How to Succeed as a Hotel Chain: Be 'Rigorously OK'

Hampton Inn has become an unexpected juggernaut of sorts in the hotel industry. An in-depth look at Bloomberg ticks off the numbers: 350,000 rooms in 43 countries, and nearly 90 million "room nights" sold last year, a few million ahead of nearest competitor Holiday Inn Express. But the more interesting part of the story by Patrick Clark focuses on how Hampton Inn has risen to dominate the landscape. In short, it's by being "rigorously OK," as the headline puts it. The chain, for example, started a trend of offering free hot breakfasts, including easy-to-make waffles. It costs Hampton about $5 per room to put out the breakfast spread but, to a family of four, it feels more like a $50 savings. And how are those waffles?

"With all due respect, they're not great," writes Clark. "Nor is the coffee or the orange juice, the bananas or the convection-oven eggs. What all these things are, crucially, is free to lodgers." On that front, a room won't break the bank, especially relative to rivals—figure about $125 a night. "Sure, it's cookie cutter, just OK, decidedly average," writes Clark. "But US travelers see the brand as dependable, and many other people around the world have come to view it as a cultural signifier, representing the luxury of reliability, at a price they too can afford."

The brand got its start in 1984 as a budget offshoot of Holiday Inn, and Hampton ditched bells and whistles like bellhops and room service to focus on fundamentals—easy light switches, curved shower rods, and alarm clocks that don't require a PhD (the company holds a patent on the latter). Hilton bought the brand in 1999 and turned it into a franchise machine. It's now not only the company's biggest moneymaker but, according to Clark, "the reigning purveyor of American Mid." Read the full story.