IHG, Hilton, Marriott Among Hotel Giants Battling for UK Budget Hotel Chain
Photo Credit: Hotel companies from around the world are zeroing in on a struggling group of British budget hotel owners to make a new deal and potentially introduce new brands to the UK. Elliott Brown / Flickr
Skift Take
Major hotel companies are swooping into the negotiating room for a deal with Travelodge's UK landlords because they represent the most durable line of business in the volatile industry at the moment: economy, drive-to properties.
Global hotel companies are in negotiations with the leading ownership group of a UK-based economy chain to change flag affiliation. If talks result in a deal, it could end up being the first major hotel transaction resulting from the coronavirus pandemic’s downturn in travel.
The Travelodge Owners Action Group, an organization representing the landlords of more than 400 of the 580 Travelodge — no relation to the Wyndham-owned Travelodge — hotels in the UK has been in a tense rent battle with the economy hotel chain since the pandemic forced hoteliers to suspend operations. UK hotels were only able to reopen to non-essential travelers on July 4.
Travelodge, owned by Goldman Sachs as well as hedge fund groups GoldenTree Asset Management and Avenue Capital Group, didn’t pay a round of quarterly rent due at the end of March, citing the tanked demand in travel led to lost revenue. The hotel company, which operates the hotels and pays rent to the landlords — who are responsib
