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# Untitled
- URL: https://www.smdp.com/063005-story-20050630/
- Published: 2005-06-30T15:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-23T07:21:12.000Z
- Author: Guest Author
- Tags: Business, Santa Monica, #archive-import

*By Daily Press staff*

Microtel Inns & Suites, the nation’s fastest growing, new construction hotel brand in the economy segment, is targeting California for expansion.

Company plans call for 50 new local hotels by 2010, employing more than 750 area residents. There are currently five open locations in California, with more than 30 in various stages of new development. As the No. 1 travel destination in the United States, California annually generates more than $75 billion in direct travel spending into the economy, according to the California Lodging Industry Association.

Microtel was ranked No. 1 in the economy hotel segment by J.D. Power and Associates Hotel Guest Satisfaction Study for 2002, 2003 and 2004, and has received high marks in other prominent industry studies conducted by D.K. Shifflet & Associates, Business Travel News, and Entrepreneur Magazine, hotel officals say.

According to Pat Ford, president of Lodging Econometrics, the industry authority for hotel real estate, the lodging industry is now in an early recovery stage and has seen 22 consecutive months of robust operating improvements. That development activity is boosting investor confidence and solid expansion, particularly throughout California.

“The hotel industry is healthier and more profitable than it has been in years,” said Manu Naran, vice president franchise sales and development. “Our track record in markets with similar demographics, and the growing consumer demand for contemporary, high quality hotels at an affordable price makes Microtel the ideal fit for California.”

*Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on June 30, 2005.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/063005.pdf?ref=smdp.com)