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NOBLE INVESTMENT GROUP in Atlanta has acquired the Hilton Garden Inn Boise Downtown. The transaction caps more than $1 billion investment over the past year, according to a statement. The 132-room hotel is near the city's leisure and business centers, which includes the Idaho State Capitol, Boise State University, Jack's Urban Meeting Place, Idaho Central Arena, and the Boise Centre, according to Noble, which is led by Mit Shah as CEO. Hotel amenities include an indoor pool, 4,098 square feet of meeting space and it is pet friendly. "The Boise market demonstrates the key macro trends we are looking for in cities which we believe will outperform as we enter a new lodging cycle," said Dustin Fisher, Noble's senior vice president. "This acquisition aligns with our strategy to acquire high-quality, well-located assets in growth markets poised to benefit from the ongoing recovery in travel."

The Best Western Houston Bush Intercontinental Airport is now open in Humble, Texas, following a comprehensive renovation. Previously it was a Baymont by Wyndham. The 52-room hotel is owned by Houston-based Wayside Investment Group, led by Miraj Patel as president. It is near the Houston Bush Intercontinental Airport as well as several restaurants, the Deerbrook Mall, Jess H. Jones Parks and the Old MacDonald's Farm. Amenities include a fitness center, meeting room, guest laundry and business center. It is pet friendly. "We are thrilled to open this newly renovated hotel and join the community by offering visitors traveling the Houston-area, a new and memorable travel experience." said Patel. "The transformational enhancements to this acquisition continues to demonstrates our commitment to value creation and best-in-class guest satisfaction."

INTEGRITY INTERNATIONAL GROUP, led by Tony Matharu, has acquired two properties in London: Atlas House and Crescent buildings. Atlas House, a Grade II-listed building, is situated at the junction of King Street, Queen Street, and Cheapside, while the Crescent is located adjacent to Tower Suites by Blue Orchid Hotels. Both Atlas House and the Crescent will join the Blue Orchid Hospitality brand, part of Integrity, Integrity said in a statement. Meanwhile, the company recently restructured its Garage Hotels Group, the statement said. "The recent acquisition of Atlas House and the Crescent portfolio demonstrates our continued commitment to invest in and breathe new life into London property, particularly those buildings at the end of their previous lives, ensuring that London remains the best place to live, work, visit, and invest," Matharu said. "The team at Integrity International Group has unrivalled expertise in ac

HYATT HOTELS CORP. reported an almost 85 percent growth in its global pipeline since 2017, reaching a record of 129,000 rooms. During this period, the company doubled its luxury rooms, tripled its resort rooms, and quintupled its lifestyle rooms. Pictured is a rendering of the New Andaz Miami Beach in Miami Beach, Florida. The company is expanding its brand portfolio both nationally and globally, selecting new and existing markets to enhance its network effect for owners and guests, Hyatt said in a statement. "Hyatt leading the industry in net rooms growth for seven years is a result of our unique approach to development," said Mark Hoplamazian, Hyatt's president and chief executive officer. "We strategically expand our portfolio of brands, intentionally selecting new and existing markets to enhance our network effect for owners and guests. Our commitment to thoughtful organic growth and strategic acquisitions amplifies our asset-light business model. Our goal is not to be the largest hospitality company, but the company most valued by colleagues, guests, and owners."

CHOICE HOTELS INTERNATIONAL has named its eight nominees for the board of directors for Wyndham Hotels & Resorts to be voted on in Wyndham's 2024 shareholder meeting. The nominees, including Jay Shah, executive chairman at Hersha Hospitality Trust, are expected to support Choice's bid to acquire Wyndham despite multiple rejections by the latter. In response, Wyndham said it will evaluate the nominees as part of its due diligence, but it also said the nominees were "hand-picked to push through their offer." Along with Shah, Choice's nominees are: Barbara Bennett, founder and principal executive of business consulting firm Bennett West LLC. Emanuel Pearlman, founder, chairman and CEO of investment management and financial consulting firm Liberation Investment Group. Fiona Dias, digital commerce consultant who served as the chief strategy officer of online shopping service ShopRunner from 2011 to 2014. James Nelson, CEO of real estate investment trust Global Net Lease, Inc. Nana Mensah, founder, chairman and CEO of food packaging and processing equipment exporter 'XPORTS Inc. Susan Schnabel, founder and co-managing partner of buyout fund advisor aPriori Capital Partners. William Grounds, principal of his advisory business Burraneer Capital Advisors LLC. "These nominees are proven leaders with wide-ranging expertise across relevant industries, including deep proficiency in the hospitality and franchising sectors," said Stewart Bainum, chairman of Choice's board of directors. "We are confident the nominees' industry, finance, governance and board experience will greatly benefit Wyndham shareholders. Most importantly, if elected, the nominees will exercise their independent judgment to serve Wyndham shareholders' best interests, which Choice believes is to move with urgency to maximize the value that could be created for them through a combination with Choice."

SAK DEVELOPERS RECENTLY acquired Staybridge Suites Tysons-McLean in Tysons-McLean, Virginia for an undisclosed amount. SAK is led by founding partners Waheed Ashiq, Vipul Kapila, and Khurram Sindhu. Hunter Hotel Advisors facilitated the sale of the 142-key, 5-story property. The hotel in downtown McLean is near Tysons Corner with numerous corporate demand generators and major government agencies, Hunter said in a statement. David Perrin, senior vice president of Hunter, represented the institutional seller.

STONEHILL CRE, THE commercial real estate group of investment firm Stonehill, has originated and purchased $200 million in first mortgage loans since being launched in the second quarter of 2022. The companies expect to complete an additional $100 million in loan originations and other transactions by year's end, based upon deals in its pipeline, and Stonehill CRE is targeting over $500 million in transaction for 2023. Stonehill CRE, formed in May with Daniel Siegel as its president, is designed to work in all real estate sectors to navigate ongoing market volatility and enable real estate owners to execute their business plans, according to the company. Its work has made Stonehill the 10th largest U.S. hotel lender in 2021, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association. Atlanta-based Stonehill and Stonehill CRE are affiliates of Peachtree Group, led by Jatin Desai and Mitul Patel as managing principals. "Stonehill CRE's formation came at a fortuitous time as market conditions have created a dislocated lending environment for commercial real estate," said Siegel. "Traditional lenders have not only slowed commercial real estate lending but also tightened underwriting standards, which allows us to provide needed liquidity for maturing loans, new acquisitions and construction projects."

CHOICE HOTELS INTERNATIONAL is continuing its bid to acquire Wyndham Hotels & Resorts after twice being rejected by Wyndham's board of directors. Now Choice has launched an exchange offer "to present its compelling proposal directly to Wyndham shareholders" and plans to nominate its own candidates for Wyndham's board. However, Wyndham's board continues its refusal to accept the offer, saying it remains substantially the same as the last bid it rejected and does not address the board's concerns about the deal's regulatory viability and benefits to stockholders. It also said in a statement that Choice currently owns less than 1.7 percent of Wyndham common stock and is "restricted from further purchases without antitrust approval."

WORKFORCE MANAGEMENT SOFTWARE producer Unifocus recently marked its 25th anniversary of doing business. The company recently acquired operations management platform Knowcross and celebrated several other milestones it has met since its founding in 1998. Unifocus was founded in the same year Google started up, the Digital Millennium Copyright Act was released and the first WiFi standards were set. The company's labor management system, the first of its kind according to Unifocus, includes scheduling automation and, with the Knowcross acquisition, real-time data for forecasting, scheduling, task execution and tracking of guest and employee satisfaction. "Twenty-five years of serving the hospitality industry and counting," says Moneesh Arora, Unifocus chief executive. "We're filled with gratitude for our clients who've been part of this journey, as well as our incredibly dedicated team that makes our vision a reality. Our success stems from our commitment to truly understanding the needs of hoteliers, which continually inspires us to enhance and innovate our hotel operations technology."

WYNDHAM HOTELS & RESORTS recently named Amit Sripathi as chief development officer, taking over from Chip Ohlsson, who exits the company in June. Sripathi, who previously was Wyndham's senior vice president of strategic and corporate development, will head the company's North American franchise sales team. Before his tenure at Wyndham, he served as vice president of finance and capital markets at RLJ Lodging Trust, and as vice president of global investment banking at Deutsche Bank, Wyndham said in a statement. "Amit's deep experience in mergers and acquisitions and capital markets focused on the real estate and hospitality sectors at Deutsche Bank and RLJ Lodging are instrumental as we increase our focus on growing our midscale-and-above portfolio while reinforcing our leading position in the resilient select-service segments," said Geoff Ballotti, Wyndham's president and CEO. "Since joining Wyndham, Amit has demonstrated a strategic approach to growth. He's helped divest our owned and managed segments leading to a pure-play U.S. franchise business and worked with our sales teams across the country and around the world deploying over $250 million in development support for our owners. He hits the ground running, knowing what our franchise sales teams need to continue outperforming expectations."

HERSHA HOSPITALITY TRUST and KSL Capital Partners, LLC, have finalized KSL's acquisition of the REIT for approximately $1.4 billion. As of Nov. 28, Hersha became a private company and was delisted from the New York Stock Exchange. The companies entered a definitive merger agreement on Aug. 27 under which affiliates of KSL acquired all of the outstanding common shares of Hersha for $10 per share in an all-cash transaction. The companies filed paperwork with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Nov. 28 to make it official. The independent transaction committee of Hersha's board of trustees recommended the merger and the board unanimously approved it, according to Hersha. A special meeting of shareholders was held Nov. 8 to give final approval to the deal.

STONEBRIDGE COS. JUST acquired five properties, totaling a 1,200-key portfolio across the U.S. in late November. The Denver-based hotel operator plans to execute capital improvements at each property, with three having undergone recent renovations. With a current nationwide portfolio of more than 14,000 rooms, the company is actively pursuing additional expansion opportunities, Stonebridge said in a statement.

Peachtree Group recently promoted 15 senior-level executives to support business initiatives within its investment and investment services teams. From the investment team, Nicholas Huddleston is promoted to vice president, loan servicing; Matthew Larre to vice president, portfolio management; Kendall Burrus to assistant vice president, debt asset management; John Schellhase to assistant vice president, development investments; and Matthew Weatherford to assistant vice president, dispositions and acquisitions. Promotions in the investment services team include: Daniel Puglisi to senior vice president, corporate operations, hospitality management; Lee Shuman to senior vice president, hospitality development; Jenelle Zadik to senior vice president, people, culture, and workplace initiatives; Allison Frazier to vice president of revenue management; Sophia Koehl to vice president of hotel accounting; and Charles Talbert to vice president, corporate communications. Also promoted in the services team were Eugene Barber III to assistant vice president, construction and design; Zachary Bollinger to assistant vice president, debt capital markets; Sean Hondorf to assistant vice president, renovation program; and Katherine Atkinson to controller.

NOBLE INVESTMENT GROUP has announced leadership promotions across its investment, capital markets, finance, and asset management teams - reflecting the firm's continued commitment to the professional development and advancement of its talented and long-tenured team. According to a company statement, Dan Konzelmann is promoted to vice president and will be responsible for executing strategies across Noble's investment platforms. Emily Feeney has been promoted to senior director and will look after financing new asset acquisitions, managing capital market relationships and asset sales. Jeff Pennington is elevated as senior director and will be in charge for internal and external reporting, fund modeling, and valuations. Bo Zhang has been promoted to senior associate, and will be responsible for information, data, and analytics for our asset management team and investment management strategies, the statement added. "We are extremely proud of these Noble leaders and their well-deserved promotions," said Mit Shah, Noble CEO. "We look forward to their continued growth and contributions to the success of our organization as we expand and execute the depth and breadth of our investment strategies."

BARON HOSPITALITY, LED by president Sanjay Patel, recently acquired the Hampton Inn Birmingham/Mountain Brook in Birmingham, Alabama. The company plans a complete renovation of the 129-room property on the city's primary commercial corridor. The Hampton Inn is close to downtown Birmingham, the University of Alabama-Birmingham, Samford University and Birmingham Botanical Gardens. "Adding another Hampton Inn to our portfolio was a strategic move as part of our three-year plan, aligning with our goals for growth and setting the stage for success in the hospitality industry," said Patel. "By entering a market with high barriers to entry, you can benefit from the brand's recognition and reputation, attracting customers seeking quality accommodations. Initiating renovations to enhance the property will further differentiate it within the upper-midscale segment, making it a unique asset that stands out among competitors."