🠈 Motel 6 🠊

Motel 6

Motel 6 is a chain of budget hotels with over 1400 locations world wide. Studio 6 is a chain with rooms designed for extended stay. The chain is popular and it is wise to reserve a room online before hitting the road.

Note Studio 6 will rent rooms for short stays and Motel 6 allows long stays. I book at whatever hotel is most convenient.

The chain was founded in 1962 by William Becker and Paul Greene who wanted to design affordable hotels for budget travelers. The first hotel was in Santa Barbara, Ca. The rooms originally let for $6 per night. Unfortunately, they've raised rates to keep up with inflation.

The concept of a budget motel caught on and other chains began aggressive expansion. To keep up with the competition, Motel 6 allowed itself to be acquired by a conglomerate called City Investing Company.

City created an interesting portfolio with insurance companies, savings and loans, city development firms, Rheems (which manufactures air conditioning systems), Motel 6 and the Red Barn restaurant chain.

In 1984, the share holders at City chose to liquidate the company. My guess is that the company realized that lawsuits directed at any of its subsidiaries could affect the other companies.

KKR acquired Motel 6 and eventually sold Accor which was a French brand of luxury hotels. The Blackstone Group acquired the chain in 2012.

Corporate Ownership

This section lists changes in corporate ownership.

1962: William Becker and Paul Greene built the first Motel 6 in Santa Barbara.
1968: City Investing Company acquired Motel 6 to accelerate expansion.
1984: Stock Holders voted to liquidate the conglomerate.
1985: The holding company City Investing Co Liquidating Trust sold all the company's assets.
1985: Kohlberg, Kravis, Roberts & Company (KKR) acquired Motel 6 for $881 million.
1986: Motel 6 hired Tom Bodett of NPR for its radio ads which used the tag line: "We'll leave the lights on for you."
1990: The French based company Accor acquired the chain. Accor owns luxury hotels.
1993: Accor launched a high-rise Motel 6 near the Los Angeles airport.
1999: Accor launched the Studio 6 chain of extended stay hotels with rooms optimized for longer stays.
2012: The Blackstone Group bought the chain for $1.9 billion.
2017: Activists began launching lawsuits against Motel 6. Apparently some of the motels reported illegal immigrants to authorities ... as is the custom for most international hotels.

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References:

Funding Universe - Motel 6 (Drawn 5/6/2019)

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