PARSIPPANY, N.J. — Wyndham Worldwide Corp., a holding company for Wyndham Hotel Group, is buying La Quinta Holdings’ hotel operations for $1.9 billion, adding the brand’s nearly 900 midscale and economy properties to its portfolio.

When the deal closes, Wyndham Hotel Group will have a total of 21 brands under its umbrella, with La Quinta its third-largest brand by number of hotels behind Super 8 and Days Inn.

“La Quinta will immediately become one of our flagship brands,” says Geoff Ballotti, president and CEO of Wyndham Hotel Group. “It is an exceptionally strong brand that is led by service-minded associates who deliver some of the highest customer engagement levels in our industry. We expect that La Quinta guests and franchisees will benefit from our intense focus on product quality and our best-in-class technology, digital, loyalty and distribution platforms. This acquisition also significantly expands our hotel management business and provides us with substantial new opportunities to drive increased growth in our business.”

La Quinta’s North-American portfolio consists of 894 midscale hotels, 576 of which are franchised and 318 are managed. The company has a projected pipeline of 252 franchised hotels.

“We’re on a journey to drive consistency and engagement,” says Keith Cline, president and CEO of La Quinta. “We can control those two strategically, but when it comes to networking scale, driving conversions and bookings, this is the boost we need.”

The acquisition is expected to close in the second quarter of 2018.

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