Dive Brief:
- Red Roof opened the first HomeTowne Studios hotel featuring the extended stay brand’s new prototype in Tampa, Florida, the company announced.
- The new-construction HomeTowne Studios Tampa — Airport, built in conjunction with owner and operator Dhruv Management, features 124 extended stay suites “designed to appeal to long-term visitors,” according to Red Roof in a release.
- Red Roof is among other hotel players updating their extended stay prototypes to remain competitive in the rapidly expanding segment. The Tampa hotel is one of several HomeTowne Studios that New Port Richey, Florida-based Dhruv Management plans to open.
Dive Insight:
Featuring the HomeTowne Studios new brand prototype, HomeTowne Studios Tampa – Airport includes suites with modern kitchenettes with refrigerators, microwaves, stovetops, sinks and dining space; Serta beds; and HD flat-screen TVs. The property also offers guest laundry, an exercise room, a marketplace and a business center.
The enhanced prototype “sets new standards for updated guestroom aesthetics as well as improved operational efficiency,” according to Red Roof President Zack Gharib, who replaced former president George Limbert in April.
Other hotel companies have updated their extended stay brand prototypes this year as well, including Choice Hotels International and Extended Stay America.
In May, Choice opened the first Everhome Suites hotel with the brand’s Closer to Home design package, in Nampa, Idaho. Extended Stay America, meanwhile, broke ground on its inaugural Select Suites property in February, in Wildwood, Florida. The prototype was designed to “drive greater efficiencies” by maximizing a smaller footprint, Extended Stay America said in a statement.
Extended stay has proven to be a desirable segment for growth this year, as it dominated the total U.S. hotel construction pipeline in the first half of 2024.
More projects are on the horizon for HomeTowne Studios, specifically. Dhruv Management, along with its construction partner Dhruv Development, is building another HomeTowne Studios property in Bradenton, Florida. The team has four more brand properties in various stages of development.
