Marriott debuts new brand in Fort Myers

Marriott International opened a new studio only extended stay hotel in Fort Myers on June 5.

And it’s not only new for the city. This is the chain’s first ever StudioRes branded hotel, a concept announced about two years ago.

The 124-room hotel is at 9251 Hilsman Lane just off of the Alico Road exit of Interstate 75.

Marriott says the property is geared toward “the modern, long-term traveler” with studios that have one or two beds, a lounging area, a kitchen with a stovetop, microwave and a full-sized refrigerator. There is also an outdoor patio and fitness center along with workspaces, self-service food offerings, weekly housekeeping and laundry facilities.

The StudioRes brand was conceived with a blue-collar client base in mind, people staying at least 20 nights, from traveling nurses to construction workers. Multiple Marriott executives, at a groundbreaking for the hotel in January 2024, said this is an untapped market for the company.

While it has a few brands in the extended stay sector — Residence Inn and Marriott Executive Apartments — it didn’t have any lower-cost options, in the $80 or $100 a night range.

On its website June 9, room rates for the month were $107 per night Sundays through Thursdays and $113 per night on Fridays and Saturdays.

Fueling the growth for StudioRes, the suburban Washington D.C. hotel company says in a statement, is “a pioneering, fast-to-market construction prototype.” That includes offering developers a bundled fee model, making it Marriott’s most affordable cost-per-key product to develop and build. Marriott calls the model a “turnkey opportunity.”

The Fort Myers hotel was developed by North Carolina-based Concord Hospitality and the California real estate investment firm Whitman Peterson.

Lee County records show the firms paid $1.7 million for the property in 2023.