ATLANTA-Hotel Equities and Premier Hotel Corp. inked an agreement to joint venture the management of seven hotels. Hotel Equities is taking over the management of the string of hotels Premier owns, including properties in North Carolina, Georgia and Florida. Premier Hotel will refer management contract candidates to Hotel Equities and serve as a non-exclusive development partner with Hotel Equities.

“Our JV partner wants to focus more on development,” Hotel Equities President Fred Cerrone tells GlobeSt.com. “It made good sense for us to help on the management side and let them focus on the development side. It’s a one plus one equals three approach to business.”

Now may be the time to develop new properties. According to Rubicon, the total committed occupancy for U.S. hotels in 2011 is up 6% and group pace is up a strong 30.8% over the comparable period last year.