FAIRFIELD, NJ— Prime Hospitality Corp. has entered the full-service segment in a major way with the launch of its third brand called Prime Hotels & Suites. The first property to bear the name will be the former Sheraton Hotel Saratoga Springs, which will now be known as the Saratoga Springs Prime Hotel and Conference Center. “Creating this new brand is simply an evolution of our brand strategy,” Prime Hospitality’s President/CEO A.F. Petrocelli told HOTEL BUSINESS®. “Currently we have AmeriSuites and Wellesley Inns & Suites, and this is just the next logical step for us. We started seriously thinking about launching the new brand about a year ago. In the end, we chose the Saratoga Springs property to start things rolling because we’re certain a name change won’t hurt us there,” he said. In fact, this is not the first name change that the hotel has undergone. The property was originally a Ramada before Prime changed it to a Sheraton three years ago. “We’re confident in this hotel’s ability to perform,” Petrocelli said. “The hotel does a lot of international business and the area is a real summer destination, which is ultimately why we chose this hotel to launch the brand from.” In addition, the company hopes to expand the brand among some of its other holdings as well. “At present we’re looking at all of our hotels to decide which we think re-branding would benefit most,” Petrocelli said. “Going forward, we plan to re-brand one or two properties during this year under the new name and will also franchise new properties under the Prime Hotel & Suites name as well.” By the end of year Prime Hospitality plans to have just those few branded hotels under the new name as they intend to move slowly at first to see how the name is received, according to Petrocelli. “Slow and steady growth is the best course for us right now,” he said. “Going further out, in five years we’re projecting that we’ll have 100 hotels under this name. As we continue on this expansion track, we’re really looking at hotels primarily in the Northeast. From that point we’ll eventually work our way down the Eastern seaboard to Florida,” Petrocelli said. With two flags, AmeriSuites and Wellesley Inns & Suites, already under Prime’s umbrella of brands the big question looming is: How will this new brand be different? “It is our hope that this will be a more franchise-friendly brand,” Petrocelli said. “What I mean by that is that we don’t intend to be as tough and hard-nosed about our franchise agreements as other brands are. We want to be more welcoming to our new franchisees.” Among the features that the new branded hotels are expected to showcase will be high-speed Internet access, in-room cordless phones, and expanded cable television offerings, including on-demand viewing services. As for the onsite amenity package, each property will have 200 to500 guestrooms and suites; a selection of dining and entertainment venues; concierge-level services; automated check-in kiosks; a swimming pool and fitness center; a business center; and 10,000 to 50,000 square feet of meeting and banquet space. “We’re going after the business traveler as our primary target,” Petrocelli said. “The leisure base is secondary, but still important. “With this new brand we’re setting up our first full-service brand that has meeting space, restaurants and like amenities to attract the businessperson and the leisure traveler as well. In contrast, with the AmeriSuites brand there is no meeting space or food and beverage component,” he said. By addressing the full-service segment , the company hopes that it will benefit it its customer reward plan called the Prime Rewards Program. “We see this move as helping our Prime Rewards Program along,” Petrocelli said. “We had the Rewards Program in mind when we decided to create this new brand. We launched the reward program about a year-and-a-half ago and feel it will reap some rewards from this new brand. Now, the businessperson who goes
