Dive Brief:
- A new construction Echo Suites Extended Stay by Wyndham hotel opened in Richmond, Virginia, property developer and manager Sandpiper Hospitality announced.
- The hotel is the seventh to open under Wyndham Hotels & Resorts’ Echo Suites brand, which launched in 2022. Richmond, Virginia-based Sandpiper Hospitality also manages the brand’s inaugural hotel, which opened in Spartanburg, South Carolina, in July.
- Wyndham has a robust pipeline of Echo Suites projects lined up amid strong demand for the extended stay product type, the hotel company detailed in a January release. Wyndham is growing in the competitive category alongside other hotel players, including Choice Hotels International.
Dive Insight:
The Virginia Echo Suites debuted several months after other brand properties opened in Spartanburg and Plano, Texas, last year. At the time of the Texas opening in August, Echo Suites had a pipeline totaling upward of 270 hotels.
Sandpiper Hospitality, specifically, has three Echo Suites properties under construction and another two in development, the company detailed in a Monday release.
Echo Suites makes up 14% of Wyndham’s total development pipeline, the hotel company shared last month. The extended stay brand has seen strong performance, with its early locations reporting daily occupancy rates as high as 80% within weeks of opening, according to Wyndham.
Industrywide, the extended stay segment has experienced a multiyear, infrastructure-related travel demand boom, which poses a roughly $3.3 billion revenue opportunity for Wyndham franchisees, according to the company.
To cater to rising demand, Wyndham is also expanding its upscale extended stay offerings through partnerships with WaterWalk and Reside.
Wyndham is among competitors expanding in extended stay, including Choice, which opened its 500th extended stay hotel in October. While Choice is strategically targeting the upscale segment for future growth, the hotel company has not yet blended its upscale and extended stay offerings.
Marriott International, meanwhile, is growing its Apartments by Marriott Bonvoy brand as guest demand for upper-tier extended stay accommodations ramps up, the company told Hotel Dive last month.
