American Hotel Income Properties REIT LP (“AHIP“) (TSX: HOT.UN, HOT.U, and HOT.DB.U) is pleased to confirm that its previously announced agreement with Wyndham Hotel Group to convert 46 hotels – including all of the hotels in its Rail Hotel portfolio – to Wyndham hotel brands, has now been completed. In total, 28 hotels have converted to Travelodge® hotels, 15 hotels have become Baymont Inn & Suites®, two properties are now Super 8® hotels, and one hotel will remain a Days Inn®. Each of these hotels can now be booked through Wyndham’s worldwide reservation network, and all converted hotels now provide the hospitality and guest experience expected from Wyndham brands, including earning and redeeming Wyndham Rewards points.
“This is a pivotal strategy for our Rail Hotel portfolio, as the enhanced brand awareness and greater market appeal of these properties will allow us to more effectively fill guestrooms not already utilized under our rail crew contracts,” said Ian McAuley, President, AHIP. “We believe this increased productive capacity will drive incremental revenue and earnings accretion and enhance the margin profile of this portfolio of hotels.”
Mr. McAuley added: “Going forward, the Rail Hotel portfolio will be known as our Economy Lodging hotel portfolio to better reflect the broader market appeal of these hotel properties.” To celebrate this significant rebranding initiative, Mr. McAuley and Robert Pratt, President of ONE Lodging Management (AHIP’s exclusive hotel manager), and senior Wyndham executives, including Geoff Ballotti, President and CEO of Wyndham Hotel Group, unveiled two of the newly rebranded AHIP properties on Monday, December 18, 2017: the Baymont Inn & Suites, and the Travelodge in Wellington, Kansas.
“This has been the single largest transition of hotels to Wyndham’s platform, yet the onboarding of these 46 properties has been absolutely seamless,” said Mr. Ballotti. “We look forward to welcoming many more guests, and offering them access to our award-winning Wyndham Rewards program, through all of American Hotel Income Properties’ Wyndham branded hotels.” While this branding strategy is expected to significantly strengthen the appeal of AHIP’s Economy Lodging hotel portfolio, the company continues to cater to the needs of its valued rail crew customers with the promise of a ‘dark and quiet’ sleeping experience. The agreement with Wyndham will have no impact on AHIP’s current or future rail crew contracts and no impact to the financial contributions AHIP generates from its rail crew contract business.
