La Quinta Inns & Suites has developed a new hotel
prototype with new room and lobby designs, and the company expects the first
hotel using the design will open sometime next year, the company announced this
week.
The prototype—called Del Sol internally, though the hotels
themselves still will feature the La Quinta name—will include 100 or more guest
rooms, a small amount of meetings facilities and communal lobby space for "an
open feel of connectedness," La Quinta executive vice president and chief
marketing officer Julie Cary said. Suites are planned to comprise at least 20
percent of the guest rooms, and the design doubles the size of the fitness
center, she said.
So far, 14 properties featuring the new design are in the
planning stages, with a hotel in College Station, Texas, currently the furthest
along, according to Cary. The design primarily is for new builds, though there
are elements that could be incorporated into existing hotels, she said.
"We will learn that once we get going on it, but we
think some can definitely be adapted," Cary said.
The new prototype also will fit into La Quinta's plan to add
more properties outside of the United States, particularly in Latin America,
she added.