Extended Stay Hotels, the new corporate name for Extended Stay America's three brands and Homestead Studio Suites, today announced it was creating its own booking site to market its 650 hotels on the Internet. In the process, Extended Stay Hotels has pulled inventory from nearly all third-party merchant model sites that offer rooms at a discount. The only Web site the company will continue to supply inventory to is Priceline, an opaque site, where travelers do not know the name of the brand they have booked until the transaction has been made.
According to Gary DeLapp, president and CEO of Extended Stay Hotels' parent, HVM LLC, the strategy behind the new site is to create a clearinghouse that travelers can use when they need to book this type of property, which typically covers stays of at least five to seven nights.
Rates available on ExtendedStayHotels.com are intended to be the lowest rates offered through any Internet channel. "A best rate guarantee has been put in place to ensure travelers don't find lower rates elsewhere on the Web," DeLapp said. HVM LLC is an affiliate of the Blackstone Group, which acquired Extended Stay America in March
(BTNonline, Mar. 8).
Extended Stay Hotels' move comes as hotel companies generally have taken steps to regain some of the pricing control they ceded to the third-party sites during the recent industry downturn. It is the second major hotelier this year to take the extreme step of pulling inventory from third-party sites. InterContinental Hotels Group, whose brands include the Staybridge Suites extended stay chain, in August announced it would no longer provide rooms to Expedia.com and its business travel arm Expedia Corporate Travel
(BTN, Sept. 6).