The hotels, which consist of 754 rooms in six markets, will be converted to the new Hyatt Place brand by the end of the year. Noble managing principal and CIO Rodney Williams tells GlobeSt.com that the hotels are located in Atlanta; Charlotte, NC; Greenville, SC; Dallas; Topeka, KS; and Roanoke, VA.

The acquisition of the six hotels, along with the completion of the management conversion of the Hyatt Vineyard Creek Hotel and Spa in Sonoma County, CA, marks the start of a new relationship between Noble and Hyatt.

"We were approached by Hyatt to form a strategic partnership," Williams says. "This was an off-market deal which made it attractive."

Noble will spend $30,000 per room to complete the conversion, which will include a reconfiguration of lobbies and gutting of the rooms. The number of units in the hotels will remain the same. The converted properties are expected to open in the first quarter of 2008 or sooner, Williams says.

Hyatt Place is intended to complement Hyatt's full-service hotels. Hyatt plans to grow the Hyatt Place brand, with a planned 120 hotels by the end of the year and more than 65 projects in development. Williams adds that Noble will continue to develop Hyatt Place properties in the future, with two pending land deals for ground-up developments. "We're sold on the Hyatt Place concept," he says.