Super 8 by Wyndham, commonly known as Super 8, is an American hotel brand, being the world's largest budget hotel chain with over 2,600 locations worldwide. The chain is a subsidiary of Wyndham Hotels and Resorts. The original room cost was $8.88 per night. As of December 2022, the brand website listed 2,691 hotels worldwide.

History

Launch

Ron Rivett and Dennis Brown created the new Super 8 Motel corporation with each of them owning 50% of the stock in the new company. The original room rate was US$8.88 (equivalent to $50.07 in 2021), hence the numeric brand name. The first Super 8, with 60 rooms, opened in

Aberdeen, South Dakota Aberdeen () is a city in and the county seat of Brown County, South Dakota, United States. As of the 2020 census, its population was 28,495. making it the third-most populous city in the state. Aberdeen is home of Northern State University. ...

, in 1974, built near a

Holiday Inn Holiday Inn by IHG is a chain of hotels based in Atlanta, Georgia and a brand of IHG Hotels & Resorts. The chain was founded in 1952 by Kemmons Wilson (1913–2003), who opened the first location in Memphis, Tennessee. The chain was a division ...

with just some drawings made by Rivett as blueprints. The stucco exterior with an English Tudor style was inspired by Rivett's father-in-law, who was a stuccoer; the English Tudor style and placing of Super 8's near Holiday Inns was an established procedure for setting up new Super 8's for years to come. Dennis Brown died in 1988. The 1,000 locations of the Super 8 chain were sold to Hospitality Franchise Systems, which became

Cendant Cendant Corporation was an American provider of business and consumer services, primarily within the real estate and travel industries. In 2005 and 2006, it broke up and spun off or sold its constituent businesses. Although it was based in New Yo ...

in 1993. Super 8 had a frequent traveler program, the VIP club, which was introduced in 1976; it grew to over 7.6 million members. The VIP program was dissolved in December 2003 and replaced with the TripRewards program, which was renamed Wyndham Rewards in 2008.

Development

The first franchise was sold in 1976 and established in

Gillette, Wyoming Gillette (, ''Help:Pronunciation respelling key, jih-LET'') is a city in and the county seat of Campbell County, Wyoming, United States. The town was founded in 1891 as a major railway town on the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad. The po ...

. By 1978, Super 8 expanded from the state of

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

to the state of Washington and was no longer just a Midwestern company. In 1981, groundbreaking for the 100th Super 8 Location began in Aberdeen, South Dakota; the birthplace of Super 8.About Super 8
/ref> In 1993, Super 8 opened its 1,000th property in

Mount Vernon, Ohio Mount Vernon is a city in Knox County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. It is located along the Kokosing River, northeast of Columbus, Ohio, Columbus. The population was 16,956 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. History Th ...

. By 2001, Super 8 Motels had more than 2,000 motels worldwide. Super 8 Worldwide entered the China market in 2004 by opening a Super 8 hotel ( Chinese: 速8酒店 Su Ba Jiudian) in

Beijing Beijing, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Peking, is the capital city of China. With more than 22 million residents, it is the world's List of national capitals by population, most populous national capital city as well as ...

. By 2011, there were 680 Super 8 hotels mainly located in major cities of China. In 2010, Super 8 replaced the beddings and redesigned the bathrooms. In May 2013, Super 8 opened its first location in Turkey, in

Istanbul Istanbul is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, constituting the country's economic, cultural, and historical heart. With Demographics of Istanbul, a population over , it is home to 18% of the Demographics ...

. In May 2014, Super 8 opened its first location in the Middle East, in

Riyadh Riyadh is the capital and largest city of Saudi Arabia. It is also the capital of the Riyadh Province and the centre of the Riyadh Governorate. Located on the eastern bank of Wadi Hanifa, the current form of the metropolis largely emerged in th ...

. Super 8 came to the UK when it opened at Chester Motorway Services in 2023 after being rebranded from

Days Inn Days Inn is a hotel chain headquartered in the United States. It was founded in 1970 by Cecil B. Day, who opened the first location in Tybee Island, Georgia. The brand is now a part of the Wyndham Hotels and Resorts, headquartered in Parsippany ...

, another one of Wyndham's hotel brands In April 2016, Super 8 opened its first German location in

Munich Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...

2016 brand overhaul

In May 2016, Super 8 remodelled its 1,800 rooms in the US and Canada and organized a big giveaway of old art and furniture. The brand jokingly organized an exhibition in New York called ''When the Art Comes Down: Works from the Super 8 Collection'' and featuring 100 pieces of their "not-so-super art", an event organized to communicate on the brand's design overhaul. In December 2016, another edition of the exhibition was organized in Miami. In November 2016, Super 8 launched a new promotion for US Army veterans which included a reserved parking area in all US and Canada locations. In May 2017, Super 8 launched a new marketing campaign that focused its targeting on

road trip A road trip, sometimes spelled roadtrip, is a long-distance Travel, journey traveled by a car or a motorcycle. History First road trips by automobile The world's first recorded long-distance road trip by the automobile took place in German Em ...

pers, followed by the introduction in October 2019 of Super 8's first shared room, the ROOM8, a concept developed for young road trippers. In March 2018, Super 8 launched a concept

Jeep Wrangler The Jeep Wrangler is a series of compact and mid-size four-wheel drive off-road SUVs manufactured by Jeep since 1986, and currently in its fourth generation. The Wrangler JL, the most recent generation, was unveiled in late 2017 and is produced ...

, the ROADM8, with body works and interiors reminiscent of the brand's redesigned hotels, and some unexpected features such as a coffee machine and a mini-fridge built in the central console of the back seats. In 2019, Wyndham unveiled the shared room type that seeks to make better use of larger, underutilized room types.

Amenities

The minimum standard Super 8 requires offering guests a complimentary breakfast item with beverages and free wireless Internet access. For a period, beginning in 2004, anyone that purchased a "''See You Along The Way''" coffee mug was entitled to free coffee, regardless if they stayed the night before or not, at any of the Super 8s.

References

External links

* {{Hotel chains Hospitality companies of the United States Franchises Motels in the United States Hotels established in 1974 1974 establishments in South Dakota Companies based in Morris County, New Jersey Companies based in South Dakota Wyndham brands