News for the Hospitality Executive |
22 Former Exel Inn Hotels Rebranded Under Wyndham Hotel
Group Flags -
Days Inn, Super 8, Baymont Inn & Suites, Howard Johnson
and Travelodge
PARSIPPANY, N.J. (Feb. 19, 2008) � FFC Capital Corporation
of Pittsburgh has rebranded the 22 Exel Inn hotels it acquired this month
in a joint venture with Interstate Hotels & Resorts to Wyndham Hotel
Group�s Days Inn®, Super 8®, Baymont Inn & Suites®, Howard
Johnson® and Travelodge® brands.
Exel Inns of America, a Madison, Wis., firm that owned and managed the 22 hotels representing nearly 2,400 rooms in Illinois, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Texas, Wisconsin, was acquired Feb. 8 by a joint venture between FFC Capital, a privately held investment company, and Interstate Hotels & Resorts of Arlington, Va. An Interstate subsidiary, Crossroads Hospitality, now manages the hotels. Gus Stamoutsos, Wyndham Hotel Group senior vice president of franchise sales and development, said the deal represents the largest collective conversion involving those brands. �We are very excited that FFC Capital and Interstate decided to affiliate all these properties with our brands,� he said. �We feel it is a great sign of the power our brands are bringing to the market.� Fred Branovan, FFC Capital president and chief operating officer, said the joint venture made the decision to affiliate all 22 hotels with Wyndham Hotel Group because of its support systems and commitment to the integrity of its lodging brands. �We are very much impressed with the Wyndham Hotel Group organization,� he said. Thomas Hewitt, Interstate Hotels & Resorts chief executive officer, said conversion of the 22 hotels to Wyndham Hotel Group brands and the establishment of Crossroads Hospitality as the management company �together present huge upside to the performance of this portfolio,� adding: �This is a significant opportunity to add value through rebranding and repositioning.� The following hotels joined the Wyndham Hotel Group system as part of the deal: Illinois Wyndham Hotel Group, one of three principal components of Wyndham Worldwide (NYSE:WYN), encompasses more than 6,500 hotels and nearly 551,000 hotel rooms on six continents. All hotels either are independently owned franchises or managed by a Wyndham Hotel Group subsidiary. Wyndham Hotel Group�s TripRewards® loyalty program is the largest in the lodging industry based on the number of participating hotels. Wyndham Hotel Group is based in Parsippany, N.J. Additional information is available at www.wyndhamworldwide.com. FFC Capital Corporation is a privately held company specializing in investment management across various asset classes including marketable securities, bonds, stocks, private equities, derivatives, hedge funds, venture capital funds and direct ownership of real estate investments. Its chairman, Milton Fine, is the former co-founder and chairman of Interstate Hotels. Additional information is available at www.ffccapital.net. Interstate Hotels & Resorts (NYSE: IHR), has ownership interests in 54 hotels and resorts, including seven wholly owned assets. Together with these properties, the company and its affiliates manage a total of 218 hospitality properties with approximately 45,500 rooms in 36 states, the District of Columbia, Belgium, Canada, Ireland, Mexico and Russia. Interstate also has contracts to manage 17 hospitality properties under development representing about 4,800 rooms. Additional information is available at www.ihrco.com. |
Contact:
Rich Roberts
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