US: Wyndham Hotels & Resorts, has announced the name of its newest extended stay brand, replacing its development name, Project ECHO.
Wyndham Hotels & Resorts’ fastest growing brand will now be known as ECHO Suites Extended Stay by Wyndham.
ECHO Suites Extended Stay by Wyndham is officially the 24th brand in the Wyndham Hotels & Resorts portfolio. It’s also now the company’s fastest growing development brand with 120 contracts awarded in just six months.
Geoff Ballotti, president and CEO Wyndham Hotels & Resorts said: “In six short months, ECHO Suites Extended Stay by Wyndham has secured its place as the fastest growing brand in our development pipeline, highlighting continued, robust demand from both travellers and developers for budget-friendly, extended stay offerings. Imagined and designed from day one with the constant input, review and oversight of many of our nation’s most experienced extended-stay developers, Echo Suites was engineered with one specific goal in mind: creating an ROI-driven prototype that is as cost-efficient to build as it is to operate.”
ECHO Suites was crafted to help maximise efficiencies and reduce operating costs, all while providing a “home away from home” optimised for longer-term guests. Born from the core values of being simple, minimal, and modern, the brand focuses on providing guests with efficiently designed spaces and thoughtful essentials, providing the foundation of a great stay.
The purpose-built, all new-construction, 124-room ECHO Suites prototype requires just under two acres of land and has a highly competitive cost per key. Coming in at approximately 50,000 square-feet, nearly 74 per cent of which is rentable. Individual rooms average 300 square-feet. Properties offer single- and two-queen studio suites with kitchens as well as a lobby, fitness centre and guest laundry.
Ballotti added: “More than ever, travellers today are looking for value, especially long-term guests booking extended stays. At the same time, they want a space that looks and feels like them. A space that’s well-designed and inviting. We believe if you can give them that, they will come back, night after night, stay after stay. That’s what ECHO Suites is all about: giving guests a great extended stay experience, at a great price, so that, like an echo, they repeat it, over and over again.”
Following the ground break of its first hotel in Plano, Texas with Dallas-based Gulf Coast Hotel Management in September, ECHO Suites today broke ground on its second and third hotels in Sterling, Va. and Richmond, Va. Both hotels are being developed by Richmond-based Sandpiper Hospitality, one of the brand’s first and largest developers.
Carter Rise, founder and CEO, The Sandpiper Group of Companies said: “From the very beginning, Wyndham has proven itself to be an owners-first organisation, prioritising developers so they could not only understand our needs, but appreciate what makes this segment different from others in the industry. That fact, combined with the continuous support and accessibility of the leadership team at Wyndham, is why we’re breaking ground today on our first two of 27 planned ECHO Suites hotels.”
According to Wyndham Hotels and Resorts, in 2021 the extended stay sector outperformed all other chain scales with occupancy running nearly 20 points higher than all other US segments combined. The Company expects to open its first ECHO Suites hotels in 2023. SAN and Wyndham Hotels & Resorts recently teamed up to publish a white paper on the extended stay sector – which you can download here. ECHO of the Future – why economy extended stay is the right product at the right time.
