Staybridge Suites Finds Tomorrow’s Travelers to Design Today’s Extended-Stay Hotel

Fresh perspective gives Staybridge Suites hotels cutting edge design

ATLANTA- IHG’s upscale extended-stay hotel brand, Staybridge Suites is taking an innovative design approach for their portfolio of 150+ hotels and 160+ hotels in their global pipeline. Graduate students from one of the top five interior design programs in the nation recently completed a ten-week course completely dedicated to creating Staybridge Suites’ next generation of standardized room décor packages.

It was the very first time Savannah College of Art and Design’s (SCAD) interior design students have provided full design services to a corporate entity as part of their coursework.

“The students really put a lot of thought into this project,” said Robert Radomski, vice president, Global Brand Management, Extended-Stay Brands, IHG. “As part of the coursework, they were asked to develop concepts that would define the brand and reinforce what we’re already doing really well.”

One of the first assignments for the quarter included a stay at a Staybridge Suites hotel to gain an understanding of the brand.

“They focused on the end user by observing and speaking with several audiences so they could truly capture the Staybridge Suites culture,” said Professor Sam Cribbs of SCAD. “Students not only defined the end-user as the guest, but also as the employee and the hotel owner.”

Coursework began in early January of this year and in mid-March, the 16 students presented four final concepts based on what a Staybridge Suites hotel could look like today and how it could be sustained for the future.

IHG’s Plan Review Department together with the Staybridge Suites brand team are finalizing design schemes and preparing to build out a model room, expected for completion later this year.

“I was lucky enough to observe the ideas students put on the table,” said Christian Sargent, president, Diamond Lodging. “Their ideas were professional, dynamic and out-of-the-box yet closely aligned with the Staybridge Suites culture.”