• by Danielle Oster , September 24, 2024

A new owner will be responsible for leaving the lights on at Motel 6.

The parent company for India-based global travel technology company OYO, Oravel Stays, has acquired G6 Hospitality -- the management company for the Motel 6 and Studio 6 brands -- from Blackstone Real Estate for $525 million, in an all-cash transaction expected to close in the fourth quarter of this year, pending customary closing conditions.

“This acquisition is a significant milestone for a startup company like us to strengthen our international presence. Motel 6’s strong brand recognition, financial profile and network in the US, combined with OYO’s entrepreneurial spirit will be instrumental in charting a sustainable path forward for the company which will continue to operate as a separate entity,”  OYO International CEO Gautam Swaroop said in a statement.

Blackstone Real Estate established the G6 Hospitality management company after its acquisition of the brands from Accor Hotels back in 2012. The company said it had “invested significant capital” in strengthening the Motel 6 brand, including a business transformation strategy that helped build out its roster of roughly 1,500 hotels across the U.S. and Canada.

OYO said in announcing the acquisition that it plans to leverage its tech capabilities, as well as its global distribution network,” to further build the Motel 6 and Studio 6 brands.

OYO first launched in the U.S. in 2019, and says it already operates more than 320 hotels across 35 states – including nearly 100 hotels added in 2023 and 250 in 2024, prior to the acquisition.

In a statement, Rob Harper, head of Blackstone Real Estate Asset Management Americas, called the transaction “the culmination of an ambitious business plan that more than tripled our investors’ capital and generated over $1 billion in profit over our hold period,” adding that the company believed G6 to be “extremely well-positioned for the future.”