That's just the beginning, with seven franchise deals signed and "a significant number in the pipeline," Alan Tallis, La Quinta's executive vice president and chief development officer, tells GlobeSt.com. He predicts 75 franchise contracts will be signed in the next year and 150 new hotels up and running in the next three years.
The franchisees will be using La Quinta's makeover for new hotel projects nationwide, delivering new markets to the Dallas-based hotelier. Renowned hotel architect Renee Gauche of Maryland has completed two designs and has a smaller version still on the drawing boards. The completed designs are tailored to structures with at least 100 rooms, featuring residential-style architecture and decor inherent to regions in which they are located. Amenities include fitness rooms, guest laundries and business centers.
The prototype complements existing hotel brands, La Quinta Inns and La Quinta Inn & Suites, and is designed for parcels between 2.3 and 2.4 acres. The La Quinta Inn model will cost in the mid- to high $40s per room to construct while the Suites design will cost in the mid-$50 per room range to build, Tallis tells GlobeSt.com. The per room construction costs do not include land prices.
Near the Dallas-Ft. Worth International Airport, a 30-year-old La Quinta is being knocked down on a 3.5-acre parcel to make way for a new 175-room version. Also in Dallas, a fire-damaged La Quinta is being replaced with a 130-room prototype on a three-acre site in the Northpark corridor.
The San Antonio project will force the razing of two La Quinta Inns on a three-acre tract near the city's international airport. A single 375-room La Quinta Inn & Suites will replace a 200-room, 31-year-old hotel and a 130-room, 25-year-old structure.
"La Quinta is one of the strongest brands in our segment, with 32 years of experience as an operator and $2.4 billion invested in our 300 owned and operated hotels," says Butch Cash, La Quinta's president and CEO.
Rajiv Trivedi has been appointed president of franchise operations and Randy Evanchyk and Gary Zodrow, vice presidents of franchise development. The trio, which reports to Tallis, has a combined 40 years in the hotel industry.
"We expect to have the preeminent franchise organization in the industry," says Tallis, adding the new look combines the "best elements" of the existing line. "We feel very comfortable with this room and that this property is going to be very well received." La Quinta owns and operates 230 Inns and 70 Inn & Suites in 28 states. It is the lodging division of the Meditrust Cos. REIT.
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