Industry Hotels Number of locations 2,392 as of May 2014 Founder Ron Rivett | Predecessor Main Street inn Owner Wyndham Worldwide Founded 1972 | |
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Type Subsidiary of Wyndham Worldwide Area served United States, Canada, China, Brasil Headquarters Parsippany-Troy Hills, New Jersey, United States Parent organizations Wyndham Hotels & Resorts, Wyndham Hotel Group LLC Subsidiaries Super 8 Muscatine, Super 8 of Fort Madison, Super 8 Motels Texas Ltd Profiles | ||
Super 8 Worldwide, formerly Super 8 Motels, is the world's largest budget hotel chain, with hotels in the United States, Canada and China. The company is a subsidiary of Wyndham Worldwide, formerly a part of Cendant.
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History
Super 8 has its roots in a marketing association for individually owned hotels that were already in business started by Dennis Brown in 1972. After one year, in 1973 Ron Rivett and Dennis Brown canceled the association and created their new Super 8 Motel corporation with each of them owning 50% of the stock in the new company. The original room rate was US$8.88, hence the numeric brand name. The first Super 8, with 60 rooms, opened in Aberdeen, South Dakota in 1974. The first Super 8 was built near a Holiday Inn with just some drawings made by Rivett as blueprints. The stucco exterior with an English Tudor style was inspired by Rivett's father-in-law, who was a stuccoer; the English Tudor style and placing of Super 8's near Holiday Inns was an established procedure for setting up new Super 8's for years to come. The first franchise was sold in 1976 and established in Gillette, Wyoming. By 1978, Super 8 expanded from the state of New York to the state of Washington and was no longer just a Midwestern company.
Super 8 had a frequent traveler program, the VIP club, which was introduced in 1976; it grew to over 7.6 million members. The program was purchased by Hospitality Franchise Systems, which later became Cendant, in 1993. The VIP program was dissolved in December 2003 and replaced with the TripRewards program, which was renamed Wyndham Rewards in 2008.
In 1981, groundbreaking for the 100th Super 8 Location began in Aberdeen, South Dakota; the birthplace of Super 8. In 1993, Super 8 opened its 1,000th property in Mount Vernon, Ohio. By 2001, Super 8 Motels had more than 2,000 motels worldwide.
As of May 2014, the company website listed 2,392 hotels worldwide. As per the 2006 company reports, Super 8 had 2,039 properties open with 123,982 rooms in the US and Canada.
Super 8 today
Super 8 now offers guests standard amenities at every motel, including a continental breakfast, wireless Internet access, hair dryers, coffee makers, and a lobby area. Some locations have pools and meeting rooms. A few of the larger Super 8's have restaurants.