NEW YORK CITY — One of the hallmarks of Sonesta International Hotels since its transformation into a company more focused on franchising has been its owner-centric mindset, given its parent company Service Properties Trust was its biggest owner by far.
But as Service Properties seeks to sell off 114 Sonesta-branded hotels, Sonesta Chief Development Officer Brian Quinn said his company has evolved while keeping its focus on owners' success in tact. Those properties will sell encumbered with Sonesta flags.
"My guess is we're going to be in the real estate business for a long time on that front, but it does give us a unique window into what our franchisees are going through," he said. "And at the same time, when that transaction happens, the gravity inside the business is going to move heavily towards franchise."
All of the elements involved in that has led to a sale process that's more complicated than usual, with Sonesta chiming in from the brand perspective.
Service Properties Trust "is the owner and we're the operator, but the companies are intertwined across a couple of different platforms," Quinn said. "CBRE is who SVC hired to sell the assets. Sonesta's obligation through this whole process is to be a good steward of the prospective franchisee and take them through that process.
"But it all does sort of cross over, right? Then you're talking about the [property improvement plans] and the timing and sort of vetting the ownership groups — can they be good franchisees? So it's a lot of close work across that. There are also sort of healthy boundaries across who does what on purpose. The SVC folks are great to do business with, and we're really excited about the buyers that got fleshed out through that process and that they'll soon be prospective franchisees."
For the rest of the conversation with Sonesta's Brian Quinn, including how the company is navigating uncertainty, the sustainability of extended-stay demand and more, listen to the podcast embedded above.