RLJ Development will become one of Marriott’s largest hotel owners in a deal worth $1.7 billion dollars.

This comes after the largest African-American hotel investment company in the U.S signed an agreement to acquire 100 hotels from White Lodging Services Corporation for approximately $1.7 billion.

All of the hotels will continue to operate under the same brand affiliations with long term franchise agreements also in place, a total of 90 are Marriott International hotels.

The brands represented will include 31 Courtyard hotels, nine SpringHill Suites, 30 Residence Inns, 13 Fairfield Inn and Suites, as well as five Marriott and two Renaissance hotels.

“We are pleased to be acquiring these high-performing, Marriott International-branded hotels and to become one of Marriott International’s largest franchisees upon closing the White Lodging deal,” said Robert Johnson, who controls RLJ Development and is the founder of Black Entertainment Television. “We look forward to a long and mutually prosperous partnership.”

J.W. Marriott, chairman of the hotel group said: “We are delighted that RLJ Development has expanded their close association with our company.  Under Bob Johnson’s leadership, we look forward to an increasingly strong relationship with RLJ.  With White Lodging continuing to operate the hotels, we are confident that we have a great team in place to generate value for our company’s brands.”

As part of the company’s diversity ownership Initiative announced last year, Marriott recently invested $20 million in the RLJ Urban Lodging Fund, a fund that facilitates the development of hotels in urban locations.
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