DALLAS—La Quinta Inns & Suites conducted its quarterly Brand Council meeting at its headquarters here yesterday and a number of topics were discussed for possible brand-wide implementation going forward, such as Energy Star compliance, a penalty for those properties not enrolling enough of its guests in the company’s loyalty program, and additional educational requirements for the company’s owners and operators.
Opened to the media for the first time, president/CEO Wayne Goldberg touted the event for its open environment and ability to generate meaningful ideas. “The game isn’t won with grand slams, it’s won with base hits. Every time we come here [at the meeting], somebody gets a base hit,” he said, later adding of the nearly 800-property chain. “We view the world a lot differently. I’m not sure we realize how far along we are compared to our competition.”
The meeting also provided a glimpse of the company’s advertising campaign for the coming year. With a tag line of “Even Better Than Before,” the campaign is centered around the fact that some 60% of the chain’s rooms have been recently renovated. The TV and radio portion of the campaign will be featured in 23 markets throughout the U.S. and there is a large print component as well.
The company also detailed some of its efforts to continue to accelerate room sales throughout the system by trying to become a preferred travel partner with many of the some 30 firms under parent company Blackstone’s umbrella, as well as many of La Quinta’s vendors. The company currently offers 10% discounts to those firms, but explored the idea of increasing that discount.