IHG Staybridge Suites and Candlewood Suites $165m in renovations

Last week IHG announced that 77 extended stay hotels owned by Hospitality Properties Trust and managed by IHG will be part of a $165 million renovation project to be completed by September 2012. The first phase of the project has already been completed with new kitchen and bath designs at 26 Candlewood Suites hotels in Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Dallas and Phoenix.

A total of 58 Candlewood Suites and 19 Staybridge Suites are scheduled to be renovated.

All of the renovated hotels will use components of new schemes designed in conjunction with graduate students at Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD), one of the nation’s top interior design schools. Staybridge Suites hotels will offer one of two schemes: the “Vista” scheme, which focuses on fresh color, blending blue, green and terra-cotta shades; or a refreshed version of an existing brand scheme, “Chocolate,” with components of the SCAD designs in the kitchens and bathrooms. The Staybridge Suites hotels will also feature the brand’s Outdoor Living Room, a place where guests can relax and interact alfresco surrounded by amenities such as comfortable outdoor all-weather furniture, fire pits, grills and music. The Gathering Table, a bar-height, granite-topped island surrounded by stools that encourages guest interaction during breakfast and evening Social receptions, will also be added to the Great Room area.

Candlewood Suites hotels will feature elements of the “Nest” scheme, a light, clean and refreshing design with earthy green hues. The focus of renovations at Candlewood Suites properties has been kitchens, bathrooms, case goods, lighting, artwork, new flat-screen televisions, updates to the reception area and new exterior paint.

Staybridge Suites and Candlewood Suites are the extended-stay brands of IHG. These are also the two brands that only earn 5 points per dollar with Priority Club. All other IHG brands earn 10 points per dollar, except for 2,000 points per stay for InterContinental hotels outside of the Americas. Priority Club changed InterContinental Hotels earn rate to 10 points per dollar as of February 15, 2012 for properties in USA, Canada, Mexico, Latin America and Caribbean.

There are currently 180 Staybridge Suites and more than 280 Candlewood Suites in North America. These renovations impact about 10% of Staybridge Suites and 20% of Candlewood Suites hotels.

Will this motivate the other hotels in these brands to renovate?

Here are photos from a Candlewood Suites stay in Las Vegas last April. The room was spacious and came with a kitchen and a bedroom with a second TV. There was plenty of space to work on my computer. A flat-screen TV would certainly be an improvement.

I see the sweatshirt in this April 2011 photo that I lost somewhere in Canada about six weeks later.