Marriott and IHG Fueling Sonesta’s Rapid Growth: Is Hyatt Next?
Skift Take
It only takes a little momentum for a snowball growth effect to transpire, and the unlikely Sonesta seems to have plenty of it to hit an extraordinary five-year growth goal.
The smaller Sonesta International Hotels Corp. emerged in recent months as the coronavirus pandemic’s biggest hotel industry growth story, adding roughly 200 hotels to its portfolio at the expense of global giants IHG and Marriott.
There’s no reason to think the growth will stop there. Sonesta’s chief executive plans for the company portfolio to swell to as many as 1,000 hotels within five years.
“We’re a small group of individuals today, and we have every intention of leveraging that to our success,” said Sonesta CEO Carlos Flores.
The 80-hotel Sonesta chain is slated to add 98 Marriott-affiliated hotels to its portfolio after Boston-based Service Properties Trust canceled management deals with the world’s largest hotel company. Service Properties Trust, also known as SVC, faulted Marriott for failing to make an $11 million payment earlier this month on 122 hotels SVC owns. SVC is selling 24 of the hotels and plans to begin converting the remainder to Sonesta flags from mid-December through early 2021
