Wyndham Worldwide Corp (WYN.N) will buy La Quinta Holdings Inc’s (LQ.N) hotel operations for $1.95 billion, it said on Thursday Janaury 18 2018, adding another well-known U.S. brand and nearly 900 mid-scale, upper mid-scale and economy locations to its portfolio. Ahead of the sale, La Quinta will also spin off its real estate assets into a publicly-traded real estate investment trust, CorePoint Lodging Inc. If the deal falls through, La Quinta will pay Wyndham a termination fee of $37 million. Wyndham Hotel Group, known for its own-brand hotels as well as Ramada, Days Inn and Super 8 budget lodgings, will have a total of 21 brands when the La Quinta deal closes as expected in the second quarter of 2018. Last year, Wyndham Worldwide said it would spin off its business into two separate, publicly traded companies - Wyndham Hotel Group and Wyndham Vacation Ownership. The planned spin-off of Wyndham Hotel Group remains on track for the second quarter of 2018,