

The Dallas-based Wyndham gets a long-term management contract and the Annapolis, MD-based Thayer gets 1,211 rooms in four key markets–Peachtree City, GA, Lisle, IL, Miami and Colorado Springs. At the end of the day, the deal weds manager and owner in a quid pro quo alliance. “We are very much looking forward to a long and mutually beneficial relationship with Thayer Lodging,” Matt Sparks, Wyndham’s vice president of development, tells GlobeSt.com. “I expect we will be working on many other acquisitions between us…in the Wyndham assets or assets that Thayer may bring into the Wyndham-brand portfolio. We are likely to have other JVs with Thayer going forward.”

Sparks says talks have been ongoing for some time about the assets and a way to combine forces. The four hotels were carved from a 32-property “for sale” roster announced in August in Wyndham’s ongoing sell-off to transition from owner to manager of select properties. “We were very interested in keeping the Wyndham brand (on the hotels),” Sparks says, “and the assets also fit into Thayer’s strategy.” For yesterday’s story, click here.