Homewood Suites' Wyatt

Homewood Suites is not slowing down even though the overall economy is having problems. The Hilton brand of extended-stay hotels has about 130 planned developments by franchisees on top of its 250 already across the country. The chain is doing well because some industries have their employees travel no matter what, says Rebecca Wyatt, Homewood’s senior vice president of brand marketing. In fact, the company is seeing growth in new markets, such as urban areas, she says. Wyatt recently spoke with GlobeSt.com about her chain’s strategy during the downturn and other issues.

GlobeSt.com: Has the downturn at all impacted your development plans?

Wyatt: We’re still seeing deals. I would say they are a bit slower, but we’re still about 20% ahead from 2007, although it has slowed down a little over the last month or so. The reason is that focused service is easier to get financing for; and many of our owners are long time hotel people who have been doing this for a while and are really used to fluctuations in the economy and tend to have relationships with local banks.