loomis

The article said that it would be a mid-scale product. I would guess the rates to be more like $75-ish for a highway property and $150-ish for those in a city center.

Sisosig

Would be a good thing if the new brand would cover more remote areas of the country, where currently there's no Hilton presence at all.

lincolnjkc

Maybe it's just me but I thought Home2 was intended to be a "lower than Hampton" brand -- the HHonors benefits seem to be terrible/on par to slightly worse than Hampton.... but I've never stayed at one (because the brand has conveyed absolutely no value proposition to me thus far and there aren't any properties in most of the places I stay)...

I'm not sure another new brand is the right answer, perhaps pulling down Hampton (or a "Hampton Inn Express" [reviving the Hampton Hometown prototype?]) would make more sense... IMO, aside from the onsite F&B HIS and HGI are becoming more and more indistinguishable at a high level.

I do agree that it would be nice to get properties in the middle of nowhere -- while I don't usually have problems finding something within a half hour of where I want to be, it is annoying that there's no Hilton presence near my grandparents place in Northern Michigan or a client in Northern California (Nearest HGI/HIS is 90 minutes away in Reno; I don't think there's any national branded lodging closer...so that probably says something about demand in that market)

Crazyhotelguy

I would go for the LQ idea. I like the idea of a lower priced brand, but fear the honors benefits would be non existent. .. get ready for only 50 bonus points or a bottle of water.

HHonors OUTSIDER

“There is no good midscale product,” he said. “We think the demand is there, but the reason no one is building them is that there are no products that resonate with the customer.” He said he hopes Hilton’s new midscale brand will eventually grow to “thousands of hotels” in its portfolio The reason no one is building them is because it can't be done but I am glad they are going to try.

Sisosig

I do not fully agree. Just like lincolnjkc writes: "Northern California: Nearest HGI/HIS is 90 minutes away in Reno."

While Choice Hotels have got about 10 properties in Northern California. When I'm in a remote area I always have to stay at Choice-like hotels (not enough power outlets, room too dark, Hilton-kind of internet speed) but at least they will have hard boiled eggs, fruit and cereals for breakfast. I wouldn't mind if this would be a Hilton Family property, where you would at least get stay-credit, have a decent number of power outlets plus a desk without sharp edges and get the familiar ridiculously poor Hilton internet speed.

Another reason why I don't fully agree: half of Hilton's 4000 properties are Hamptons and not a single one of these are owned by Hilton. They're all franchise. Why wouldn't Hilton be able to franchise a brand below Hampton Inn?

MS02113

Home2 Suites is an extended-stay, all-suite concept intended to be more affordable than Homewood Suites. Since Hampton doesn't play in the extended stay market, there's little relation between it and Home2.

IsleOfMan

If they were willing to as elaborate of a conversion as Hyatt did when they acquired AmeriSuites and turned it into Hyatt Place, I'd love to see them acquire a small player (Drury Inn & Suites) and convert/renovate them as a springboard for the new brand, as opposed to building from scratch. This would GREATLY speed the roll-out if the right acquisition could be made (120 properties in 21 states in the example of Drury).