Hilton is launching a new hotel brand, focusing on budget travelers looking to spend $75 to $90 a night. The new brand, named Tru, aims to compete with economy and midscale chains.
Hilton is launching the chain at a large conference for hotel investors — The Americas Lodging and Investment Summit — with 102 locations already signed and an addition 30 deals in various stages of negotiations and approval. The hotels will be in a mix of markets including urban, airport and suburban. The areas include Atlanta, Dallas, Houston, Chicago, Denver, Portland, Oregon, Charlotte, North Carolina, San Antonio, Texas and Nashville, Tennessee.
The typical hotel will have 98 rooms and sit on 1.5 acres of land. It will cost $84,000 a room to build, excluding land. Compare that to Hilton's Hampton Inn brand. Those typically have 130 rooms, sit on 2 acres and cost $110,000 a room to build.
Rooms themselves will be different. Don't expect a closet. Instead there will be an open space with hangers and hooks on the wall. And the traditional hotel desk is replaced with a chair that includes a spot for a tiny laptop or tablet. The platform bed doesn't have a box spring and there's a space-saving bench that rests over the heating and air conditioning unit.
The brand is aimed at younger travelers on a budget.
