La Quinta to franchisees: We are 'Here For You'

La Quinta's Wayne Goldberg

BOCA RATON, FL – With an overall focus on people, product and profit, La Quinta rolled out new initiatives to make the guest experience better at its annual conference this week.

Overall, La Quinta executives are placing a lot of importance on the guest experience. The brand’s new “Here For You” profitability initiative is about “re-thinking what we do and how we do it every day,” said Wayne Goldberg, La Quinta president and CEO.

“In everything we do, we are here for you. From the time we arrive at work in the morning and go home at night, we are here for you,” he said. “Going forward, ‘Here For You’ must become a way of life for everyone at La Quinta.”

Essentially, It’s a comprehensive approach that incorporates customer needs and responses, all designed to improve the guest experience, leading to higher satisfaction scores and profitability.

“Here For You” was designed around La Quinta’s core values, which it defined for the first time at the conference: people, passion, integrity, excellence and being unique.

Additional conference highlights:

• La Quinta’s 2010 performance:
-- RevPAR increased by 2.1 percent
-- Market share increased by 0.3 percent
-- The company executed 40 new franchise agreements, 70 percent of which were new-construction properties.
-- More than half of 2010 growth came in the Eastern half of the U.S.
-- Two La Quinta hotels opened in Mexico, “and we expect to more than triple that number in 2011,” Goldberg said.

• Product investment: The company will install 50,000 new Samsung flat-screen televisions with 37 free-to-guest channels, 21 of those in high-definition. The TVs include audio/video connectivity ports on the sides. “This initiative is under way and will be completed before the summer vacation season begins,” Goldberg said.

• Renovations: The company will renovate more than 115 properties this year.

Stay tuned for more news from this year’s La Quinta conference.