A global pandemic hasn't slowed development of Avid Hotels, a midscale brand that will turn four years old this fall.
IHG Hotels & Resorts launched Avid Hotels in September 2017 as a new-build, select-service concept. Today, Avid has 37 open hotels, including 30 that have opened since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in the first quarter of 2020.
Kevin Schramm, vice president of development of mainstream brands in the U.S. and Canada, said the rollout of the Avid brand has remained on schedule despite the pandemic.
"We've had through the past 16 months an ebb and flow in activity that was circumstantial with the pandemic, but the rollout was more widely and more positively received than we had anticipated early on," Schramm said. "But I've been through several brand launches and there is an ebb and flow of activity where the transition goes from enthusiasm for new product, grab up all the A-plus locations, to where developers want to see the first ground break, the first opening, the first month of operations.
"We kind of went through that and then hit another little spurt. And then [we] were clearly interrupted by COVID, but interest remains high. We remain bullish on the concept moving forward."
Karen Gilbride, IHG's vice president of Avid Hotels and Atwell Suites brands, said there are 90 more Avid Hotels in various stages of development and an additional 90 Avid properties still in the discussion phase.
Most of Avid Hotels' open portfolio is located in the U.S. — with concentration in Texas, Michigan, Florida and Ohio — and IHG has opened one Avid in Fresnillo in central Mexico. Gilbride said three more Mexico properties have started construction, as well as the first Avid in Canada, which will be located outside of Toronto.
Gilbride added while there's no current plans to grow Avid outside of North America, she didn't rule out the possibility of the brand expanding globally.
"Certainly in the future as we've seen with other brand launches, if there is an opening in that market and that makes sense for us to go to, that would be something that we would entertain, but right now our focus is on the U.S., Mexico and Canada," she said.
At this early stage of the brand's life cycle, Avid Hotels are still exclusively new-build, Schramm said.
"It's all new-build; we believe that's our strength," Schramm said. "We're not really looking at conversion. The product isn't really overly conducive to conversion because of the unique room bay."
Schramm said brand executives are thrilled with the milestones Avid is close to reaching.
"The next milestones that we're looking at are the opening milestones, and first you get to 50 open hotels, then you get to 100 open hotels, and there's a material difference in perception of the brand when you hit each one of those milestones," he said. "... We're getting close to one and we have a line of sight on the other. So we're very, very excited about that."
A Tweak to Breakfast and a Focus on Cleanliness
Feedback from guests and franchisees about Avid has been very positive, Gilbride said, so much so that the brand hasn't had to make major adjustments since its launch.
"Our first several hotels opened even pre-pandemic and of course, whenever you bring the first hotels online you're going to learn different things," Gilbride said. "The main addition that we made but we've been planning for was moving to add one of the hot options to the breakfast offer, and that came from guest feedback, competition and owner feedback."
There also wasn't much of an operations adjustment once the pandemic took hold, Gilbride added.
"Then when the pandemic started, it was completely COVID-friendly, all pre-packaged grab-and-go items where guests are commenting about how everything feels really safe, really secure. And that was the design and attention of the food and beverage offer even before COVID."
The cleanliness standards that would be enforced industrywide due to the pandemic were already part and parcel of the Avid Hotels brand, Gilbride said.
"We talked to customers way back in 2017 as we were launching this brand, and they told us that in the lower midscale space, they were really not getting a high-quality, clean, safe, reliable product at an affordable rate, and that's why we built Avid Hotels," she said.
As consumers become more comfortable with traveling again, cleanliness will likely be the first thing on their minds, and Gilbride said Avid guests have commented the brand was ahead of the times in that respect.
"We were anchored in how could you signal clean and cleanliness across the entire experience even before COVID. ... Every surface can be completely cleaned from top to bottom; that was always in the design and DNA of this brand," Gilbride said. "And so the feedback hasn't been owners and guests saying, 'You need to change this.' It's been, honestly, I got a couple calls from people saying 'You were ahead of the curve on a couple of those things.'"
Gilbride anticipates consumers will continue to demand those standards post-pandemic.
The pandemic's emphasis on cleanliness could be a feather in the cap of Avid Hotels' development pace when brand executives look back years from now, Schramm said.
"The target market, the audience, the guest for this hotel is residing in a sea of mediocrity and inconsistency," he said. "And those competitive hotels have been overdue for renovations, they've exhausted capital funds to pay debt service. And here we're opening up new hotels with streamlined accommodations, and nothing means clean more than new, and clearly the consumer is sensitized to that.
"So we believe in the long run one of the many silver linings that we'll be able to look back on in COVID is the enhancement of our position in the market."
An Owner's Perspective
Texas-based Buffalo Lodging LLC owns the recently opened Avid Hotel Fort Worth — Fossil Creek in Fort Worth, Texas. Company President Kalpesh Patel said in an email interview that the Avid brand was attractive with its "simplicity and modernity" that complemented the company's portfolio.
"Despite the pandemic inhibiting travel, those who have stayed with us have raved about Avid’s seamless and streamlined process, especially that of breakfast," Patel said.
The building process faced some obstacles, Patel said, but high construction costs and project delays plagued most of the industry throughout the past year.
"The pandemic hit in the middle of construction, and a massive power outage due to the winter storms in February halted construction," Patel said. "The setbacks [accumulated] because of delays in the supply chain. Unfortunately, this impacts guests as well. Imbalances in supply and demand results in increased construction costs and a labor shortage."
Hotel companies across the industry are struggling to fill positions, and Patel said his company has faced that challenge as well.
"As states have opened up and more people have gotten vaccinated, we have seen an increase in travel in our area," he said. "Normally, this would be celebrated, but due to labor issues, we lack the manpower to operate in the traditional manner. We have had to make adjustments, but just as we have all done this past year, we are learning and adapting. Patience is a key factor, and hopefully very soon the industry will return to where it was before COVID-19."