Though many lodging chains have limited or ceased expansion in the past year, Value Place is taking the exact opposite approach.
The News & Observer reported the Wichita-based chain is calling for 500 properties to be built over the next five years – six of which will be in the Triangle area but over the course of 10 years. The first area Value Place will open in Apex in January. That the plans of the Wichita, Kan.-based company have not been scaled back because of the recession speaks to Value Place's no-frills business model. For about $200 a week, plus a $100 damage deposit, Value Place guests get a clean, safe place to stay and not much else. The approach has proven attractive at a time when corporations are slashing travel budgets and more people find themselves in housing limbo because they have relocated but can't sell the home they left behind or simply because they are out of work.
"A lot of apartment dwellers don't want to commit to another year lease because they don't know where there job is going," said Gina McKee, Value Place's vice president of franchise development. McKee said occupancy rates across Value Place's 160 properties have remained about 80 percent during the recession. She also revealed that the Triangle market is attractive because of the large number of business travelers coming for extended visits and because so many people are moving into the area.
Carter Rise, a franchisee in Richmond, Va., who hopes to start construction on a Value Place on Capital Boulevard in Raleigh early next year, said the brand fits the current economic environment. "You get basic, ultra-clean, very safe lodging in a comfortable but not ostentatious room with minimal amenities," he said.
Comments