At its franchisor’s 58th Annual Convention in Las Vegas, it was announced that the first-ever Comfort hotel to feature the brand’s entirely new design package is scheduled to open next month — the Comfort Inn & Suites hotel of Spokane Valley, Wash. As the first hotel to boast the new Comfort design, the recently-converted Spokane Valley Comfort Inn & Suites hotel replaced all of its existing furniture, fixtures, and equipment to incorporate the new Comfort Truly Yours prototype design package. After announcing a completely new design for the Comfort Inn and Comfort Suites brands at last year’s convention and an aggressive new Redefined & Redesigned strategy for the Comfort brand franchise family this past January, it’s time to check-in on the Comfort brand’s strong momentum. The new Truly Yours Comfort hotel prototype was designed using feedback from more than 1,500 guests, which showed that overall intent to stay nearly doubled for consumers in response to the new Comfort Inn and Comfort Suites designs* and that guests are willing to pay significantly more on average per night compared to the current design.** More than 100 Comfort properties have already began implementing elements from the new design package.
Also announced at this year’s Convention is the rollout of the Comfort “Your First Impression” brand program. This program will take the guest’s first impression to a new level, including new signature front desk experiences and new uniforms at every domestic franchised Comfort location within 2012—that’s more than 2,000 new front desk areas and more than 40,000 hotel employees sporting upgraded new uniforms by the end of this year. The front desk experience for guests will feature a redesigned “welcome wall” incorporating a reception desk and stone backdrop with soft integrated lighting.
The Your First Impression program is part of the brand family’s overarching strategy to refresh and redefine, including removing hotels that do not meet guest satisfaction standards, refreshing existing hotels, and adding new construction prototypical hotels—all scheduled to be complete by 2015.
Comfort Suites continues its plan to appeal to the tech-savvy business traveller with the Your Suite Success program. The Your Suite Success in-room recharge station will be a featured amenity at every location by June 1st, supplying convenient access to outlets and USB ports in more than 47,000 rooms. In addition, Comfort Suites hotels are upgrading fitness centres and adding items for sale that are popular with business travellers.
*Source: Element Market Research, Inc., Choice Hotels International Comfort Inn Design Test, January 2010. Respondents indicated that they would be likely to stay at a Comfort Inn with the Truly Yours design (75%) than the current design (40%) and to give the Truly Yours design high ratings (top-three box scores) on the brand positioning attributes.
**Source: Element Market Research, Inc., Choice Hotels International Comfort Inn Design Test, January 2010. Design test found that respondents expect to pay an average nightly rate of $93 for the Truly Yours design vs. $77 for the current design.
SOURCE Choice Hotels International, Inc.
