Super 8, formerly Super 8 Motels, is an American hotel brand, the world's largest budget hotel chain with over 2,400 locations worldwide. The chain is a subsidiary of Wyndham Hotels and Resorts. As of December 31, 2018, it has 2,889 properties with 178,028 rooms.
History
Launch
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. The original room rate was US$8.88, hence the numeric brand name. The first Super 8, with 60 rooms, opened in Aberdeen, South Dakota in 1974, 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. After Dennis Brown died in 1988, the 1,000 locations of the Super 8 chain were sold to Hospitality Franchise Systems, which became Cendant in 1993. Super 8 had a frequent traveler program, the VIP club, which was introduced in 1976; it grew to over 7.6 million members. The VIP program was dissolved in December 2003 and replaced with the TripRewards program, which was renamed Wyndham Rewards in 2008.
Development
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. In 1981, groundbreaking for the 100th Super 8 Location began in Aberdeen, South Dakota; the birthplace of Super 8. In 1993, Super 8 opened its 1,000th property in Mount Vernon, Ohio. By 2001, Super 8 Motels had more than 2,000 motels worldwide. Super 8 Worldwide entered the China market in 2004 by opening a Super 8 hotel in Beijing. By 2011, there are 680 Super 8 hotels mainly located in major cities of China. In 2010, Super 8 replaced the beddings and redesigned the bathrooms. In May 2013, Super 8 opened its first location in Turkey, in Istanbul. In May 2014, Super 8 opened its first location in the Middle East, in Riyadh. In April 2016, Super 8 opened its first location in Germany, in Munich.
2016 brand overhaul
In May 2016, Super 8 remodeled its 1,800 rooms in the US and Canada, and organized a big give-away of the old art and furniture. The brand jokingly organized an exhibition in New York called When the Art Comes Down: Works from the Super 8 Collection and featuring 100 pieces of their "not-so-super art", an event organized to communicate on the brand's design overhaul. In December 2016, another edition of the exhibition was organized in Miami. In November 2016, Super 8 launched a new promotion for US Army veterans which included a reserved parking area in every US and Canada locations. In May 2017, Super 8 launched a new marketing campaign that focused its targeting on road trippers, followed by the introduction in October 2019 of Super 8's first shared room, the ROOM8, a concept developed for young road trippers. In March 2018, Super 8 launched a concept Jeep Wrangler, the ROADM8, with body works and interiors reminiscent of the brand's redesigned hotels, and some unexpected features such as a coffee machine and a mini-fridge built in the central console of the back seats. In June 2018, Super 8's parent company Wyndham Worldwidespun off its Destinations pole to create Wyndham Hotel & Resorts. In October 2019, a former Star 8 in San Diego was turned into a transitional housing center. In June 2019, Super 8 opened a new location in Dresden and announced 6 new locations in Germany by 2021.
Description
Super 8 offers guests standard amenities at every motel and hotel, 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 8s have restaurants. As of June 2019, the company website listed 2,434 hotels worldwide. The company Super 8 Worldwide inc. is a subsidiary of Wyndham Worldwide.
