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re: Franchise Lost: Hilton removing MN hotel that canceled bookings for ICE & DHS workers

Posted by SaveNewOrleans on 1/7/26 at 3:52 am to dewster

quote:
On google maps - this is in a suburban area near a lot of small/medium sized mixed use type of businesses and a small airport nearby. It's not the type of small town hotel that would be ideal for an independent flag. It's clearly build to be a lower/mid tier major flag hotel.

I've actually had to go to that area for some of my major agri-business clients back in the day. There are only a couple of other major chain competitors (Hilton or Marriott flags). I stayed in the Marriott near Mall of America or up at the Courtyard by MSP. Just not that many other options on the southern side of that metro for business travelers with corporate rates or loyalty programs that are not near a major office park, downtown Minneapolis, St. Paul, or one of their giant shopping malls.

Having that flag and that back office booking systems is a gold mine for a hotel like that. Not having it is a nightmare. The owner likely will have to sell to someone who is a better partner for those major hotel flags or risk not being able to service what is likely a substantial debt to construct that place.

Corporate rates and agreements with massive corporate and government users is why you pay a fortune for those franchise agreements. Excluding them is a catastrophically stupid thing to do.

Everything here is spot on. When I travel, unless I stay at an independent hotel, I typically try to stay at Hiltons, including Hamptons. My brother-in-law travels around 125-150 nights a year for work and stays exclusively at Hilton facilities as he gets a corporate rate and then gets Hilton Honors points.

Franchise agreements, especially for mid to upper end chains like Hilton, are incredibly expensive. But it's worth it, because hotels like this aren't built without it.

This property will go bankrupt if they try to go the independent route. Go the independent route and you are relying almost completely on leisure travelers. And this looks to be a location that would rely easily 75% on business travel.

My guess is one of the following happens:

- Hilton forces the franchise company (Everpeak) to sell the property. Maybe close it for 6 months, let everything calm down and then reopen it or reflag it to something like a Hilton Garden Inn if they want to give the property a fresh start.
- The franchise company doesn't sell the property to Hilton, has to close temporarily and then later on finds a new flag. I don't see Marriott, Hyatt or IHG (Holiday Inn) touching this property. If it goes this route, probably a Best Western or Comfort Inn.

And if they had just apologized, it probably would've been a non-issue. But no, they doubled down. Great example of torpedoing your business overnight.

And honestly, if Everpeak has other Hilton properties, I'm going to guess those aren't renewed down the road. They basically destroyed any chance of doing business with Hilton again by doubling down.

SaveNewOrleans

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