La Quinta Inns & Suites
 | |
| Public | |
| Traded as | NYSE: LQ |
| Industry | Hotels |
| Founded | 1968 |
| Headquarters | Irving, Texas |
Number of locations | 800+ |
Area served | North America |
| Owner | The Blackstone Group |
Number of employees | 9,000 |
| Slogan | Wake up on the bright side(R) |
| Website | La Quinta Inns & Suites |
La Quinta Inns & Suites (Spanish: La Quinta, "the Villa") is a chain of limited service hotels in the United States, Canada and Mexico. La Quinta Holdings Inc first sold shares to the public in April, 2014, and is listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol LQ.[1] La Quinta has headquarters in Irving, Texas.
Before the 2014 stock offering, all La Quinta properties were owned or franchised by the company's subsidiary La Quinta Properties, Inc., a real estate investment trust (REIT), which leased the properties back to the parent company. The company owns and operates over 800 properties and franchises approximately 295 under various brand names.
Most La Quinta Inns are built with Spanish or Southern architecture. La Quinta is Spanish for "The Villa," but it can also mean "the country place."[2]
History
Real estate entrepreneur Sam Barshop (1929–2013) and his brother Phil (1935–1998) opened the first La Quinta in San Antonio, Texas, in 1968, across the street from the site of HemisFair '68 World's Fair.[2] The company's headquarters remained in San Antonio until 1999, when they relocated to Irving, Texas, a suburb of Dallas.
LQ Corporation, parent company to subsidiary LQ Properties, Inc, announced on 9 November 2005 that it had agreed to be acquired by the private-equity firm Blackstone Group for $3.4 billion in cash and debt. The merger closed on 25 January 2006.
Each room has a television, iron, hair dryer, coffee maker, and complimentary breakfast, and the hotel has an on-site gym or complimentary passes to a local gym. Most La Quinta Inns are near restaurants and shopping malls.
Room types and setting vary by hotel. Company-owned hotels are standardized. Franchised hotels vary more.
The hotel chain advertises heavily on television with a campaign that targets business travelers. The advertisements feature La Quinta customers getting a restful night's sleep and going on to literally perform various figures of speech (in one a man sells ice to an Eskimo; another, a woman deals with an 800-pound gorilla in the room) the next day.
Headquarters
LQ Management LLC, the owner, has its headquarters in the Las Colinas area of Irving, Texas, near Dallas.[3][4] Originally La Quinta had its headquarters in San Antonio. In 1999 the company announced it was going to move, transferring over 100 jobs from city to city. The company cited the lack of nonstop flights from San Antonio International Airport as a reason for moving.[4] The company wished to have its headquarters near Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport, a large airport. The company kept around 300 employees who worked in accounting, information systems, and reservations in San Antonio.[5]
References
- ↑ La Quinta Holdings Inc 10K>http://ir.lq.com/Cache/28822223.PDF?Y=&o=PDF&D=&fid=28822223&T=&osid=9&iid=4424891
- 1 2 La Quinta Inns, Inc., History
- ↑ "Fact Sheet." La Quinta Inns & Suites. Retrieved on March 24, 2010.
- 1 2 "La Quinta moving to Dallas suburb Hotelier cites S.A.'s lack of nonstop flights." San Antonio Express-News. March 17, 1999. Business Page 1E. Retrieved on March 24, 2010.
- ↑ "La Quinta to move office to Las Colinas The hotel chain's officials say the company needs to be near a major airport." Fort Worth Star-Telegram. March 18, 1999. 12 Business. Retrieved on March 24, 2010.
External links
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