Sonesta International Hotels Corporation (Sonesta) today announced the launch of its renewed global hotel franchising organization. Less than ten days after completing its acquisition of RLH Corporation, Sonesta is now one of the largest hotel companies, with approximately 1,200 franchised and managed properties. The company offers a complete platform of franchise services, hotel operations, and franchise support, with fifteen industry-leading brands that service an extensive array of the lodging demand.
Sonesta Chief Executive Officer, Carlos Flores, said, “Today we launched Sonesta’s global hotel franchising organization. Fortified with a new world-class leadership team, we expect the renewed team’s efforts to improve Sonesta’s growth trajectory. As our reach as a brand continues to expand across the globe, we are even more focused on providing an unparalleled level of service and support to our franchise community, buoyed by expanded economies of scale, robust purchasing power, and materially improved operational efficiencies. Today’s announcement is another significant milestone in Sonesta’s continuing evolution as an industry leader.”
The new franchise organization is led by Keith Pierce, who was named as Executive Vice President, President Franchise & Development, upon closing of the Red Lion acquisition earlier this month.
Today, Sonesta appointed Brian Quinn as Chief Development Officer to lead the company’s franchise growth effort. Quinn brings more than 20 years of senior development and sales management experience to Sonesta including nearly three years as Chief Franchise Sales Officer at Red Lion.
Mr. Pierce said, “Brian brings a breadth of experience from several leading hotel industry brands that we expect will help accelerate our footprint across global markets. Sonesta offers unmatched value and benefits to the franchise community and we plan to leverage these advantages to expand franchise offerings to include the existing Sonesta brands. The expansion of our development organization under Brian is a key component of our future success.”
Mr. Quinn said, “I welcome the opportunity to work closely with Keith and the entire Sonesta organization at this dynamic and momentous period in the company’s history. Sonesta’s heritage of delivering high-quality guest experiences, combined with increased scale, clearly offers compelling benefits to franchisees across service levels that should help accelerate our systemwide growth.”
Mr. Quinn joins Sonesta after having held senior sales and development management roles at many of the hotel industry’s top brands and management companies. He is a frequent speaker and commentator at leading hotel industry conferences and in leading lodging trade publications. He is active in numerous industry and civic organizations and is a current board member of the United States Travel and Tourism Advisory Board. Mr. Quinn earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of South Florida.
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