Homewood Suites by Hilton overtook last year's victor, Marriott
International's Residence Inn, in the upscale extended-stay tier, and InterContinental
Hotels Group's Candlewood Suites moved up from its second place finish in 2016 to
top the midscale extended-stay segment.
The extended-stay portion of the hotel industry is gaining ground
as more segments of the traveling population, corporates included, become aware
of the product. With that growth, hotel companies are applying initiatives typical
of other segments to their extended-stay products.
Homewood Suites guests can use the Hilton Honors app to check-in,
pre-select their suites and, at 30 percent of Homewood properties, use Digital Key
to bypass the front desk and go directly to their rooms. "The Hilton Honors
app is absolutely key to some of the changes that we've been able to make with the
Homewood side of the business," said Adrian Kurre global head for Homewood
and Home2 Suites.
Allowing individuals to skip the front desk after a long flight,
Kurre said, empowers guests and enables staff members to have more positive interactions
with travelers during other aspects of the stays. "Eighty percent of our guests
come down and enjoy the breakfast, and then we have an evening reception that about
40 percent of our guests enjoy every day. We have that ability to interact with
our guests in a way that delivers the light and warmth of hospitality."
Among upscale extended-stay brands, Homewood earned the highest
scores in almost every category, including sales staff, corporate rate programs,
physical appearance, public business amenities and traveler satisfaction.
On the sales side, Homewood this year created a dedicated extended-stay
desk to work with its major clients, and the brand tweaked its reservations system
to make booking long-term stays easier. "If there was somebody who wanted to
do a 90-day stay in our hotel but one of those days was sold out, we couldn't book
them," Kurre said. "So we've developed a workaround situation so that
we can oversell on that one day and then sell for the 90 days and then get that
person who's got that 90-day stay into our hotel even though one day in the middle
of that was sold out."
The brand also is creating more variety in its room types. It
introduced premium suites, which offer Keurig coffee makers, in-room snacks and
beverages and premium high-speed Wi-Fi. At a small number of properties, Homewood
will pilot Five Feet to Fitness, which first launched at Hilton brand properties
in May. The program puts exercise equipment—including an indoor bike, a dynamic
training station and workout videos—in the guest room. "We think that's going
to test extremely well based upon what we've got at the full-service Hiltons that
are doing it."
No. 2-ranked Residence Inn attracts wellness-minded travelers
with its RI Runs partnership with Under Armour Connected Fitness, which curates
running routes around RI properties. "That has been really very well-received
by travelers of all ages because, of course, if you are there for a longer time,
you may work out in the fitness area two or three times a week, but it's nice to
have another alternative," said Janis Milham, SVP for Marriott Classic Select
Brands.
Use of the brand's grocery delivery service also ticked up this
year. "[Guests] are taking advantage of that more than ever," she said.
"They really are preparing healthy meals in their suites and in the full kitchens."
Other key brand programming includes the Residence Inn Mix, an evening reception
rotating local food and beverage vendors; daily, healthy, hot breakfast; modern
lobbies; and outdoor social spaces with fire pits. The brand also has deployed service
requests through the Marriott Rewards app.
Midscale Extended-Stay Brands
Candlewood Suites is back on top this year, earning the highest
scores of the segment in such areas as sales staff, corporate rate programs, physical
appearance, in-room business amenities, personal amenities, price/value relationship
and traveler satisfaction. The brand also ranked No. 1 in the J.D. Power 2017 North
America Hotel Guest Satisfaction Index Study.
"While the extended-stay guest demographic continues to
evolve, so do guest expectations around the entire hotel experience," said
Raul Ortiz, VP of Candlewood Suites and Staybridge Suites for the Americas. The
brand this year hosted orientation classes to ensure new owners are well-versed
in delivering great extended-stay experiences. Candlewood also hosted regional training
summits to share best practices.
This summer, the brand introduced a higher-quality coffee service,
and Ortiz expects to roll out additional upgrades in the year ahead, including new
linens and pillows, J.R. Watkins-branded bath amenities and enhanced Wi-Fi through
IHG Connect. "From an investment perspective, we know how a hotel is designed
plays a substantial role in initial impressions, willingness to recommend the brand
and overall likelihood to be a return guest," Ortiz said. "Over the next
couple of years, we will be focused on enhancing our hotel design and will be looking
into the ways design can help drive the service experience."
Guests of second place TownePlace Suites have the opportunity
to use a stainless steel Weber grill, grilling tools and curated recipes during
their stays. The Marriott brand also offers The Container Store's Elfa custom closet
and shelving system. "TownePlace is a fun brand. It's one of our fastest growing
brands in the Marriott portfolio," Milham said.
Extended Stay America, which fell from first place in 2016 to
third place this year, tied with Candlewood for the highest scores for personal
amenities and traveler satisfaction. The brand has wrapped its years-long, portfolio-wide
renovations and will roll out a new prototype with more flexible room options and
social lobby spaces. The prototype will apply to its own new-construction hotels
and to franchised properties.
Extended-Stay Demand
The first half of 2017 was marked by some of the
strongest demand growth for U.S. extended-stay hotels in more than a decade, according
to The Highland Group's midyear extended-stay report. The 7 percent year-over-year
boost helped occupancy grow slightly despite supply growth of 7.5 percent. The upscale
extended-stay segment is adding new supply at the fastest rate, according to the
Highland report, as supply increased 9.5 percent year over year during the first
half of 2017. That figure includes Starwood Hotels & Resorts legacy brand Element,
which Marriott International is pivoting to an extended-stay product. Excluding
Element, upscale extended stay rooms increased by 26,000 during the trailing 12
months; that's one-third more than the previous 12 months' growth.