Super 8 Motels
 |
|
| Subsidiary of Wyndham Worldwide | |
| Industry | Hotels |
| Predecessor | Main Street inn |
| Founded | 1974, Aberdeen, South Dakota |
| Founder | Ron Rivett |
| Headquarters | Parsippany, New Jersey, United States |
|
Number of locations
|
2,392 as of May 2014 |
|
Area served
|
United States, Canada, China |
| Owner | Wyndham Worldwide |
| Slogans | Super 8 all the way |
Super 8 Worldwide, formerly Super 8 Motels, is the world's largest budget hotel chain, with hotels in the United States, Canada and China. The company is a subsidiary of Wyndham Worldwide, formerly a part of Cendant.[1]
History
Super 8 has its roots in a marketing association for individually owned hotels that were already in business started by Dennis Brown in 1972. After one year, in 1973 Ron Rivett and Dennis Brown canceled the association and created their new Super 8 Motel corporation with each of them owning 50% of the stock in the new company.[2] The original room rate was US$8.88, hence the numeric brand name.[3] The first Super 8, with 60 rooms, opened in Aberdeen, South Dakota in 1974.[2] The first Super 8 was built near a Holiday Inn with just some drawings made by Rivett as blueprints. The stucco exterior with an English Tudor style was inspired by Rivett's father-in-law, who was a stuccoer; the English Tudor style and placing of Super 8's near Holiday Inns was an established procedure for setting up new Super 8's for years to come. The first franchise was sold in 1976 and established in Gillette, Wyoming. By 1978, Super 8 expanded from the state of New York to the state of Washington and was no longer just a Midwestern company.[2]
Super 8 had a frequent traveler program, the VIP club, which was introduced in 1976; it grew to over 7.6 million members. The program was purchased by Hospitality Franchise Systems, which later became Cendant, in 1993. The VIP program was dissolved in December 2003 and replaced with the TripRewards program, which was renamed Wyndham Rewards in 2008.
In 1981, groundbreaking for the 100th Super 8 Location began in Aberdeen, South Dakota; the birthplace of Super 8.[4] In 1993, Super 8 opened its 1,000th property in Mt. Vernon, Ohio.[4] By 2001, Super 8 Motels had more than 2,000 motels worldwide.[4]
As of May 2014, the company website listed 2,392 hotels worldwide.[5] As per the 2006 company reports, Super 8 had 2,039 properties open with 123,982 rooms in the US and Canada.[citation needed]
Super 8 today
Super 8 now offers guests standard amenities at every motel, including a continental breakfast, wireless Internet access, hair dryers, coffee makers, and a lobby area. Some locations have pools and meeting rooms. A few of the larger Super 8's have restaurants.
See also
References
- ↑ "About Super 8". Super 8 official website. Accessed May 2010
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ http://books.google.com/books?id=W0a6PFMAxGYC&pg=PA10&dq=%22super+8%22+%22$8.88%22&hl=en&sa=X&ei=-mv3T5nXGqSa0QHTgYnQBg&ved=0CDoQ6AEwAQ
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 About Super 8
- ↑ Super 8 Hotel Properties Retrieved May 21, 2014.
External links
 |
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.. |
- REDIRECT Template:Travel + Leisure Co.
Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- Pages with broken file links
- Articles with unsourced statements from June 2012
- Hotel chains
- Motels
- Hospitality companies of the United States
- Motels in the United States
- Hotels established in 1974
- 1974 establishments in South Dakota
- Companies based in Morris County, New Jersey
- Companies based in South Dakota
- Wyndham brands
