Just a month after opening its first property, Nylo Hotels has unveiled a less-expensive sister brand, XP by Nylo Hotels.
The brand was launched last month at the same time Nylo rolled out a franchising program, giving developers a less-expensive option at a time when credit is tighter, said CEO John Russell.
"That's the beauty of XP. There's a lot less debt to get," Russell said.
The new brand, which Russell said would cost about half the $22 million development price of a regular Nylo, "will be to Nylo what Marriott Courtyard is to Marriott," Russell said.
Nylo, which bills itself as the country's first new-build "loft-style" hotel, is one of a number of so-called lifestyle brands that have been launched over the last few years. It is unique in that so far it has only been developed in suburbs.
The chain's first hotel opened Dec. 18 in the sprawling Dallas suburb of Plano.
A second Nylo will open in July in Warwick, R.I., and a third is planned in Broomfield, Colo.
"All the gateway cities have loft accommodations, albeit conversions. Tertiary cities like Plano, like Broomfield -- they don't have anything like this, and they want it. Plano has 50 corporate headquarters within a three-mile radius," Russell said.
The hotels are all new builds done in brick and glass. And so far, Russell says, guests seem "wowed."
"It's doing very well. I look at the guest comments every day. A lot of them are really wowed. There are the 10-foot ceilings in every room. Most hotels don't have more than an 8-foot ceiling They are all red brick, glass and concrete so you get that loft feeling. There are no tubs. There are 38-inch, flat-screen televisions. We have free bottled water instead of nickel-and-diming you to death; a 24-hour game room, lobby, restaurant, bar all on one level; a 7,000- square-foot courtyard, pool, barbecue."
XP by Nylo also will be brick, with big glass walls, but it will be smaller, with just one meeting room and no swimming pool.
"And the price point will be $90 to $100 a night instead of $120 to $220," Russell said.
Russell announced the XP brand and franchise opportunities last month at the annual Americas Lodging Investment Summit in Los Angeles.
"We are partners with Lehman Brothers. The plan has always been that we would build five or six hotels ourselves, then grow the company through franchising," he said.
"Before we announced the franchising plan we really wanted to have one up so we are not pie in the sky, so we know this is how much it costs, this is how many people you need, so we can create the culture.
"By the end of 2010, we'd like to have 50 of these open or coming out of the ground."
To contact reporter Jeri Clausing, send e-mail to [email protected].