Cendant Hotel Group—the world's largest lodging franchisor—announced today that it would acquire the Baymont Inn & Suites brand as part of an aggressive ramping up of its midprice hotel portfolio that already includes such brands as Super 8, Days Inn and Ramada. The move comes as Cendant Corp. prepares to spin off its hospitality group later this year as an independent company.
Midprice without food & beverage chain Baymont is part of La Quinta Corp., which was acquired by The Blackstone Group—a New York-based private investment firm—in a deal completed in January
(BTNonline, Nov. 9). Cendant will acquire the worldwide rights to the Baymont brand from Blackstone, although it will not acquire any of the properties.
"The Baymont Inn & Suites acquisition will make us an even stronger competitor in the limited-service, midscale lodging segment as we prepare to spin off our new hospitality company from Cendant Corp. later this year," said Cendant vice chairman Stephen Holmes in a statement.
Added Cendant Hotel Group chairman and CEO Steven Rudnitsky: "We look forward to welcoming Baymont franchisees into our family of brands and demonstrating our superior value proposition. As the world's largest lodging franchise company, we intend to leverage our scale to strengthen the Baymont Inn & Suites system and grow the brand both domestically and internationally."
The transaction is slated to close next month after customary closing conditions and regulatory approvals.