Red Roof Inn’s $120-million redesign is paying off with rise in bookings

Give the people what they want. That was the sentiment behind a $120-million redesign effort launched last year by Red Roof Inn at nearly 121 hotels across the country.

The hotel improvements were made based on comments the Columbus, Ohio, hotel chain received from thousands of guests staying in hotels in Texas, Georgia and Ohio.

Red Roof Inn replaced carpets with hardwood floors and Formica counter tops with granite to refresh guest rooms. Photo by Alistair McMillan.

And it appears that the upgrades have been a success.

The hotels that got the face lifts have seen a 10.6 percent increase in sales, compared with a 6 percent increase among all 350 hotels in the chain, according to Red Roof Inn.

Based on the earlier guest comments, the hotel chain replaced in-room carpeting with hardwood floors, swapped out Formica counter tops with granite and added outlets above the nightstand, among other improvements. Such upgrades have been made at Red Roof Inn hotels in San Diego, San Francisco and Sacramento.

Red Roof Inn President Andy Alexander said feedback from guests suggests that the granite countertops and the hardwood floors give the room a cleaner smell.

"If it smells cleaner, it probably is cleaner," he said.

(c)2012 Los Angeles Times. Distributed by MCT Information Services.