Carrollton, TX — The 58-year-old budget hospitality and lodging chain Motel 6 announced this week that it would rename itself given extraordinary inflation and economic pressures.
The current owners of the chain, the Blackstone Group, announced its name change late last week in what appeared to be a hasty press conference. The announcement took many by surprise in the industry, which hadn’t been expecting this sort of a drastic change in such an iconic brand.
“We’ve been watching the global economy heat up,” said Blackstone director of communications Stephanie Millbright reading from a prepared statement, “and the combination of political movements and nationalist policies are driving our costs up substantially. So we can no longer sustain the old Motel 6 branding and have decided to change our 56-year old name to Motel 7. As a result, customers should expect slight lodging price increases over the next two years as we make the transition.”
Economists and industry analysts are split on the legacy chain. However, all agree that it’s a bold and risky move for a well-established brand.
“I’m one of those people who thinks it’s a bad idea to reinvent oneself in this turbulent economy,” said George Mason University economist Bradford Smith. “The economy was overheating before Trump came on board, and now he’s thrown gasoline onto the fire. Just look at the bond market. That said, Motel 6 was an old brand and needed some refreshing. My only concern is whether Americans recognize Motel 7 as the old Motel 6. They can be pretty stubborn when it comes to brand permanence.”
According to Blackstone Group corporate, the transition from Motel 6 to Motel 7 should take about two years and cost the organization about 27 million dollars to complete the task.
