With competition for hotel transactions and sites heating up and operational and development costs increasing, further putting pressure on margins, branded hotel firms are increasingly partnering — not acquiring — with investors, management and third-party operators to grow scale and distribution.
The year 2025 saw this hotel-industry phenomenon grow.
As the new year gets set to begin, here is a rundown of the deals and developments that have fueled this trend:
First up in 2025 was Wyndham Hotels & Resorts, which in February agreed a partnership with Indian hotel firm Signum Hotels & Resorts to operate 5,000 rooms over the next five years under Wyndham flag Trademark Collection.
Such deals are not just about expanding portfolio in new and newer geographies but also about bringing hotels and guests to those branded hotel firms’ domestic markets and continents.
Wyndham and Signum said the partnership would open and convert hotels in India, the United Kingdom and the United Arab Emirates, the three most key markets for Indian travelers. Currently, Signum has 12 hotels in India, 50 serviced apartments in the UAE and more than 850 serviced apartments in 39 U.K. destinations, while Wyndham has approximately 9,200 hotels and 893,000 rooms in 95 countries.
In February, Wyndham also extended its partnership with Germany’s Gorgeous Smiling Hotels to add 25 new hotels in Austria and Germany. Almost 2,500 rooms will be added to Wyndham’s distribution in such cities as Hannover, Munich, Stuttgart and Vienna.
India is the fastest-growing inbound and outbound tourism market, so it is no surprise to see internationally branded hotel firms partnering with firms, owners and investors in this country, which has the world’s largest population.
In April, French hotel firm Accor and India’s InterGlobe extended their relationship in a partnership to acquire the majority ownership of franchising firm Treebo, with the goal of opening 300 hotels in India.
As part of the deal, Treebo signed 10 Mercure-branded hotels in India and now is the master franchisor for Accor’s Ibis and Mercure brands in the country.
Accor, which has more than 70 hotels in India, and InterGlobe first formed a partnership in 2004 to develop and open Accor’s Ibis-branded hotels in Bangladesh, India, Nepal and Sri Lanka. Today, that partnership has yielded a portfolio of 22 open hotels and 3,996 keys, with the first hotel to open since the latest deal being the 206-room Ibis Mumbai Bandra Kurla Complex.
In May, British hotel firm IHG Hotels & Resorts shook hands with Sydney-based owner-investment firm Salter Brothers to bring the Regent hotel brand back to Australia.
The deal calls for five hotels in Australia to be rebranded, with capital expenditure to the tune of approximately 1 billion Australian dollars (£496 million).
Africa is not being left out of the show either, a growing trend there being the increased activity of third-party operators.
The biggest player in that arena is Dubai-based Aleph Hospitality, which in June signed an agreement with Casablanca-based African Hotel Development to manage 26 of its Onomo-branded hotels, mostly across West Africa.
It was the largest management portfolio deal in African history.
Aleph already has 18 hotels in operation, and five in its pipeline, in such destinations as Kigali, Rwanda; Zanzibar, and Saudi Arabia. Onomo has 20 midscale hotels under eponymous brand Onomo and two upscale hotels, the 148-room Onomo Allure Abuja AATC and Le Square by Onomo Collection. It also has a pipeline of five more.
It was back to India in July and August with two pieces of news that again underscored the rush to get a toehold and distribution in India.
Both originated with India’s largest hotel firm, Indian Hotels Company, the parent company of Taj Hotels, Resorts & Palaces.
Domestic hotel firms in India want a piece of the pie, presumably before all the pieces of the pie have been gobbled up.
Its first 2025 foray was a partnership deal with Kolkata-based hotel owner and developer Ambuja Neotia for 15 hotels over the next five years, most of which will branded as Taj, and the second was a distribution and marketing agreement with Jaipur-based Brij Hospitality to add 11 hotels that are in operation now.
In October, Spanish hotel firm Barceló Hotel Group inked an agreement with German real estate investment firm KanAm Grund Group to establish a joint venture for it to expand its portfolio in upscale hotels in northern and western Europe, a region where it has not traditionally been present.
Barceló said target markets will be France, Ireland, Italy and U.K., as well as Scandinavian and Nordic countries and that “investment strategies will range from a change of operator and/or refurbishment CapEx actions up to a full redevelopment strategy, including conversion from office to hotel.”
Also in October, Thailand-based firm Minor Hotels, which has a large European presence due to its ownership of NH Hotels & Resorts and Tivoli Hotels & Resorts, announced it will enter Egypt with a partnership with Hurghada-based Sunrise Resorts & Cruises.
The long-term joint-venture agreement has a portfolio target of 50 hotels in Egypt over the next 10 years. Sunrise owns and operates 24 hotels, 13 of which are in Hurghada and seven in Sharm el-Sheikh, also on Sinai’s Red Sea coast.