REPORT: Blackstone Is Again Exploring Sale Of Motel 6 Holding Company

The owner of the holding company behind the Motel 6 brand is leaving the lights on for a potential sale, the second time in three years it has looked to offload the discount chain.

Blackstone’s real estate arm has begun gauging interest from potential buyers for holding company G6 Hospitality, owner of Motel 6 and Studio 6 brand hotels, an anonymous source familiar with the matter told Bloomberg.

A Blackstone spokesperson declined to comment. 

Blackstone spent $1.9B on Motel 6 and Studio 6, about 1,100 hotels altogether, as part of a deal with French lodging company Accor SA in 2012. Blackstone has since invested $900M in the brands, and its investment has likely tripled in value, Bloomberg reported.

The New York-based investment firm first tested interest in G6 Hospitality in 2021. Though no transaction ensued, the valuation of G6 was estimated at more than $1B, according to Hotel Management Network. 

Since then, hotels have enjoyed new interest from investors willing to change the keycards, despite sluggish transactions in the broader commercial property market due largely to high interest rates.

Hilton Worldwide Holdings inked a deal last month to buy Graduate Hotels for $210M from Adventurous Journeys Capital Partners, gaining dozens of properties, Bisnow reported. The entities that own UK-based upscale hotel chain citizenM are exploring a sale that could fetch as much $4.3B.

Host Hotels & Resorts, a real estate investment trust specializing in luxury hotel properties, said in its late February earnings call that it planned to deploy $2.9B acquiring hotel properties in markets battered by the pandemic.

The nation’s first economy motel chain, Motel 6 was started in 1962 by two construction company owners “who struggled to find cost-effective, reliable options for their work crews and family when traveling across the country on projects,” according to the G6 Hospitality website. 

The company has 1,400 locations in North America.