A Staybridge Suites franchisee operates a 24-hour, all-suite extended-stay hotel. The Hotel sells furnished guest suites and related lodging services; IHG-controlled reservation, loyalty, revenue-management and digital channels feed demand, while the franchisee’s management team fulfills the stay, employs the staff, maintains the property and reports operating data.
The franchisee controls daily hotel operations and employment, but must operate inside the Staybridge Suites Brand System. Holiday and SCH control the Standards, reservation ecosystem, approved technology, digital marketing, loyalty participation, quality programs and many purchasing specifications; designated vendors supply critical property technology, payments, connectivity, uniforms, beverages and guest-room inputs.
What does a Staybridge Suites Hotel sell, and who buys it?
The core transaction is a paid stay in a residential-style guest suite, supported by standardized food, connectivity, laundry, fitness, convenience-retail and guest-service components designed for extended-stay and shorter-stay demand.
The 2026 FDD defines Staybridge Suites as an upscale extended-stay hotel for business travelers, relocating guests and vacationers. Required room types include studios and one-bedroom suites; two-bedroom, two-bath suites are optional. Every suite has a full kitchen. The official Staybridge Suites guest experience also describes living space, work areas and sleeper sofas.
Included stay components
Complimentary daily breakfast, The Social evening reception three nights per week, guest internet, 24-hour business and fitness access, complimentary laundry, outdoor seating and grills are Brand System components. A pool may be property-specific, and Attachment A records each Hotel’s approved facilities.
Additional hotel sales
The Pantry convenience store sells easy-to-prepare food, snacks and travel items. A Hotel may also provide meeting space, other food-and-beverage service or concessions when approved and listed for the property. Item 16 permits sales to any customers for guest suites and related hotel goods or services, but prohibits using the Hotel to promote a competing business.
The licensing pathways—New Development, Conversion, Change of Ownership and Re-Licensing—change the development agreement, term and property-improvement obligations, not the central post-opening customer promise. Property-specific facilities may differ, but the Hotel remains one approved location operating under the same Staybridge Suites Brand System and Standards.
How does a reservation become a completed stay?
Demand enters through IHG-managed and hotel-level channels, inventory is controlled through the approved reservation and revenue stack, hotel employees deliver the stay, and payment, guest feedback and operating data return through required systems.
Demand and reservation
- Actor
- IHG distribution channels, Global Sales, travel intermediaries and the Hotel sales team.
- Action
- Generate and accept individual, negotiated, group and loyalty reservations.
- System or asset
- IHG.com, IHG One Rewards app, Voice, GDS, OTA, Direct Connect, Global Sales Office and hotel-direct channels.
- Output
- A reservation enters the Reservation System and Cloud PMS.
Rate and inventory control
- Actor
- Hotel management, the revenue function and SCH’s IHG Revenue Services where required.
- Action
- Review demand, forecast occupancy and set room-rate and inventory controls.
- System or asset
- IHG Concerto, Revenue Analytics N2Pricing, the Reservation System and Cloud PMS.
- Output
- Sellable rates and room inventory update across direct and indirect channels.
Pre-arrival and check-in
- Actor
- Front-office staff and, for digital functions, the IHG app and IHG Concerto.
- Action
- Confirm the booking, prepare the suite, authenticate the guest, assign inventory and issue access.
- System or asset
- Cloud PMS, approved keycard and door-lock system, IHG Connect and required workstations.
- Output
- The guest is checked in with an active folio and secure room access.
Stay fulfillment
- Actor
- Front office, housekeeping, engineering, food-and-beverage and supervisory staff employed by the franchisee or management company.
- Action
- Deliver suite readiness, breakfast, The Social, laundry, internet, maintenance, safety and guest-request service.
- System or asset
- Brand-standard suites, approved supplies, Employee Safety Devices and optional Quore workflow automation.
- Output
- The Hotel fulfills the lodging promise and records service status.
Payment and service recovery
- Actor
- Front-office staff, Hotel management, SCH payment services and IHG Guest Relations.
- Action
- Settle the folio, tokenize payment data, address in-stay complaints and route unresolved post-stay cases.
- System or asset
- NextGen Payments, FreedomPay, Fiserv merchant processing, IHG SmartPay and the PMS.
- Output
- A closed folio, payment record and documented guest-resolution outcome.
Reporting and repeat demand
- Actor
- Hotel accounting and management staff, Holiday, SCH and IHG One Rewards.
- Action
- Capture Operating Data, preserve records, submit monthly information, calculate system obligations and support loyalty follow-up.
- System or asset
- PMS, Reservation System, accounting records, IHG Merlin and loyalty systems.
- Output
- Auditable operating reports, updated guest history and inputs for future reservations.
Item 19 reports a 92.8% average “Enterprise Contribution” for 229 U.S. Mature Hotels in 2025. The defined sources include IHG.com and the app, Voice, GDS, OTA, Global Sales Office, Loyalty Direct and Direct Connect. This describes reservation-source concentration, not a forecast of revenue or owner earnings.
Must the owner personally run the Hotel?
No personal day-to-day participation is required, but the licensee must retain and exercise direct management control at all times unless Holiday approves another arrangement.
Holiday may require an approved management company, a qualified General Manager or a Director of Sales with specified experience. A required General Manager or Director of Sales must work exclusively for that Hotel, and a multi-hotel owner must have a separate qualified General Manager for each Hotel. Management agreements, leases of operating components and changes in key management can require prior written consent.
The franchisee or approved management company is the sole employer. It selects, pays, disciplines and terminates Hotel employees. Holiday does not supply a disclosed headcount or staffing ratio, but the License requires enough qualified people to staff all positions under the Standards. Required training can apply to the General Manager, sales, front office, housekeeping, engineering and food-and-beverage leaders, while Brand Service Training applies during employees’ first 30 days.
Franchisee or management company
Holiday and SCH
Designated third parties
Which suppliers and technology systems are mandatory?
The Hotel can select some vendors, but only inside Holiday and SCH specifications. Item 8 estimates that Standards and specifications affect 90%–95% of purchases and leases, and certain inputs must come from designated or approved sources.
Holiday may revise the Standards with at least 30 days’ written notice after its designated internal franchise committee considers advice from the IHG Owners Association. The License also permits Holiday or SCH to require immediate replacement of obsolete technology, access PMS and Reservation System data, inspect the Hotel and audit operating records.
What remains within the franchisee’s operating discretion?
The franchisee retains daily operational control, employment decisions and ultimate responsibility for rates and inventory, but those choices operate inside mandatory standards, systems, approval rights and distribution rules.
The franchisee must submit Operating Data and Guest Data in the required form by the third day of each month, preserve complete records for at least four years or the longer IHG retention period, and permit audits during the License term and for two years afterward. IHG may retrieve data automatically through centrally managed systems.
What does Item 20 show about the U.S. network?
The disclosed U.S. system expanded from 278 outlets at year-end 2023 to 297 at year-end 2025, while Item 20 reported no company-owned Staybridge Suites outlets in any of the three years.
The network added a net 5 outlets in 2023, 8 in 2024 and 11 in 2025; Item 20 also records 12 openings and one termination during 2025.
Source: 2026 Staybridge Suites FDD, Item 20, Table 1 and Table 3, pages 89–95. Item 20 excludes certain U.S.-government hotels; Table 3 notes that one outlet was affiliate-managed but owned by another party.
Which operating points require document-level confirmation?
The FDD defines the system, but several property-specific or internally inconsistent points should be resolved against the executed License, Attachment A, the Standards and ancillary agreements.
How should the Staybridge Suites operating model be understood?
The central customer mechanism is the sale of furnished suite stays—often to extended-stay business, relocation and leisure guests—through a reservation network in which IHG-managed channels account for a large share of disclosed Mature Hotel demand. The franchisee’s most important responsibility is to employ and direct the Hotel team so the 24-hour property consistently fulfills the Standards.
The strongest dependency is the Brand System: Holiday and SCH control reservation access, digital marketing, loyalty, approved technology, quality programs, data access and many supplier specifications. The key operating distinction is that the owner retains daily control and final rate responsibility but receives no normal exclusive territory. The largest unresolved issue is the property-specific combination of management conditions, facilities, supplier mandates and the conflicting FDD treatment of IHG Voice participation.