Introducing Extended Stay in Columbus
What is extended stay? Extended stay is hotel stay that is longer than one week. It may have been common these days, but it’s actually a relatively recent phenomenon in the history. This phenomenon first occured in the 19st century when people had a new trend in traveling, that is to stay longer in a place. From this beginning, extended stay then became a new business that further extend the existing businesses of hospitality industry. Extended stay business opens the way to reach previously untapped niche of the customers.
The trend of extended stay in United States is different from Europe. In the United States, extended stay lodgings usually takes place in the suburban area while in Europe they take place in the downtown. It helps extended stay in United States grows faster than Europe since the land price is cheaper in the suburban. This cheaper land price makes it easier for the businessmen in the United States to make profit which leads to the growth of the business. Extended stay in Columbus also experiences this growth. The opposite thing happens in Europe. Since the land price is higher, it’s more difficult for businessmen there to make profit from extended stay business. Consequently, the business is less attractive there.
Marriott initiated extended stay business in the United States by opening its Residence Inn in 1974. The extended stay business grew to many cities since then. There were around 300,000 rooms available for extended stay in United States in 2000s which was almost twice as much as the 180,000 rooms available in 1999. Though exact data is not available, there is no question that extended stay in Columbus also experiences similar phenomenon.