Motel 6 for the first time in 12 years has launched a new property prototype that brand leaders said will give the economy brand more of an upscale feel.
Features of the prototype, dubbed Phoenix, include a new building exterior and a lobby with 24-hour food and beverage vending services. Room features include wood-effect flooring in lieu of carpet, ambient lighting, bright colors and a 32-inch flat-screen television set with a multimedia panel.
Construction on the first property with the prototype's design, a corporate-owned location in the Dallas/Fort Worth area, will begin in the second half of this year. It will be available to franchisees by the summer of 2009, and the brand also will be incorporating some elements in several existing corporate-owned properties.
"The Phoenix prototype will set a new standard for economy hotels," Motel 6 and Studio 6 CEO Olivier Poirot said in a prepared statement. "By increasing the growth of both corporate-owned and franchised locations in our network, Motel 6 and Studio 6 are getting closer to achieving the goal of reaching 1,200 North American properties by 2010."
Motel 6, part of Accor Worldwide, currently has more than 900 company-owned and franchised properties in the United States and Canada. Accor recently changed the structure of its North American operations, shifting control of its Mexican properties and the upscale Sofitel properties to other business segments, leaving Studio 6 and Motel 6 as the primary focus of Accor North America
(BTNonline, Sept. 24, 2007).