I think its worth mentioning here since I’ve written about it numerous times before that Wyndham’s purchase of USFS & the Hawthorne Suites and Microtel brands is complete. The purchase price came in at $131 million, really its an absolute steal (lower than the $150 million that was first rumored) - very much on par with Starwood’s purchase of LeMeridien a few years back. If you recall Starwood purchased the LeMeridien brand and management for something in the mid $300 million dollar range.

Wyndham purchased two brands which are thought very highly of in the economy segment, after they both have just put out new prototypes and a more unified branding message. Just like LeMeridien, there was no real estate involved.

A few months back I had spoken to someone at Wyndham who said they are very excited about the transaction – but are unable to do any planning or work integrating the new brands until the deal is closed. Now that the deal is closed – a few issues have to be taken care of, such as,

-What happens to the Membership Program integration that Hawthorne Suites had with Hyatt Gold Passport? Originally it was expected that Hyatt Gold Passport use would still be allowed at Hawthorne until the end of 2008. 

-What will happen to Microtel’s MicroPass? The MicroPass was one of the simplest rewards programs in the industry – simply stay 9 nights and your 10th is free.

Wyndham will definitely integrate their current rewards program (Wyndham Rewards) but I’m sure existing Hawthorne/Microtel guests would like to at least be able to use up the rewards they’ve accumulated prior to the merger.

Lastly, the integration of the systems – this is probably the hardest part of any merger, getting all hotel registration systems to work with Wyndham’s existing system, while simultaneously keeping the existing future registrations.

Most likely we wont see a full integration (Website, phone numbers, rewards programs, registration) until mid to late 2009, but hopefully that wont affect the current growth of the two brands.

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