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La Quinta spreads its word nationwide
I'm in the spacious lobby of the La Quinta Inn & Suites DFW-Airport North in the booming Dallas suburb of Irving, about to interview La Quinta chiefs Wayne Goldberg and Rajiv Trivedi. It's a hot July day and the 140-room hotel is full. The lobby is irregularly shaped, a fountain in its middle. The feeling is gracious, and the Southwestern design carries over to the guestrooms, which open onto vestibules with unusually high ceilings. For a select-service product, this hotel feels decidedly upscale. The complimentary continental breakfast is largely over, and the lobby isn't that busy. Still, it feels cozy, and the lighting-thanks to many windows, and sliding doors opening onto the back yard pool area-is generous.
The DFW-North is one of 20 La Quintas in greater Dallas, with three in the airport area alone. La Quinta has long been associated with Texas, where it boasts 100-plus properties; it started in San Antonio in 1968. In the past six years, La Quinta has quietly spread far beyond the Lone Star State, primarily thanks to a vigorous franchising program. As of mid-August, there were 605 La Quintas around the country. Of those, 236 were franchises; the franchise pipeline as of then was 178.
"La Quinta is a phenomenon like the way Hampton evolved," says Goldberg, La Quinta's president and chief executive officer. "La Quinta's position is to grow very aggressively with franchise and our corporate-owned assets." The Blackstone Group bought La Quinta in November 2005 for $3.4 billion.
"With the support and leverage of Blackstone, we have the ability to invest significantly in our brand," adds Goldberg, who, like many other of its executives, held executive positions with Red Roof Inns before joining La Quinta. "The combination of investing in our owned assets, franchise program and overall growth puts us in position to be dominant in the lodging business."
Key to La Quinta's growth is Trivedi, executive vice president of franchising.
"About 55 percent of our growth comes from within," Trivedi says. "Franchisees who already have one or two La Quintas are going for a third or fourth one."
As of mid-August, 75 franchise contracts had been executed for La Quinta. In 2006, the brand signed 97 such...