Lodging Hospitality reported that DeBoer, the creator—or “grandfather,” jokes the 78-year-old entrepreneur—of the extended-stay hotel, has turned the traditional hotel thinking upside down with Value Place – an economy extended stay lodging and short-term residential property brand. While the rest of the industry has struggled through one of its deepest downturns, Value Place has continued to grow. Occupancy is up, tipping 80 percent, and development has continued despite the financial-market meltdown. The brand will soon open its 158th property, in Sacramento, the first on the West Coast, and the portfolio should reach 170 by year’s end. Forty-three are corporate owned by DeBoer and co-owners Greg Kossover (CEO) and investment firm Perry Capital. The pipeline is even stronger: Forty-seven franchise groups have committed to have 500 properties open by 2015. The secret for DeBoer, the company’s chairman and founder, was turning traditional hotel thinking upside down. Value Place brings DeBoer back to his apartment roots, when he was one of the largest multi-family developers in the U.S. during the 1970s.
“People are looking for safe, clean, affordable and simple,” says Gina McKee, Value Place’s vice president of development. “They don’t want to sign a long-term lease, but they don’t want to pay the high price of $159 a night. They need a clean, safe place to live and that’s what we offer. Jack has created this brilliant business model, whether you’re a guest or an owner.” As the brand has grown despite the hotel industry’s decline, more hotel developers are taking a second look. “Everybody was so busy doing what they knew how to do, why would they want to monkey around with something like this?” says DeBoer. “Now our phones are ringing.”
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