Omni Hotels & Resorts is an American

privately held A privately held company (or simply a private company) is a company whose Stock, shares and related rights or obligations are not offered for public subscription or publicly negotiated in their respective listed markets. Instead, the Private equi ...

, international

hotel A hotel is an establishment that provides paid lodging on a short-term basis. Facilities provided inside a hotel room may range from a modest-quality mattress in a small room to large suites with bigger, higher-quality beds, a dresser, a re ...

company based in

Dallas Dallas () is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of Texas metropolitan areas, most populous metropolitan area in Texas and the Metropolitan statistical area, fourth-most ...

, Texas. The company was founded in 1958 as Dunfey Hotels, and operates 51 properties in the United States and Canada, totaling over 20,010 rooms and employing more than 23,000 people.

History

Dunfey Hotels was founded in 1958, when the Dunfey brothers added a 32-room motel to their Lamie's Tavern restaurant property in Hampton, New Hampshire. They soon established a hotel chain throughout New England, including 14

Sheraton Hotels Sheraton Hotels and Resorts is an American international hotel chain owned by Marriott International. As of June 30, 2020, Sheraton operates 446 hotels with 155,617 rooms globally, including locations in North America, Africa, Asia-Pacific, Centr ...

franchises in 1964. In 1968, the Dunfeys acquired the near-bankrupt Parker House Hotel in Boston. In 1971, the brothers sold Dunfey Hotels to the Hartford-based Aetna Life Insurance Company, which retained the brothers to manage the properties. In 1976,

Aer Lingus Aer Lingus ( ; an anglicisation of the Irish language, Irish , meaning "air fleet") is an Irish airline company which is the flag carrier of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Founded by the Irish Government, it was privatised between 2006 and 201 ...

, the national airline of Ireland, purchased Dunfey Hotels from Aetna. In 1983, Dunfey Hotels acquired the small Atlanta-based Omni International Hotels chain from

Cousins Properties Cousins Properties Incorporated is a publicly traded real estate investment trust (REIT) that invests in office buildings in Atlanta, Charlotte, North Carolina, Charlotte, Austin, Texas, Austin, Phoenix, Arizona, Phoenix, Tampa, Florida, Tampa, ...

. The chain had been formed in 1973 and consisted of three hotels in Atlanta, Norfolk and Miami. Dunfey Hotels was reorganized into two operating divisions, with Omni Hotels focusing on large, upscale modern hotels, while the remaining smaller motels and Sheraton franchises were branded as Dunfey Hotels while they were divested over the following three years. In 1988, Aer Lingus sold Omni Hotels to World International Holdings, Ltd., and the

Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...

–based conglomerate The Wharf (Holdings) Limited for $135 million. Those companies, in turn, sold Omni in February 1996 to Texas-based

private equity Private equity (PE) is stock in a private company that does not offer stock to the general public; instead it is offered to specialized investment funds and limited partnerships that take an active role in the management and structuring of the co ...

investor An investor is a person who allocates financial capital with the expectation of a future Return on capital, return (profit) or to gain an advantage (interest). Through this allocated capital the investor usually purchases some species of pr ...

Robert Rowling of TRT Holdings, who moved the chain's headquarters for the very first time, from Hampton to his own base of Corpus Christi, Texas. The following year, Omni's headquarters moved again, to Dallas. In 2000, Omni Hotels struck a deal with

Turner Broadcasting Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. was an American television and media conglomerate founded by Ted Turner in 1965. Based in Atlanta, Georgia, it merged with Time Warner (later WarnerMedia) on October 10, 1996. As of April 2022, all of its ass ...

to build a 600-room tower wing addition next to their existing hotel located in the

CNN Center The Center, formerly and still commonly called the CNN Center, is the former international headquarters of U.S. cable network CNN in Atlanta, Georgia, United States. The main newsrooms and studios for several of CNN's news channels were located ...

. The new wing opened in 2003. Omni bought Time Warner's share of the building in 2017. In 2010, Omni Hotels purchased the Amelia Island Plantation in Florida for $67.1 million. In January 2013, Omni Hotels acquired

ClubCorp ClubCorp (formerly ClubCorp Holdings, Inc) is an American corporation based in Dallas. It owns and operates more than 200 golf country clubs, businesses, sports and alumni clubs worldwide. Located in 26 states, the District of Columbia, and 2 cou ...

's Montelucia Resort & Spa. In June 2013, Omni Hotels acquired 5 properties (Barton Creek Resort & Spa in Austin, TX - La Costa Resort and Spa in Carlsbad, CA - Rancho Las Palmas Resort & Spa in Rancho Mirage, CA - The Grove Park Inn in Asheville, NC - The Homestead in Hot Springs, VA) from KSL Capital Partners. With this deal - worth $900 million according to ''

The Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' (''WSJ''), also referred to simply as the ''Journal,'' is an American newspaper based in New York City. The newspaper provides extensive coverage of news, especially business and finance. It operates on a subscriptio ...

'' - Omni Hotels became an owner and operator of iconic American golf resorts. In July 2013, Omni Hotels assumed management and operations of the King Edward Hotel in

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

, and bought shares of the property. In December 2015, Omni Hotels acquired the

Omni Mount Washington Resort The Omni Mount Washington Resort is a historic luxury resort hotel in Bretton Woods, New Hampshire, United States, near Mount Washington. It was designed by Charles Alling Gifford. In 1944, it hosted the Bretton Woods Conference, which establish ...

from

CNL Financial Group CNL Financial Group (CNL), formerly Commercial Net Lease, is an Orlando, Florida based private investment management and commercial real estate company. It was started in 1973 by James Seneff. The company has been a major player in efforts to rede ...

, which it had operated under its brand since 2009. In March 2018, Peter Strebel was named President of Omni Hotels & Resorts. In December 2020, unions criticized Omni for using the

Paycheck Protection Program The Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) is a $953-billion business loan program established by the United States federal government during the First presidency of Donald Trump, Trump administration in 2020 through the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and ...

to obtain a low-interest loan for business purposes, rather than using the money to pay workers (which would have turned the loan into a grant). In March 2021, Omni sold five aging properties - Omni Dallas Hotel at Park West, Omni Houston Hotel at Westside, Omni San Antonio Hotel at the Colonnade, Omni Jacksonville Hotel and Omni Austin Hotel at Southpark. In 2022, Kurt Alexander was appointed President of Omni Hotels & Resorts.

Properties

All hotels managed and/or owned by Omni Corporate. The company had one franchised property, in Cancun, from 1988 to 2022.

United States

International

References

External links