ATLANTA— While the 2005 U.S. Franchise Systems, Inc. Conference & Trade Show here gave plenty of the spotlight to the company’s three brands— Microtel Inns & Suites, Hawthorn Suites and America’s Best Inns & Suites— it was the most recent addition to the family— AmeriSuites— that garnered the most curiosity during the past two days. Following the January 2005 acquisition of AmeriSuites by USFS’ parent company, Global Hyatt, the parent firm turned around and assigned control of the brand to USFS. In the words of Mike Leven, USFS’ president and CEO, that turn of events will subsequently bring benefits to the rest of the group’s brands. “A few weeks ago, AmeriSuites entered our family of brands with high prospects to become a leader in its competitive set,” Leven said. “The addition of AmeriSuites lowers marketing costs for our other brands and makes more dollars available to do all we can with what we have as we look ahead to the time we have over the next three years of this cycle. “There are not only financial benefits, but emotional and psychological benefits as well for all of USFS, as the halo of a solid, well-known, high-quality hotel chain enters our portfolio,” he added. Leven also mentioned that between now and the end of 2006, AmeriSuites, which has 143 properties in its portfolio, will be repositioned as a direct competitor to Hilton Garden Inn and Courtyard by Marriott. Jon Leven, USFS’ senior vice president of marketing, pointed out that USFS won’t be selling AmeriSuites franchises for about three to six months as the rebranding begins. Many of the brand’s properties will also be renovated, and Hyatt win own and manage 100 of them in all, while the rest of the portfolio will be franchised. Mike Leven noted that USFS will try to identify any implications that AmeriSuites’ addition creates for specifically Hawthorn Suites. But one positive implication for Hawthorn will be the fact that it will now be sold in unison with Hyatt and AmeriSuites to corporate accounts. During Hawthorn’s general session, Leven revealed that the brand’s aggregate RevPAR rose 4% in 2004, which ranked behind Residence Inn by Marriott and Homewood Suites. Those two brands respectively posted 5.7% and 6.1% RevPAR gains in 2004. Meanwhile, Microtel Inns & Suites apparently continues to impress guests, as Leven noted during the brand’s general session that it has won the J.D. Power award for customer satisfaction in the economy hotel segment for three years running, which puts it on top of all of its fellow economy competitors. Helping to bring the brand to that position has apparently been its rise in overall occupancy, which moved from 55% in 2003 to 56.3% in 2004. Leven added that he expects that percentage to climb near 60% in 2005. Furthermore, Microtel’s overall RevPAR rose to a chain-wide average of $28.04 in 2004, a figure that outpaced such competitors as Days Inn, Super 8, Econo Lodge and Motel 6, according to Leven. In terms of development, the brand saw 15 new hotel openings in 2004 as well as 22 ground breakings. By the conclusion of 2005 there should be another 25 openings, which would bring the brand to a total of 285 hotels. Both Mike and Jon Leven also asserted during the session that the brand’s Project Reveille, which provided free wireless high-speed Internet access, free local phone calls and free long-distance calls in the continental United States to all Microtels, has been a success with guests. Hawthorn could one day provide similar free amenities. As for America’s Best Inns & Suites, it seems that its recent name change from simply Best Inns & Suites has brought some marketing advantages to the brands’ franchisees since the new name has acted as a differentiator. The name was changed in 2004 when Best Western won the rights to the singular “Best” designation in a lawsuit against the USFS brand and Best Value Inn, which was forced to change its name to America’s Best Value Inn. “I have also received questions r
USFS CEO Michael Leven