Sonesta International Hotels Corporation Wednesday announced the addition of 102 properties to its global hotel portfolio, including seven in the greater Atlanta area — all of which locally involved the reflagging of existing hotel brands. Owned by Service Properties Trust, the hotels — listed below — were reflagged as of December 1, 2020. With the addition of the seven flags, Sonesta now operates 12 hotels locally.
“I am excited to have the opportunity to expand our national presence…” Carlos Flores, President and CEO of Sonesta International Hotels Corporation, said in a press release. “The introduction of our new brand, Sonesta Simply Suites, will allow us to strengthen our foothold in the extended-stay arena catering to travelers who require a modest longer-term option.” One of the Atlanta-area reflags was into the new Sonesta Simply Suites brand:
- Sonesta Atlanta Airport South (formerly Holiday Inn Atlanta Airport South)
- Sonesta Atlanta Airport North College Park (formerly Crowne Plaza Atlanta Airport)
- Sonesta Atlanta Northwest Galleria (formerly Wyndham Atlanta Galleria)
- Sonesta Select Atlanta Norcross I-85 (formerly Courtyard Atlanta Norcross)
- Sonesta ES Suites Alpharetta North Point (formerly Staybridge Suites Alpharetta North Point)
- Sonesta ES Suites Atlanta – Perimeter Center (formerly Staybridge Suites Atlanta Perimeter Center East)
- Sonesta Simply Suites Atlanta (formerly Candlewood Suites Atlanta)
Sonesta bills itself as “one of the fastest-growing hospitality companies in the U.S.” having grown its portfolio by almost 350 percent this year. Sonesta now operates nearly 300 properties across seven brands operating in the U.S., Canada, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Egypt, Peru, and St. Maarten. Sonesta hotels, resorts, and suites can be found in many of the most traveled U.S. destinations, including Atlanta, Austin, Boston, Chicago, Hilton Head, Houston, Los Angeles, New Orleans, Portland, San Francisco, San Jose, Seattle, St. Louis, and Washington D.C..
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SPT (the owner of these hotels) has always had the end game of running other brands to their apex of profitability without investing in significant renovations and then transitioning them into Sonestas (a conversion brand like DoubleTree is to Hilton and Delta/Four Points to Marriott). They used this pandemic and a clause in their management contracts as the perfect excuse to terminate agreements however, Sonesta now has 200+ “new” hotels that are all in desperate need of renovations – so the company will be stretched beyond its limits to accommodate the growth and needs to launch two new brands for the Courtyard (Sonesta Select) and Candlewood Suites (Sonesta Simply Suites) that are converting. Also, an embarrassment that IHG lost the flagship Crowne Plaza right outside of its NA HQ in Ravinia.