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HOTELS Interview: BWI’s Ron Pohl on extended-stay prototype

Best Western International, Phoenix, has developed a new extended-stay prototype, a first for the brand.

The extended-stay prototype may make up 20% to 100% of a property’s room mix. The initial prototype design is for an L-shaped building as opposed to a T-shape and sits on an 84,000-sq-ft (7,800-sq-m) site with 85 guestrooms and 94 parking stalls. The extended-stay prototype has been priced in seven cities, including Houston, New York City and Chicago. Initial cost estimates range from about US$82,000 per key in Texas to about US$105,000 per key in Chicago.

To find out more about the new prototype, HOTELS spoke with Ron Pohl, Best Western International’s senior vice president of brand management, at the 2012 Best Western North American Convention, held this week in Las Vegas.

HOTELS: Why is Best Western International entering the extended-stay segment?

Ron Pohl: It was generated out of developer and member demand for extended-stay products. There is increased demand for extended-stay hotels from business travelers from the corporate and fossil fuels segments. The demand we’re seeing now is in North America, but it could become global. Customers today like more room when they are in a hotel. The midscale and upper-midscale customer will enjoy it.

HOTELS: How much has Best Western invested in developing the new prototype?

Pohl: It’s too early to say — we do not have the final package ready yet, although we expect to announce our first extended-stay property in 90 to 120 days. We have been working on the prototype for about eight months. At the beginning of this year, we started getting requests for this type of product.

HOTELS: I understand there is no extended-stay sub-brand or descriptor planned for these properties. Why is that?

Pohl: We have not seen enough demand for a fourth descriptor. Without a critical mass, it is hard to make that descriptor branding successful. Even with 20 properties, that is not critical mass.

HOTELS: Will the extended-stay prototype be available for Best Western, Best Western Plus and Best Western Premier branded hotels?

Pohl: The prototype will be for Plus and Premier properties. I think the decision is based really on the developer or investors’ point of view. I don’t know why you would spend US$85,000 for a US$80 rate instead of a US$100 rate.

HOTELS: So is the extended-stay prototype more expensive for the owner/developer?

Pohl: It really is not. You might not fit as many rooms in the building, but the offset is rate. The construction cost is US$85,000 a key, based on our model of the maximum amount of extended-stay suites constituting 60% of inventory. If a developer chose to have a higher percentage of extended-stay suites, which they could, the per-key cost would be higher.

HOTELS: What features will the extended-stay rooms offer?

Pohl: There are three or four different designs you can choose from. The largest extended-stay guestroom will have almost a full kitchen, not just a little kitchenette. It will have a refrigerator and a cooking area that will take up one-third of the guestroom. Then you have a living room area with a sofa and table. Another option is a balcony.

Some markets do not need that large of an extended-stay room, though, so there are versions that are at a smaller scale that don’t have as large of a kitchen area, with more of a kitchenette design.

The beauty of this product is that it is flexible in the design of the room and the size of the property you want to build.

HOTELS: Have you worked out how the FF&E package will change?

Pohl: We have six guestroom packages that we use right now on standard Best Western properties. Those packages have the capacity to be expanded to add the extended-stay areas.

HOTELS: Is there any new F&B offering associated with the new prototype?

Pohl: There is not. The lobby space is designed around a community element. We want that space to be used not just for check-in, but also for people to come down and relax. If there is food and beverage, they can enjoy that in a comfortable facility there, but that space is very flexible in the design based on that market. F&B is not a requirement of the prototype.

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