About the time when stores start to put out their Halloween displays and Americans ponder their Halloween-season plans, America’s best mega-haunted attractions put the finishing touches on their year-round work of planning and enhancing their attractions. The haunts will soon spring to life to “scare them to death” with the latest and greatest fear-based entertainment. America Haunts, the national association for the most proven and prestigious commercial haunts, reminds the adventurous that the season goes by fast and to buy tickets in advance. There aren’t many open nights for the undead to get their fright-fill fun within the season. Most haunts fall between four to nine weekends, plus a few open weekdays, including Halloween night, Tuesday, October 31.
Extended Stay America Bets Comeback on Adding Franchise Brands
25.08.2023 - 13:46 / skift.com / Sean Oneill / Tyler Morse
It may have taken a quarter century for Extended Stay America to find its stars aligned. Yet several factors, such as U.S. infrastructure spending and the resilience of blended travel, look ready to support U.S. domestic demand for extended-stay hotels. And privately owned Extended Stay America has been adjusting its strategy to benefit from these trends over the next few years.
Three years ago, Blackstone and Starwood Capital Group bought Extended Stay America for about $6 billion. Two years ago, those same giant U.S.-based real estate investors jointly bought 111 WoodSpring Suites to bolster Extended Stay America’s portfolio for about $1.5 billion. So how has Extended Stay America’s strategy evolved since then?
Some backstory, first: Founded in 1997, Extended Stay America was essentially the first company to gain traction as a national brand for extended-stay properties. Yet the physical offerings and services often felt more like a college dorm than a home-away-from-home for professionals. The great financial crisis of 2007-2008 caught the company off-guard. A fall-off in rates customers were willing to pay, and a crushing of the value of its real estate sent the company into bankruptcy.
In 2010, Blackstone, Paulson & Co, and Centerbridge Partners bought the hotel chain for $3.925 billion as it emerged from bankruptcy.
“I can’t think of another hotel brand that was literally in the gutter and was resuscitated and now is a brand to aspire to own,” said Scott Berman, who spent three decades at the hospitality and leisure consulting practice at one of the four largest accounting and consulting firms. “Smart money came in and installed new leadership and attacked the core issues efficiently.”
Extended Stay America went public in 2013, but Blackstone and partners later took it private again in a takeover that closed in 2021. Today private equity is fine-tuning the company again.
The whole long-stay category seems to be enjoying a heydey. Roughly a third of the construction pipeline for hotels in the U.S. is extended-stay projects, or roughly 30 percent of planned rooms, according to Lodging Econometrics.
Brands are paying attention. Earlier this week, Hyatt announced the debut of a new brand, Hyatt Studios, as its first entry in the segment. Since October, Wyndham launched ECHO Suites by Wyndham, and BWH launched @Home by Best Western.
In November, Marriott said it planned to add a serviced apartments brand in North America, perhaps recognizing the success of its Residence Inn by Marriott brand in the broader extended stay segment. Hotel impresario Tyler Morse told attendees at Skift’s Future of Lodging event last month in London that Residence Inn was the most profitable of the brands in his
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Holland America Line’s 2025 European season is open for booking, offering diverse, destination-focused itineraries. With extended cruises, more Iceland sailings, and 62 overnight calls or late departures in leading European cities, travelers are encouraged to immerse in culture and landscapes. Rotterdam reemerges as a homeport, including voyages to Northern Europe and the Baltic.
Marriott Names New Mid-Market Extended Stay Brand StudioRes
Project MidX Studios, the lower midscale, extended stay property, is officially called StudioRes. Marriott describes it as a new-build, midscale extended stay development platform for owners and franchisees in the U.S. and Canada. The world’s largest hotelier said 1,800 target markets have already been identified.
Marriott’s New Extended Stay Offering
Good morning from Skift. It’s Friday, November 11. Here’s what you need to know about the business of travel today.
HotelTonight Founder Sam Shank Leaves Airbnb After an Extended Stay
HotelTonight founder and CEO Sam Shank helped build the fastest and easiest to use hotel booking app in the world — initially focused on guests booking last-minute and same-day hotel rooms, sometimes from the local bar — but he hung around Airbnb for three years and eight months after the short-term rental site acquired the business, and Thursday was his last day there.
Accor Names New CEO for Raffles and Orient Express Hotel Brands
Accor, the Paris-based hotel giant, said on Tuesday that Omer Acar will head its brands Raffles & Orient Express as of March 1. Acar will join Accor’s other brand CEOs in its luxury and lifestyle group (Fairmont, Sofitel & MGallery, and Ennismore) — all of whom report directly to group CEO Sébastian Bazin.
Latin America Is the Future of the Ainline Industry
Twelve minutes. That’s all the time it took for the board of directors of Avianca, the second largest airline in Latin America, to set the fate of the carrier and begin a series of sweeping changes to the airline industry in the region.
Why Hotel Companies Keep Adding Hotel Brands
Hotel companies have been launching new brands again. Hilton Worldwide said on Wednesday it had created its first hotel brand in the economy segment, Spark by Hilton. Accor, the owner of the world’s most hotel brands, said last week it had reorganized itself around its brands. Marriott International, Wyndham Worldwide, Hyatt, Kerzner, and Best Western have created or bought hotel brands in the past several months.
Marriott Bets Big on Luxury and Extended-Stay Hotels
Marriott International revealed on Monday its full-year totals for hotel development in 2022. The most notable figures highlighted a further push by the world’s largest hotelier into the luxury and extended-stay segments.
The Travel Corporation Consolidates Its 6 Brands Under Single Loyalty Program
The Travel Corporation has merged its six brands into one Global Tour Rewards program, with brand awareness behind this seemingly vanilla approach to loyalty. Trafalgar, Insight Vacations, Luxury Gold, Costsaver, Brendan Vacations, and Contiki are now aligned under one rewards program.
New Speakers Added for Skift’s Future of Lodging Forum
The can’t miss hospitality conference of the season is quickly approaching – touching down on March 29 in London, with countless inspiring and knowledgeable speakers taking the stage.
Watch Video: Why Hotel Brands See Lots of Room to Grow in Luxury and Midscale
Skift’s Senior Research Analyst Pranavi Agarwal and Senior Hospitality Editor Sean O’Neill went live this week on LinkedIn to discuss Skift Research’s latest report that looks at hotel performance and unit growth by chain scale in times of crisis and recession in the U.S.