NEW YORK— Accor’s Red Roof Inn brand is launching its Generation 3 prototype, a unique structure who’s front entrance mimics the shape of the Red Roof sign. “We believe that that shape is a big part of the identity, so we’ve leveraged that design into the façade of the prototype. The consumer associates product with shapes just as much as they do with the logo. People will recognize it as a Red Roof,” said David O’Shaughnessy, group executive vp for ALNA. “We feel we have a very efficient prototype in terms of construction which should allow us to be in new markets, particularly in the Northeast and in California, where we feel there is still the market to develop economy hotels,” said Georges Le Mener, ALNA president/CEO. While designed for business travelers, the prototype is striving for a “homier, more comforting feel, but not to the extreme,” said O’Shaughnessy. Accor built model rooms in Dallas, and has been testing consumer reaction to space, fabric, surfaces, etc. The prototype offers two design packages, and cost per key is estimated at $36,000 (Dallas market), excluding land. “That’s significantly less than generation two,” said O’Shaughnessy, who noted that that particular model “had a lot of wasted space,” which has now been improved. “The hotel is smaller in terms of total square footage, with the guest-rooms at 276 square feet,” he said. Rentable space encompasses 76.4% of the total prototype. At least three are under development in Seattle, WA; Long Island, NY; and outside Boston, MA. “One problem with Red Roof in the past was its seven or eight design packages,” O’Shaughnessy said. “There needs to be consistency; that’s why we’ve gone to fewer choices with this prototype,” explained O’Shaughnessy.
