Hospitality employee union UNITE HERE urged Xenia Hotels & Resorts Inc. to declare special dividends using proceeds from the potential sales of its hotel properties.

The lodging real estate investment trust is reportedly selling seven Kimpton hotels for approximately $500 million and has put two other hotels on the market. It has also sold the Marriott Griffin Gate in Lexington, Ky.

The company could receive about $800 million in total proceeds from the potential transactions, according to the union.

In making the recommendation, the union said the REIT should use the sales proceeds to declare special dividends instead of "continuing to acquire luxury and upper-upscale properties or alternatively buying back its own stock while facing potential cyclical declines."

Xenia did not respond to a request for comment as of press time.