In January 2024, Hilton announced LivSmart Studios by Hilton as the name of its new extended-stay hotel brand, and it quickly gained momentum. Within a few months, the brand had more than 350 deals in various stages of negotiations. Since the construction of its first property broke ground in Kokomo, Indiana, the LivSmart Studios team has been preparing for the official launch. With the hotel accepting reservations for Oct. 29, the brand is on the verge of officially taking the next step in its evolution.
Isaac Lake, brand leader of LivSmart Studios by Hilton, recently spoke with LODGING about that evolution, and he highlighted his excitement as he explained how the Hilton team methodically researched the market and realized that it would be able to address a void in the company’s offerings by serving extended-stay guests with a mid-tier brand.
“It’s been a phenomenal journey; it has really been incredible,” Lake said. “We have an incredible team at Hilton. Hilton is very methodical in the way that we launch brands and create brands. We do extensive research. We … bought five years’ worth of research from a data company on anybody that had a long stay, so 10 nights or longer, before COVID, and then we did a qualitative research study post-COVID on [the] same type of guests. So, using everything that we learned through the data, we used that to influence the physical product of the hotel, and then working in sort of tandem with a group of owners to create a brand that would enable us to go quickly to market and give guests an offering at a more attainable price point with consistent quality and all the comforts of what a Hilton brand offers.”
Hilton has 24 distinct hotel brands, and LivSmart is poised to stand out in several ways. Its studio apartment-style accommodations cater to guests who may be traveling for weeks or months at a time, and it provides a new offering at the midscale price point. In doing so, the company is targeting a new consumer.
“LivSmart was created at a price point [where] Hilton did not have a product,” Lake explained. “We have incredible brands in our extended-stay portfolio, really across the enterprise. But we didn’t have an offering really going after that true midscale extended-stay traveler. So think guests staying 10-plus nights, often 30, 60, 90-plus in our hotels. We wanted to come to market with an offering that really gave them the consistency and the quality of a Hilton brand at a new price point for us. So we’re going after a new guest, a new consumer.”
In addition to appealing to a new type of guest, LivSmart Studios also has a distinct drawing power in the extended-stay section. Lake explained that owners know that it will attract new guests to Hilton while providing an option for those seeking long-stay accommodations. As a result, LivSmart Studios has quickly built up momentum, and Lake said that Hilton is already confident that it can be the company’s “next mega brand,” as the company has its sights set on the future.
“Our goals are to get 1,000 hotels open in the next 10-12 years,” Lake said. “This is a brand that’s created at a price point that’s a little lower than our Home2 brand, and there’s markets all across the United States and in Canada who benefit from having this product in the market. This product can literally go anywhere in the United States and Canada right now. There are thoughts about international expansion in the future beyond those two countries. The momentum for the brand from a development perspective is very strong, [it] continues to be very strong, and we’re approving new deals every single week. We’re well on track to hit our development goals and make this the next mega brand for Hilton.”
Seeing the brand grow along the way has been a rewarding process for Lake, as he described how it was fascinating to walk on the Kokomo property for the first time after spending years working on developing the concept and putting it to market. He called it a “career-defining moment” and noted that it was significant for Hilton as well, given the extensive journey so far.
He continued, “I had a sort of little-kid moment where you’re so excited to see something that you’ve built. But seeing it come to life in the way that we envisioned it, both in the physical product, but also in where the hotels are coming to life in the market. So, for example, Kokomo is built very near where a new Samsung plant, a new Chrysler/Fiat, are coming into the market. So, when we were envisioning the brand, the guests staying in the hotel, we really saw the construction projects, the long-term projects, things like that, being a home for these guests and creating a product that would be a home for these guests. The same thing’s true in Tullahoma [LivSmart Studios’ other location that is opening in 2025 and accepting reservations for July 23]. There are many demand drivers there that are similar, but it’s also very close to a hospital. One of the things we talked quite a bit about during the creation of the brand was, could we provide a product that creates a home for 30-, 60-, 90-day guests that may be working in healthcare, for example? So, it’s nice seeing it come to life in that way.”
Lake then noted that the strength of the Homewood Suites and Home2 Suites brands during the pandemic showed Hilton that there was an opportunity to create a new brand at a more attainable price point. Hilton showcased its resilience during this down period, and Lake said that the extended-stay segment remains secure, regardless of what’s happening in the economic landscape. For this reason, he made it clear that Hilton is confident that LivSmart Studios, and the company as a whole, is set up for “continued success this year and in the years to come.”
With LivSmart Studios’ first two properties opening in 2025, two more on the horizon, and many others in the pipeline, the brand is positioned to continue gaining momentum in the extended-stay space and enable Hilton to broaden the scope of the consumers it can reach.
