Wyndham, Westbrook Ink $447M, 13-Hotel Sale

DALLAS-Wyndham International Inc. has jumped to the next level to become a proprietary-branded hotel operating company by agreeing to sell 13 hotels, valued at close to $447 million, to Boston-based Westbrook Hotel Partners IV LLC. The deal will close before the year ends.

The intended sale solidifies Wyndham’s strategic play to slash debt, trim non-core assets from the portfolio and grow through branding and little capital output. The San Clemente, CA-headquartered REIT, Sunstone Hotel Investors LLC manages the 13 hotels, which account for 4,200 rooms, many in major US markets. The properties, which include locations such as Chicago, Philadelphia and Minneapolis, are flagged as Doubletree, Hilton, Marriott, Radisson and Hyatt and will continue in those brands, Andrew Jordan, Wyndham’s senior vice president of marketing, tells GlobeSt.com.

Wyndham says the assets consists of 12 non-proprietary holdings and one Wyndham-branded property in Houston’s Greenspoint submarket near the Bush Intercontinental Airport, which will remain under that flag by virtue of a 10-year franchise pact. Talks are ongoing with Westbrook and others to buy more of the classified “non-strategic assets.” There are another 38 hotels earmarked for sale, Jordan says.

The hotelier started selling the assets in early 1999. With the Westbrook sale, 98 of 152 planned dispositions will have closed and another 16 hotels rolled over to the Wyndham flag. Bear, Stearns & Co. Inc. and JPMorgan Securities Inc. are Wyndham’s financial advisers for the Westbrook transaction.

“Today’s agreement provides hard evidence of Wyndham’s ability to execute one of the key components of its strategic plan, which is to sell all non-strategic assets and use the proceeds to reduce our debt,” Fred J. Kleisner, chairman and CEO, said in a press release.