Sonesta International Hotels Corp., which expanded in 2020 through a rebrand of more than 100 InterContinental properties, has announced that it is adding 88 more hotels to its portfolio. The chain will soon have close to 300 hotels operating under seven brands.
For meeting and incentive planners, three full-service hotels are of note. Hawaii’s Marriott Kaua’i Resort is the only new Sonesta that will reflag as a Royal Sonesta, the company’s upscale brand. To be called the Royal Sonesta Kaua’I Resort Lihue when it changes hands this spring, the property offers 356 rooms and 47,000 square feet of meeting space across 13 meeting rooms. It’s the first Sonesta in Hawaii.
The company’s two other new full-service hotels are the 392-room Sonesta Nashville Airport, formerly the Marriott Nashville Airport, with 27,870 square feet of meeting space; and the 297-room Sonesta Emeryville (Calif.), previously the Courtyard Oakland Emeryville, with 5,001 square feet of meeting space.
The expansion will also add 49 Sonesta Select properties, a brand described as “upscale, focused-service” that the company launched at the end of 2020; 32 Sonesta ES Suites; and four Sonesta Simply Suites, another new brand.
With the move, Sonesta has a significant presence in a number of major meeting destinations, including 14 properties in Chicago, 13 in Atlanta, and 12 in both Boston and Dallas-Fort Worth.
