NEWTON, Mass. — Sonesta International Hotels Corporation announced the addition of 102 properties to its global hotel portfolio. All of the hotels are owned by Service Properties Trust (SVC). In August, SVC announced plans to transition 103 InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) hotels to Sonesta branding and management; 99 of the hotels were reflagged as Sonesta on December 1, three additional hotels in Canada and Puerto Rico will transition to Sonesta in mid-December, and one hotel located in Atlanta will continue to be managed by IHG.
SVC entered short-term agreements with Sonesta to manage the 99 hotels that expire on December 31, 2021. These 99 hotels are now operated under the Royal Sonesta, Sonesta, and Sonesta ES Suites brands. Sonesta has also launched Sonesta Simply Suites, a new extended-stay hotel concept with 61 initial locations, making it one of the largest U.S. hotel brand launches in history. The three hotels scheduled to be transitioned to Sonesta in mid-December will enter similar management agreements with Sonesta and they will be operated under the Royal Sonesta and Sonesta ES Suites brands.
“We are excited to complete this milestone in transitioning 99 hotels to Sonesta and the launching of the Sonesta Simply Suites brand,” said John Murray, president and CEO of SVC. “We believe that as a 34 percent owner of Sonesta, SVC will benefit from Sonesta’s growth as well as share in more of the upside from the recovery of these hotels. The rebranding of these hotels with Sonesta will also create greater flexibility for us in managing through these challenging market conditions, give us improved decision-making control over dispositions or alternative uses, and potentially have a positive impact on this portfolio’s performance in the future. For example, while all of our hotels have been significantly negatively affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, year to date and for the third quarter of 2020, comparable hotel RevPAR performance at existing Sonesta managed hotels has been among the best performing of SVC’s hotel portfolios.”
As a result of this expansion, Sonesta brands will be introduced in over a dozen North American cities, including:
- Dallas (Sonesta Simply Suites Dallas Galleria; Sonesta Simply Suites Dallas Las Colinas);
- Denver (Sonesta Denver Downtown);
- Las Vegas (Sonesta Simply Suites Las Vegas Convention Center);
- Los Angeles (Sonesta Los Angeles Airport LAX);
- Milwaukee (Sonesta Milwaukee West Wauwatosa);
- Portland, Ore. (Royal Sonesta Portland Downtown);
- San Juan, Puerto Rico (Royal Sonesta San Juan Puerto Rico Resort);
- Seattle (The Alexis Royal Sonesta Hotel Seattle);
- Toronto, Canada (The Yorkville Royal Sonesta Hotel); and
- Washington, D.C. (Royal Sonesta Washington DC Dupont Circle).
The Sonesta expansion also includes an extended presence in a number of key U.S. cities and states, including:
- Atlanta (seven new hotels added, increasing Sonesta’s presence to 12 total hotels in the greater Atlanta area);
- Chicago (seven new hotels added, including Royal Sonesta Chicago River North and Allegro Royal Sonesta Chicago West Loop, increasing Sonesta’s presence to 12 total hotels in the Chicago area);
- Detroit (four new hotels added, increasing Sonesta’s presence to six total hotels in the greater Detroit area);
- Florida (six new properties added, increasing brand presence in the state to nine); and
- Houston (four new Sonesta Simply Suites added, increasing the company’s presence to seven hotels in Sonesta’s Houston portfolio and 19 hotels in the state of Texas).
“I am excited to have the opportunity to expand our national presence, including the addition of over a dozen new destinations, including our first locations in Washington D.C., Los Angeles, Dallas, and Las Vegas. We are also entering the Canadian market for the first time with two Toronto hotels, and adding a resort in San Juan, Puerto Rico,” said Carlos Flores, president and CEO, Sonesta International Hotels Corporation.
Sonesta’s new brand, Sonesta Simply Suites, is a more focused extended-stay offering that expands on its existing hotel brands—Royal Sonesta, distinctive full-service destinations; Sonesta Hotels & Resorts, full-service hotels and resorts; and Sonesta ES Suites, premier extended-stay accommodations.
“The introduction of our new brand, Sonesta Simply Suites, will allow us to strengthen our foothold in the extended-stay arena catering to travelers who require a modest longer-term option,” Flores added.
Sonesta is growing its portfolio by almost 350 percent and now operates nearly 300 properties across seven brands in the United States, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Egypt, Peru, and St. Maarten.
