Blackstone, the real estate investment fund, has just signed a takeover agreement for Hilton Hotels Corporation, totalling more than 2,800 properties and 480,000 rooms in the Hilton family of brands.
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The group now owns or manages more than 100,000 hotel rooms in the United States and Europe.
In May 2005, Blackstone purchased Wyndham International for 3.2 billion dollars. It maintained ownership of approximately 30 upmarket properties, meanwhile entrusting the management of the Wyndham brand to the former Cendant hotel group. Some months later, Blackstone created a new luxury hotel chain, LXR Luxury Resorts, which brought together 14 former Wyndham hotels and 7 other hotels from the Blackstone portfolio.
In December 2005, Blackstone purchased the La Quinta Corp group (which ranks n° 13 worldwide) for 3.4 billion dollars. This meant control of the largest American economy hotel chain, which owns and manages approximately 360 hotels as well as the franchise contracts for 250 properties under the names of La Quinta Inns, La Quinta Inn & Suites, Baymont Inn & Suites, Woodfield Suites and Budgetel. The total represents approximately 65,000 rooms.
In February 2006, the MeriStar Hospitality Corporation became part of the Blackstone group for 2.6 billion dollars. The acquisition included the company's 57 upmarket hotels under various brand names in the United States, offering more than 16,500 rooms.
In Europe, Blackstone indulgently purchased several hotel “jewels” such as the London Grosvenor Square and the Westin Trianon Palace in Versailles. It also took over the assets of the Lone Star France group, which owned approximately 60 hotels (roughly 5,000 rooms) operated under brand names such as Mister Bed, Campanile, Kyriad, Comfort Hotel and Première Classe. Blackstone was for a while also a partner of the Accor and Colony Capital groups under the name of ABC Hôtels, which owned Libertel brand hotels, since sold.
With the new Hilton deal, Blackstone will not only own immense resources of hotel real estate under numerous brand names, but it will also directly control approximately fifteen brands, totalling over 560,000 rooms. This will put the group at the top of MKG's worldwide hotel group ranking, surpassing the current leader, InterContinental Hotels Group.
By taking over Travelport, the distribution subsidiary of the ex-Cendant group, for 4.3 billion dollars, Blackstone now also has control of a complete set of distribution tools in the tourist industry including GDS systems Galileo and Worldspan, as well as the online sales websites Orbitz, Flairview, Rates to Go, Hotelclub, eBookers, Octopus, and the Gullivers Travel network of travel products and services.
Source | http://www.4hoteliers.com/4hots_nshw.php?mwi=6103