HR Group announces further expansion and the establishment of a new hospitality company

Berlin/Vienna, 08.09.2022 – Berlin-based HR Group (HRG) takes over the Austrian Vienna House hotel company and its operating companies as of 7th September 2022.

The merger also includes the timely acquisition of all Vienna House properties from Vienna House Capital and U City. HRG's goal is to build a pioneering hotel company and thus become Europe's leading owner-operator with a strong multi-brand platform. In parallel, Wyndham Hotels & Resorts will acquire the Vienna House brand.

Ruslan Husry, Chief Executive Officer, and sole owner of HRG, says: "We now have an enormous fund of hotel expertise and a portfolio that will grow together into a new strong company. As a key to success, I believe in innovative digitalisation and global distribution, the expansion of business areas as well as a convincing brand positioning. The Vienna House brand has built a fantastic reputation in many European destinations, and our expanded and close-knit collaboration with Wyndham will provide the strength, scale and expertise needed to grow the brand faster and ensure more guests experience what Vienna House has to offer.”

The merger with Vienna House brings the number of hotels owned, leased, and managed by HRG to 145 as well as 20 signed projects.

Geoff Ballotti, Wyndham Hotels & Resorts President and Chief Executive Officer, explains his decision to buy the individual brand: “Vienna House's guest-centric culture, strong brand recognition, and ambitious brand development plans align with our distribution goals, making it a perfect match to continue our international growth and reinforce our position and commitment to the region.” The US-American company Wyndham is considered the world's largest hotel franchise company, with around 9,000 hotels in over 95 countries. “Over the past years, the Vienna House brand has built a highly-recognised name for travellers in many European countries,” said Dimitris Manikis, Wyndham Hotels & Resorts President for Europe, Middle East, Eurasia and Africa (EMEA). “The acquisition of the Vienna House brand and our expanded collaboration with our trusted partner, HR Group, mark a key step in expanding our market presence even further, adding immediate scale and capability and supporting our ambitions for growth in important destinations across EMEA.”

Wyndham will expand the Vienna House brand by leveraging its extensive distribution capabilities, marketing and franchise expertise and further develop it with the Vienna-based team. Vienna House will become Vienna House by Wyndham. In addition, 23 hotels from the Amedia hotel group recently acquired by HRG will be managed out of Vienna. The portfolio of Vienna House by Wyndham hotels totals currently 42 hotels.

In 2020, the Austrian-Thai parent company Vienna House Capital and U City PCL decided to sell 100 percent of their shares and shift their business to investment and financial services.

Rupert Simoner, Chief Executive Officer Vienna House Capital: "I am very pleased to have great partners in Ruslan and Wyndham, also for further cooperation! HRG has the great opportunity to create ONE new, global company on the so-called “white sheet of paper”.”

This development also goes beyond Europe. In the course of further growth, it is planned to take over U City PCL's 50 percent share in Absolute Hotel Services (AHS) based in Bangkok. The hotel management company includes hotels of the Eastin Hotels & Residences and U Resorts brands. This will add 32 existing hotels & golf clubs as well as 35 projects in Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia, India, but also in Hong Kong and Turkey to the new company's portfolio. This is expected for 2022.

The parties have agreed not to disclose the transaction amount. All Vienna House employees will be taken over.
Both parties would like to thank GSK Stockmann Munich for the excellent support and implementation of the process on the part of Vienna House Capital and the representatives of the international law firm Hogan Lovells Frankfurt on the part of HRG.