Hyatt Hotels Corp. announced on Monday that it is rebranding its 38 Summerfield Suites and 16 Hotel Sierra hotels as Hyatt House, with the key concept being a home away from home.
The new brand, designed for extended stays, will be rolled out over the next few months and by early next year the switchover should be complete. Hyatt House hotels will include a Great Lounge and an outdoor patio fire pit and barbeque grills for social occasions, apartment-style guestrooms featuring a multi-tasking island, a bigger and brighter fitness center and a redesigned market for food and personal items. There will also be a more robust breakfast with made-to-order eggs.
It is expected that the redesign will be phased in at existing properties as capital cycles allow.
“We started looking at new names, as we didn’t think the current name worked with where we wanted the brand to go,” said Gary Dollens, global head of franchise and select operations for Hyatt.
The company’s position in the extended stay market is much smaller than other competitors, ranking only 14th in the U.S. according to STR figures. Hyatt is not revealing the overall cost of the switchover, not what its expected return on the investment will be for the renovated properties.
“If you create the right product that combines form and function it should drive rate, occupancy and return,” said Dollens. “If we can create this product and it is accepted the way testing tells us, it will result in a rate premium.”
