Can Sonesta Simply Suites unreasonably withhold consent for a transfer?

right to transfer or assign this Agreement or any of our rights, obligations, or assets under this Agreement to any person or legal entity so long as the transferee assumes all our obligations to you under this Agreement.

• B. By You. You acknowledge and agree that the rights and duties this Agreement creates are personal to you (or to your owners if you are an Entity) and that we have granted you the Franchise in reliance upon our perceptions of your (or your owners') individual or collective character, skill, aptitude, attitude, business ability, and financial capacity. Accordingly, neither this Agreement (or any interest in this Agreement), your Hotel or substantially all its assets, any direct or indirect ownership interest in you (regardless of its size), nor any ownership interest in any of your owners (if such owners are legal entities) may be transferred without our prior written approval, which consent will not be unreasonably withheld or delayed. You further agree that you will not enter into any proposed mortgage, pledge, hypothecation, encumbrance or giving of a security interest in or which affects your Hotel, this Agreement, or your rights under this Agreement without our prior written consent. A transfer of your Hotel ownership, possession, or control, or substantially all its assets, may be made only with a transfer of this Agreement. Any transfer, or attempt to transfer, without our approval is a breach of this Agreement and has no effect. In this Agreement, the term "transfer" includes a voluntary, involuntary, direct, or indirect assignment, sale, gift, or other disposition of any interest in:
  • (1) this Agreement;
  • (2) you;
  • (3) your Hotel or substantially all its assets; or
  • (4) your owners (if such owners are legal entities).

An assignment, sale, gift, or other disposition includes the following events:

• (a) transfer of ownership of capital stock, a partnership or membership interest, or another form of ownership interest, including by way of a public offering or pursuant to a private placement;
• (b) merger or consolidation or issuance of additional securities or other forms of ownership interest;
  • (c) any sale of a security convertible to an ownership interest;
• (d) transfer of an interest in you, this Agreement, your Hotel or substantially all its assets, or your owners in a divorce, insolvency, or entity dissolution proceeding or otherwise by operation of law;
• (e) if you, one of your owners, or an owner of one of your owners dies, a transfer of an interest in you, this Agreement, your Hotel or substantially all its assets, or your owner by will, declaration of or transfer in trust, or under the laws of intestate succession; and
• (f) pledge of this Agreement (to someone other than us) or of an ownership interest in you or your owners as security, foreclosure upon your Hotel, or your transfer, surrender, or loss of the possession, control, or management of your Hotel.

If you intend to list your Hotel for sale with any broker or agent, you shall do so only after providing us ten days' prior written notice.

Source: Item 22 — CONTRACTS (FDD pages 79–80)