Motel 6

Motel 6 is a hospitality chain which operates "Motel 6" budget motels and "Studio 6" extended-stay hotels.

The company was founded in 1962 in Santa Barbara, California by William Becker and Paul Greene. It was their initial business plan to develop properties that would rent for $6 per room per night. To cut costs, the motels were built without restaurants, and rooms were finished with easily-cleanable surfaces, and furnished with coin-operated black & white television sets. The business was successful and the chain grew to 25 locations in California and Utah by the mid 1960s. The founders sold it to an investment group in 1968 and expanded it to more than 300 locations, reaching Florida by 1972.

In 1985 Kohlberg Kravis Roberts of New York City acquired the business and upgraded rooms with free television and telephone. It launched a national advertising campaign with voice-over by Tom Bodett over a simple guitar and fiddle tune, with the tagline "We'll leave the light on for you." The distinctive campaign was awarded a Clio and later recognized by Advertising Age as one of the "Top 100 Advertising Campaigns of the Twentieth Century."

Despite the strong marketing, Motel 6 ceded market share to a growing budget motel segment. KKR responded by acquiring rival chains such as Budgetel and Regal 8. In 1990 the chain was acquired by Accor of Paris, France, which initiated a franchise ownership program. Accor acquired rival Red Roof Inn in 1999 and placed both brands under its Accor Economy Lodging subsidiary. It sold the Red Roof Inn brand in 2007. Beginning in 2008 the motel's bedroom decor was updated chain-wide under the name "Phoenix Project", notably switching from carpet floors to recycled wood and from incandescent to fluorescent lighting.

In 2012 Blackstone Real Estate Asset Management Americas of New York City acquired the Motel 6 chain for $1.9 billion, and converted it more fully into a franchise model under their "G6 Hospitality" subsidiary. They sold the chain to Oravel Stays of New Delhi, India for $525 million in 2024. Oravel assigned it to its OYO Rooms subsidiary.

Birmingham area locations

• Motel 6 Birmingham, 151 Vulcan Road, Homewood
• Motel 6 Birmingham - Medical Center, 4627 U.S. Highway 280, Overton
• Motel 6 Bessemer, 1000 Shiloh Lane, Bessemer

References

• Cumming, David (October 3, 2012) "Motel 6 tries an environmentally friendly re-design." Budget Travel
• "Motel 6." (September 22, 2024) Wikipedia - accessed September 24, 2024

External links

• Motel 6 website