11 August 2023
TOPEKA (KSNT) – A full rebrand is coming to downtown Topeka’s ‘Ramada’ hotel, including new ownership and a new name.
Long-time Ramada owner Jim Parrish, president and CEO of Parrish Hotels, sold the hotel to an entrepreneur out of Atlanta just last week. Nayan Patel, the new owner of the Ramada, officially closed on the property on July 31.
“It’s just an opportunity that came across,” Patel said. “When I first looked at it and came here and looked at the property, looked at the rich history, I figured that this was a project I wanted to get involved in.”
Patel and his company, Horizon Edge Hospitality, specialize in buying and upgrading hotels around the country. Parrish told 27 News he was looking for someone just like Patel, who would be able to invest in and renovate the property.
So after 20 years of owning and operating the Ramada, Parrish decided to pass the torch.
“It was time to find somebody who could devote more attention than I was able to devote at this stage,” Parrish said. “Though we did survive very nicely through COVID-19, it took it’s toll.”
Patel is looking to return the Ramada’s convention spaces and business to what they were in their pre-COVID days. He told 27 News he has extensive renovations on deck for the property.
In the coming months, the hotel will no longer be called the ‘Ramada.’ Patel said it will become a dual-brand hotel between Wyndham Hotels & Resorts, which the Ramada is already affiliated with, and Hawthorn Suites by Wyndham.
“We hope to build a great product with excellent customer service, rebrand the hotel into an upper-scale offering,” Patel said. “Something that will meet the demands and the needs of the community.”
He plans to turn the Ramada’s 12-story tower into an upscale ‘Wyndham Garden,’ while the three-story portion of the hotel will be turned into an extended-stay Hawthorn Suites.
Parrish said the Ramada is in need of upgrades to keep up with competitors, but that preserving its rich Kansas history is also important. The deal Patel and Parrish have in place not only makes sure the Ramada remains a full-service hotel, but allows Parrish to stay involved with operations to some degree.
“It would be more difficult if I were just parting completely so that’s the exciting part,” Parrish said. “The real exciting part is that it’s going to remain the business that it started being in 1963.”
Parrish said the monetary details of the sale are part of a non-disclosure agreement at this time, but that the transaction has been fully completed.
Once approved by Wyndham, renovations are expected to start sometime in 2024.