NEWTON, Mass. — December 16, 2020 — Service Properties Trust (Nasdaq: SVC), or SVC, today announced that it has completed the previously announced transition of branding and management for 12 hotels to Sonesta International Hotels Corporation, or Sonesta. This includes three hotels from InterContinental Hotels Group, plc, or IHG, located in Canada and Puerto Rico and nine hotels from Marriott International, Inc., or MAR.
SVC entered short term agreements with Sonesta to manage these 12 hotels that expire on December 31, 2021. The three hotels transitioned from IHG are now operated under the Royal Sonesta and Sonesta ES Suites brands. The nine hotels transitioned from MAR are now operated under the recently launched Sonesta Select brand, a new, upscale select-service hotel concept.
John Murray, President and Chief Executive Officer of SVC, made the following statement regarding today’s announcement:
“We are excited about the launch of the Sonesta Select brand and the transitioning of 12 additional hotels to Sonesta, which follows the transition of 99 hotels to Sonesta successfully completed earlier this month. We believe that as a 34% 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 and give us improved decision-making control over possible dispositions or alternative uses.”
