This long-time segment leader is answering owners’ top-of-mind business questions with new and newly enhanced tools and resources tailored to extended stay’s unique opportunities.
CHARLOTTE, North Carolina — Extended Stay America’s (ESA’s) current list of franchisees’ most frequently asked questions reveals how much they are looking to brands for best-practice business solutions, not quick fixes.
Lisa Giaimo, vice president, franchise, ESA, discussed how this hotel sector leader leveraged three decades of experience to develop its consultative franchise support model. In the vanguard of data-driven and service culture solutions, this new wave of initiatives elevates short-term problem-solving into long-term strategic success.
Here’s how ESA is building out the knowledge base for what franchisees want to know now:
What kind of training and support does the brand provide for new or transitioning hotels?
“We do a robust orientation that allows new franchisees to learn all things ESA,” Giaimo said. “We’re focused on making sure new and existing hotel owners have the tools and resources they need to be successful.”
ESA’s corporate team applies 30 years of hands-on knowledge to determine what franchise owners need most in their toolkits. They test ideas and potential future standards in ESA’s existing hotels to thoroughly measure and fine-tune the impact and effectiveness of proposed changes before rolling out programs to franchised properties.
Expanding on that expertise and input from franchisees has shaped a training concept that is efficient and effective in teaching new team members, managers, and owners how to work within the company’s systems.
ESA’s training and support include a variety of opportunities targeted at upskilling team members through easy-access monthly webinars, including sales and property management system training, as well as in-depth orientations for new general managers.
Continual corporate review of skills needed for team member growth has fueled innovation, such as a company-wide initiative to immerse team members in the company’s recently unveiled service culture program.
“ESA has been deeply committed to providing warm, hospitable service. Since how we treat people is the foundation of who we are, we expanded our collective focus on serving guests and each other through our Care Ambassador Service Culture initiative,” said Giaimo.
She emphasized that a guest-centric, service-first approach will differentiate the brand, particularly for their extended-stay model where guests are away from family and friends for weeks or months. By calling hotel staff "Care Ambassadors," the company prioritizes service, and she noted that training must focus equally on service and systems since "our properties are 'home' to our guests," making exceptional care essential to the brand identity.
Should I hire a management company/revenue management company/sales support company?
That depends on who’s asking, said Giaimo.
She added, “Part of the decision starts with a conversation around goals. What are your expectations for your business as a franchise owner? What will the repositioning of the hotel look like? Is this a stable asset where your aim is to maintain its performance? Is it a new hotel that you're going to ramp up from the start to the point where the hotel is successful? Or is this a hotel where you're putting a lot of money into a renovation so that you can reposition it?” asked Giaimo.
The owner's response significantly impacts the best next-step options. If the asset is stable and the owner wants to maintain the same business levels, there may be no need for a management company. Giaimo said much depends on the structure of the company and the support features that are available.
“I highly encourage our franchise owners to look for support from a sales perspective and a revenue management perspective. Even if they don't hire a management company because they don’t want to pay that company 2.5% or 3% off their top line, they might benefit from specialized services,” she said.
Her experience has shown, “That’s not really an expense; that's an investment. If you can grow that topline through a local sales office and have someone following up on those leads, and if someone knows your revenue management system is making good strategy decisions for the hotel, that's going to pay for itself.”
The genesis of the majority of the franchise support programs we’ve created started with feedback from our franchise owners
Lisa Giaimo
She recommended that franchise owners consider ESA’s list of approved vendors for the services.
“It's so critical that the service provider understands that a transient hotel perspective has to shift to the extended-stay model,” she said. “If it doesn’t, you're making decisions at a very basic level that are not going to allow you to see the profitability that you want for the hotel. You may have the same revenue, but if you have a high percentage of zero to six nights and a lot of OTA business at a higher commission and higher acquisition costs, you’re not going to see the returns that you're expecting as an owner, and you're going to have to hire more staff.”
How does ESA support franchise owners in improving guest satisfaction scores?
Every guest’s impact on topline revenue is magnified by the extended-stay business model. “If a [long staying] guest is upset and they leave, you might be talking about losing a month's worth of revenue instead of only a night or two [in a transient hotel],” said Giaimo.
She added, “We wanted our franchise owners to get the complete picture of guest satisfaction’s role on their bottom line. So, we developed brand support that simplifies analyzing and applying guest feedback. We complemented that data access with an actionable, consultative approach to achieving consistent top rankings in ESA’s quality audit (QA) program.”The QA program takes the guesswork out of guest satisfaction. Franchise owners and managers can access metrics that track exactly where there’s a gap — whether guests want improvement in “cleanliness, maintenance, condition of the room, or staff training,” said Giaimo. From that foundation layer, the brand builds strategies to collaborate with owners and prevent revenue loss from customer service issues.
ESA’s recently launched QA recovery footprint takes the same hands-on approach. “We partner with our training teams,” said Giaimo. “It starts with an action planning program. At the first failure, we’ll sit down and have a meeting with them to work through an action plan, address the biggest areas of concern, and make sure that they know where to go for the resources they need. If they fail a second time, we do a training visit. We'll walk through the property, answer their questions, and review all of our brand performance documents and brand standards so that they have the information that they need to perform well. Lastly, I’ll do a visit with the owner and the management company if there is one.” Two recent reviews have shown scores move from failing to top marks in the short term by working through this step-by-step process.
How does the brand support local sales?
Backyard sales are one cornerstone of year-in, year-out revenue success, but not every franchise owner or GM comes trained in grassroots booking conversions. In keeping with extended-stay’s efficient labor model, ESA trains the entire team to apply their existing skills in communication, relationship building, and matching services to needs to boost local sales.
The brand’s support emphasizes research and elbow grease. “Being involved in the Chamber of Commerce or the Convention Visitors Bureau or Tourism Bureau is important, but even more so is knowing what's happening in the area,” added Giaimo. “It’s knowing that there’s construction, store openings, or that a restaurant in your area is a training restaurant where they bring managers in from other locations. It’s developing relationships with a hospital or a university. It comes down to knowing your local demand drivers.”
Sometimes, there’s no substitute for learning on the job. Giaimo cited two GMs in ESA’s general manager certification program who overcame their nervousness about local sales by putting up flyers and visiting construction sites. One of them had a call about a room block waiting when they returned to the hotel. “Every time your team walks out the door, there are opportunities to talk with local people, get the word out about the property,” said Giaimo.
What changes are being made to ESA’s internal resources to better serve owners and teams?
The company’s franchise owners asked for support that better anticipates their needs, as well as those of their GMs and their teams. ESA listened. They’ve already built a portal with best practices, system how-to’s, and brand standard information. Now, they’re transferring to a new CRM to further streamline the process.
Seamless data access is par for the course. ESA’s franchise portal enables owners to track topline performance, guest satisfaction, and QA on one page. The value-add is in interpreting those statistics — and not leaving owners to figure it out on their own.
“That's where our franchise service team comes into play, with monthly check-in visits or calls to make sure owners have the information they need to see how their hotel is performing and where the opportunities lie in their market,” said Giaimo.
That same curated support creates an efficient, effective hub for disseminating company-wide best practices. GMs have instant access to know-how about everything from portal access to ordering. Line employees can access Extended Stay University for tools to expand their personal and professional performance.
How will this consultative approach evolve as opportunities arise?
“The genesis of the majority of the franchise support programs we’ve created started with feedback from our franchise owners,” said Giaimo. “I so much appreciate that ESA’s franchise owners are not shy. They are quick to share their feedback with us, and I love that because it makes us better. We are very responsive. We know that they are our customers, and we want to hear from them.”
She added, “We don't treat our franchise owner’s outreach as ‘Here’s their question. Here’s the solution.’ We also look at how we can address that point proactively. Because if one owner is asking about it, probably four or five others are thinking it. We make sure each concern is addressed — and assessed — even if it comes up later and needs to be reinforced. We make sure that we're building that into the support and resources that we provide. Our goal is to give our franchise owners the tools and resources to make better business decisions each day and over the long term.”
Mary Scoviak is custom and design content director for Hotel Investment Today by Northstar.
The views and opinions expressed in this content do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Hotel Investment Today by Northstar or Northstar Travel Group and its affiliated companies.