Choice Hotels has launched a revitalization campaign for its Comfort Inn and Comfort Suites brands, as it pursues a greater slice of the upper midscale market. The project focuses on three strategies: removing underperforming properties, refreshing existing hotels and adding new construction prototypical hotels. With an expected completion at the end of 2015, the company says as many as 200 properties could be selected out.
There are 2,000 Comfort brand hotels in Choice’s domestic portfolio. Nearly 70 percent of the Comfort system will complete comprehensive property improvement plans by the end of 2015.
Higher guest satisfaction standards for the Comfort brand family have been put in place, with the goal of making it the best option for travelers within the upper midscale segment. "The new guest satisfaction standards are based on the voice of the guest," explains Alexandra Jaritz, "and if guest feedback indicates that a property is not living up to standards, we have implemented stricter consequences for underperforming properties." This part of the plan is especially impactful for Comfort Inn. In addition to terminations issued for other reasons, Choice is prepared to remove up to 10 percent of the Comfort Inn system if those hotels do not rise above the new guest satisfaction thresholds.
The brands' new Truly Yours™ prototypes were designed and developed using feedback from more than 1,500 guests in addition to in-depth interviews with developers. Consumer research has indicated that overall intent to stay at Comfort Inn and Comfort Suites nearly doubles in response to the new design and that guests would be willing to pay an average nightly rate of $93 for the Truly Yours design vs. $77 for the current design.