Wyndham Hotels & Resorts Acquires European Hotel Brand Vienna House For €44m
Main Photo: The 557 Vienna House Andel’s hotel in Berlin
Date: September 2022
Name: Wyndham Hotels & Resorts – Vienna House – to create Vienne House by Wyndham
Locations: 28 hotels in Germany plus 12 in Austria and surrounding countries
Number of Keys: 40 hotels – 6,000 keys
Seller: Berlin based HR Group
Buyer: Wyndham Hotels & Resorts, the world’s largest hotel franchising company with approximately 9,000 hotels in over 95 countries
Wyndham Hotels & Resorts, the world’s largest hotel franchising company with approximately 9,000 hotels in over 95 countries, today announced its acquisition of the Vienna House brand for €44 million ($44 million) adding an upscale and midscale portfolio of approximately 40 hotels and more than 6,000 rooms.
Wyndham acquires the Vienna House brand from Berlin-based HR Group, a leading European hotel operator and long-standing franchised partner of Wyndham, which will continue to own or lease and operate existing Vienna House hotels under long-term franchise agreements with Wyndham. The move enables Wyndham to grow the Vienna House brand by leveraging Wyndham’s vast marketing scale and franchise expertise, while allowing HR Group to focus on its core competencies as a leading owner and operator of strategic real estate across Europe. Upon closing, the Vienna House brand will become part of Wyndham’s portfolio of iconic brands and will be known as Vienna House by Wyndham.
The acquisition of the brand adds 28 hotels in Germany alone, further cementing Wyndham’s foothold in one of it’s largest European markets with 120 franchised hotels and more than 19,000 rooms, while also expanding across surrounding countries. Together with Wyndham’s current presence in Europe, the combined portfolio of more than 400 hotels in more than 30 countries will provide business and leisure travellers an expanded offering of branded hotel options across the region.
“Europe continues to present accelerating growth for the travel sector with strong demand steadily bouncing back across leisure and business,” said Geoff Ballotti, Wyndham Hotels & Resorts President and Chief Executive Officer. “Vienna House’s guest-centric culture, strong brand recognition and ambitious brand development plans align with our distribution goals, making it a perfect match to continue our international growth and reinforces our position and commitment to the region.”
“Over the past 30 years, the Vienna House brand has built a highly-recognised name for travellers in many European countries,” said Dimitris Manikis, Wyndham Hotels & Resorts President for Europe, Middle East, Eurasia and Africa (EMEA). “The acquisition of the Vienna House brand and our expanded collaboration with our trusted partner, HR Group, mark a key step in expanding our market presence even further, adding immediate scale and capability and supporting our ambitions for growth in important destinations across EMEA.”
Vienna House is a renowned hospitality brand across Europe catering to a wide demographic of business and leisure travellers, with a portfolio of high-quality hotels, including both Vienna House and Vienna House Easy hotels, located in many sought-after destinations across Europe, including Berlin, Munich, Prague, Krakow, Bucharest and more.
“We found an excellent like-minded partner in Wyndham Hotels & Resorts, sharing the same passion to bring high-quality accommodations where travellers want to be,” commented Ruslan Husry, sole shareholder and Chief Executive Officer of HR Group. “The Vienna House brand has built a fantastic reputation in many European destinations, and our expanded and close-knit collaboration with Wyndham will provide the strength, scale and expertise needed to grow the brand faster and ensure more guests experience what Vienna House has to offer, while also tapping into the renowned benefits of Wyndham Rewards.”
The HR Group is one of the leading multi-brand operators in Central Europe. The Berlin-based company has been successfully acquiring and operating hotels for more than ten years. With 145 hotels in over 100 cities in 10 countries, 20 projects signed and under construction, and an overall count of over 25,000 rooms, HR Group continues to strive for expansion.
Price: €44m
Price Per Key: N/A as the deal is for franchised hotels
THPT Comment: Makes sense for both Wyndham and Vienna House…great deal. Vienna House was owned by the Thai conglomerate U City, but transferred a block of shares to HR Group in January 2021…HR Group also acquire the Success Group which finalised in July 2022 adding another 20 hotels.
First Seen: Wyndham press release
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