WICHITA, KS—Value Place, the extended-stay hotel brand, has had a busy year. It announced a major expansion of its franchise efforts, brought in a new team of top officials and just reported that its system-wide revenue increased 10.6% over the same period last year to $55 million. And now it will attempt to further strengthen its brand name by naming Mike Varner as its senior vice president of brand strategy and marketing.
Varner joins Value Place from Choice Hotels International, where he was most recently responsible for brand strategy and management for the Comfort Inn and Comfort Suites brands. It's not the first time that Value Place has tapped someone from CHI, one of the world's largest lodging companies. Bruce Haase, for example, who recently took the helm as chief executive officer at Value Place, had just finished a 12-year tenure at CHI. Varner has also held leadership positions in brand management and innovation at Campbell Soup and 3M.
Value Place “has built a solid and profitable business model, with tremendous growth potential for developers as the brand expands across the country,” said Varner in a prepared statement. He was not available by press time. “And with industry-leading occupancy levels, we know guests like us, too. As Value Place continues to grow, we'll strengthen customers' bonds with the brand, so they'll make our hotels their first choice whenever they're looking for a place to stay.”
A typical Value Place location has about 124 rooms in a four-floor, 45,000-square-foot building on two acres that provides guests with a bedroom, a desk with an internet connection and a full kitchen. The company currently has nearly 190 properties in 32 states, both corporate- and franchise-owned. It plans to grow its national footprint by increasing the numbers of both types. Value Place also saw an 11.5% same-property RevPAW increase during the second quarter.
"With the addition of Mike, we continue to strengthen the Value Place management team and position the company for rapid growth,” said Haase. “Mike has an extensive and successful history leading branding and marketing efforts for well-known national brands with strong customer loyalty, and we are excited to have him join the team.”
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Brian J. Rogal
Brian J. Rogal is a Chicago-based freelance writer with years of experience as an investigative reporter and editor, most notably at The Chicago Reporter, where he concentrated on housing issues. He also has written extensively on alternative energy and the payments card industry for national trade publications.
