Sweeping their respective tiers, Hyatt's Summerfield Suites
and Marriott's TownePlace Suites were the definitive favorite extended-stay
brands among buyers surveyed in the 2012 Hotel Chain Survey.
[Please click here to view the digital edition of the 2012 Hotel Chain Survey, featuring all charted
data, downloadable as a pdf.]
After not generating enough usage among respondents to be
included in last year's findings, Summerfield Suites received the highest
scores across all criteria in the upscale extended-stay tier. Its overall score
almost was 0.4 points higher than the next highest brand, Marriott's Residence
Inn. Last year's top brand, InterContinental Hotels Group's Staybridge Suites,
slipped to third.
While this is not Summerfield Suites' first time at the top
of this survey—it secured top honors in 2008 among upscale extended-stay
brands—it will be its last. Hyatt early this year completed the switch of
Summerfield Suites properties to its new extended-stay brand, Hyatt House.
Hyatt House last year got an additional boost through Hyatt's acquisition of
LodgeWorks, which included 17 extended-stay Hotel Sierra properties.
Combined with the existing Summerfield Suites portfolio,
those locations have Hyatt House poised to be a major player in the
extended-stay tier, said Kate Burda, the brand's vice president of sales.
"With the acquisition of LodgeWorks, we hit that
50-property mark, and from there there's a level of awareness that happens with
travel buyers," she said. "We can grow with more strength of
distribution."
While Summerfield Suites traditionally had scored well with
buyers, many saw properties as single hotels serving local needs rather than a
whole brand, Burda said. Hyatt House's distribution presents a larger footprint
that will help the brand compete against the other major extended-stay brands,
which have portfolios twice or three times as large Summerfield Suites'.
Hyatt House intends to sustain Summerfield Suites' high
scores via such business amenities as remote printing and new design features
including a living room space separate from the bedroom, said Hyatt House brand
vice president Kristine Rose. For the social hour that has become a tradition
across many upscale extended-stay brands, Hyatt House holds summertime grilling
events to stand out from the crowd, she said.
"Bringing all this to new markets has driven a lot of
the success we've seen this year," Rose said. "The rebranding went
great, and guests have been very receptive to the amenities and spaces that we
have."
This year's results in the midprice extended-stay tier,
meanwhile, were the same as last year's: TownePlace Suites swept all criteria,
followed by IHG's Candlewood Suites. Extended Stay America ranked at the
bottom.
Now offering more than 200 locations, the 15-year-old
TownePlace brand last year began a renovation project for older hotels, said
vice president of global brand management Loren Nalewanski. The main purpose is
to add dedicated breakfast spaces for those hotels built before that was a
brand standard.
TownePlace in the past 18 months also added daily
housekeeping services to complement full cleanings for long-term guests:
refreshing linens and cleaning dishes, for example. Nalewanski credited that
service and some of the brand's long-standing amenities—including its 24-hour
fitness facilities and PC connection centers—for its still-strong perception
among travel buyers.
"Midprice extended stay is designed for the
self-sufficient, do-it-yourself traveler," he said, "but just because
they can take care of some things on their own doesn't mean they don't want
exceptional service."
U.S. extended-stay rates so far this year have been rising
on average faster than those of the overall U.S. hotel industry, according to
the Highland Group's mid-year report. During the first six months of 2012, the
average daily rate for extended-stay properties increased by 7.2 percent year
over year, including a 5.8 percent increase in the upscale tier and a 9.6
percent jump in midprice. Overall occupancy was up 1.5 percent to 75.8 percent
in the upscale tier but down 3.1 percent to 70.1 percent in midprice.
Much of the declining midprice occupancy stems from the
large number of hotels under construction in the Extended Stay America
portfolio. The company emerged from bankruptcy a few years ago and is trying to
bounce back with a "very large renovation budget," said Highland
Group partner Mark Skinner.
Skinner added that extended-stay demand looks to remain
strong "as long as the segment doesn't get too easy on rate. Extended stay
is a price buy, and there is a limit."
Despite limited short-term construction in the upscale
extended-stay tier, buyers are seeing new options there. In addition to the
introduction of Hyatt House, Sonesta International this year also launched its
own extended-stay brand by converting 17 former Residence Inn and Staybridge
Suites properties from the Hospitality Properties Trust portfolio.
Both of those new kids on the block plan to aggressively
grow their presence in the coming years.
"Since the introduction of Hyatt House, we've seen a
huge spike in the interest of developing the brand," Rose said. "We're
seeing expansion into markets where you wouldn't normally see us: urban markets
and gateway cities."
Similarly, TownePlace is looking to expand further into
larger urban markets and has 77 hotels in its pipeline, Nalewanski said.
This report
originally appeared in the Sept. 10, 2012, issue of Business Travel News.