Wyndham has been moving toward becoming a single proprietary-branded owner and consequently has been divesting itself of $500 million in non-strategic properties. "This is a further step in doing that," Andrew Jordan, Wyndham's senior vice president of marketing, tells GlobeSt.com.
The $60-million deal also releases Wyndham from certain operating obligations as minority partner. Host Marriott retains managing general partner status at each of the seven properties, either as wholly owned facilities or part of a partnership.
To date this year, the Wyndham divestiture has resulted in the sale of eight hotels and one non-EBITDA producing asset. With the sale to Host Marriott, the deals have reaped about $194 million for the hotelier, which is using proceeds to slash debt.
"We are very pleased to have completed this transaction, which will further improve our balance sheet while bringing us another important step closer to our goal of being a proprietary branded operating company, focused solely on the Wyndham brand," Fred J. Kleisner, Wyndham chairman and CEO, says in a prepared statement.
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