Columbia Sussex is a privately owned hotel company based in Crestview Hills, Kentucky. The company, owned by the Yung family, owns and operates hotels in various parts of the United States. The current president and founder is William J. Yung III.
Current portfolio
, the company operates 40 hotels under 3 different major brands and many sub-brands consisting of 30 full-service Marriotts including 1 JW Marriott and 3 Renaissance Hotels and 1 limited service Courtyard by Marriott, 2 Hyatt Regency Hotels, 2 Westin Hotels, and 5 Hiltons including the Boulders Resort which is formerly a Waldorf Astoria property now operating under Hilton's Curio brand and 1 DoubleTree Hotel. The Westin Dawn Beach in Sint Maarten is currently not in operation due to damage from Hurricane Irma; however, the adjacent timeshare buildings have been repaired and re-opened in December 2018.
Peak
At its peak in 2007, Columbia Sussex owned 86 hotels with 32,604 rooms and 13 casinos. The majority of the portfolio was lost during the great recession between 2008 and 2012.
Included in the rooms lost by Columbia Sussex are 5,821 rooms (or 14 hotels) that were acquired by Blackstone after it bought out $300 million in debt on the 14 properties at a steep discount. Although Columbia Sussex made every payment required by the terms of the loan, Blackstone seized the portfolio via a "deed in lieu of foreclosure" in December 2010 after the loan securing the portfolio had hit maturity and Columbia Sussex was unable to re-finance due to the credit crisis. Blackstone had previously sold the same hotels to Columbia Sussex for $1.4 billion in 2006.
Motels
Columbia Sussex began operation as Columbia Development in 1972 with the construction of a single Days Inn location in Richwood, KY. Rapid expansion followed and by 1978 the company was renamed Columbia Sussex and was the largest Days Inn franchisee with 14 locations many with restaurants named after the founder's wife, Marty.
Hotels
In 1977 Columbia Sussex purchased their first full-service hotel, The President Motor Inn in Fort Wright, KY. The hotel was closed for renovations and re-opened as a Ramada Inn.
Columbia Sussex then began a campaign of acquiring Holiday Inns and renovating them into properties featuring the Holidome concept. Together with the new loyalty program, Priority Club, which was a trailblazing concept at the time, market success followed. Holiday Inns were acquired in Dayton, OH, Springfield, OH, and a group of 4 Holiday Inns in Charleston, WV.
In 1980 Columbia Sussex completed their largest acquisition to date with the purchase of the 400 room Holiday Inn in Southfield, MI.
In the early 1980s Columbia Sussex continued to grow mainly through acquisition while focusing primarily on the Holiday Inn brand.
In 1983 a 400-room Holiday Inn was purchased and renovated in Louisville, Kentucky.
In 1984 Columbia Sussex began expanding through construction of new hotels. Major projects included a Holiday Inn Rochester, NY which served as the company's flagship for a few years. Also constructed in 1984 was a 400-room motel in Kissimmee, FL which carried the Best Western Flag. This was the last exterior corridor property ever constructed by the company. Columbia Sussex also opened the newly constructed Hilton Louisville East and purchased the Plymouth, MI Hilton.
In 1985 Columbia Sussex purchased 3 Holiday Inns in the Chicago Area in Glen Ellyn, Itasca and Hillside. 1985 marked the end of the Holiday Inn focus for the company and the beginning of the Radisson Era.
Columbia Sussex became the first franchisee of Radisson hotels with the purchase, renovation and re-branding of the Americana Hotel at the Cincinnati Airport located in Northern, KY. At the time of its opening the Radisson CVG was the 14th hotel with the Radisson brand in the US.
Development of many new construction hotels followed in the late 1980s and early 90s of mostly Radisson branded hotels.
In 1994 Radisson hotels in 5 cities were converted to Marriott. These were the first of many as Columbia Sussex transitioned from the largest Radisson franchisee to the largest full service Marriott Franchisee.
In 2005 Columbia Sussex substantially upgraded their portfolio by acquiring 14 properties from Wyndham International for $1.4 billion. Columbia Sussex repositioned these properties into 3 Hiltons, 2 Marriotts, 2 Sheratons, and 6 Westins after significant remodeling.
In 2006 Columbia Sussex purchased 2 Hiltons in Arlington, VA and Sacramento, CA from Blackstone in a $150m deal.