My Place Hotels CEO: The Economy Hotel of Yesteryear Is Dying

My Place Hotels CEO Ryan Rivett has a special reverence for classic economy hotels, especially the Super 8 brand, which his grandfather, Ron Rivett, co-founded in 1973. In fact, the Rivett family still owns and operates the first-ever Super 8 hotel in Aberdeen, South Dakota. Today, the Super 8 brand is owned by Wyndham Hotel Group. But if you were to ask Rivett what he thinks about the state of economy hotels today, his answer might surprise you, especially since he's spearheading his own independent midscale/economy extended stay brand, My Place Hotels. "As I look at the economy [accommodation] segments from the late 1970s, the 80s, and the mid-90s, I think the economy segment, in general, is really at the end of its lifecycle," Rivett said. "Certainly, it's been pushed down quite a ways from where it was. Most properties — not all — but most, are aged and not as well maintained and not as economically viable for guests as they once were." Not only that, but midscale and upper midscale hotels have also seen their quality deteriorate, he added. "Brands have seemingly taken intentional steps to push those products down a scale, or even re-flag within their parent company to make room for a new product that fits in with what's popular," Rivett said. All of this, he said, is partly what prompted him and his grandfather to consider launching a new brand that would take the "fundamentals of economy hotels" in terms of "efficiency" but do it in a way that's not what we traditionally would think of as necessarily economy or midscale. With My Place Hotels, Rivett hopes to redefine