Cendant To License Days Inn, HoJo Brands In W. Europe

NEW YORK— Cendant Corp. has reacquired the right to license the Days Inn and Howard Johnson hotel brands in the U.K. and Western Europe from Premier Hotels, ending a three-year master license agreement. “Premier Hotels ran into financial difficulty and we made the decision that instead of reselling the license to another company, we would operate the license ourselves,” said William Hanley, svp/managing director of Cendant International Hotels. Hanley stated that Cendant has a significant presence in the U.K. through businesses such as its National Car Park, the Holiday Cottage Group, and the Cendant Travel Agency. “Our hotels [in the U.K.]were doing very well and business was thriving. We thought we could take our expertise and build on that strong base,” he said. He added that the Days Inn in London runs at 90% occupancy and that Premier had “run the hotels wonderfully, but had financial problems unrelated to the brands.” He was also quick to note that Cendant’s move to reacquire the brands was “an unusual situation that presented itself and not something that [the company]plans to use as a strategy going forward.” Cendant still has existing license agreements in Italy and Malta in Western Europe. –Diana M. Rodriguez