McLEAN, VA., – Oct. 19, 2004 – Barcelo Crestline Corp. will acquire Springfield, Mo. Based hotel developer John Q. Hammons Hotels Inc. — which is planning to build and operate a hotel and conference center in San Marcos — for nearly $63 million in cash, the companies have announced.

The 250-room resort and 45,000-square-foot conference center in San Marcos will cost about $50 million. With the addition of a proposed golf course and housing development involving Hammons Hotels, the project would total more than $150 million.

Barcelo Crestline, the parent of Crestline Hotels & Resorts Inc., offered $13 a share in cash for the more than 4.8 million outstanding Class A shares of John Q. Hammons Hotels, whose stock closed Friday at $11.31 per share.

Barcelo Crestline leases and subleases nearly 100 hotels, and operates more than 30 hotels, resorts, and conference and conventions centers in the United States under the Clarion, Courtyard by Marriott, Hilton, Holiday Inn, Marriott, Radisson, Renaissance and Staybridge Suites brands.

Texas properties in Crestline's hotel portfolio are the Marriott Plaza San Antonio, the Sugar Land Marriott Town Square and Conference Center and the Hilton Garden Inn-Dallas Market Center.

John Q. Hammons, 85, agreed to the acquisition in exchange for preferred equity in Barcelo, he says in a statement. Hammons holds nearly 80 percent of the company's stock, according to the company's most recent proxy statement. He is founder, chairman and CEO of the company.

Hammons Hotels (AMEX: JQH) owns and operates nearly 50 hotels in about 20 states and manages about a dozen other locations. Its portfolio includes properties in the Dallas, Houston and Beaumont areas.

When the proposed deal is completed, Barcelo plans to combine the John Q. Hammons Hotels business with its own, creating Barcelo Hammons Hotels and Resorts, with about 190 hotels under management and lease in the United States.

Barcelo Crestline is a privately owned subsidiary of a Spanish hospitality company.