GIBSONTON, FL—For the first time in more than 12 years, Extended Stay America opened its first new-build property here.
The four-story Extended Stay America Gibsonton, the hotel chain’s 54th property in Florida, has 124 guestrooms, a gym and a laundry room. The property’s rooms use the brand’s new design, including fully equipped kitchens with full-size refrigerators and cooktops.
The company-owned property is a 47,000-sq.-ft. prototype that will help the company show potential franchisees what the new design is like. In 2017, the company started a franchise development program to attract its first third-party owners.
Jim Alderman, chief development officer, ESA, said that the company’s design team, led by Paul Fraser, VP, construction and design, started with the brand’s essence. “Together, we took an old design and went back to the roots of ESA,” said Alderman. “Paul used a lot of what he had learned from owning 20,000-some-odd rooms and the wear and tear that happens in a room, the pattern of guest usage, even the pattern of traffic that is analyzed in how a room gets cleaned. All of that was taken into consideration in coming up with a prototype that is just exactly the size it needs to be.”
For more on the new design, ESA’s recent executive changes and its future, see the Feb. 15th issue of Hotel Business.