ATLANTA — Concord Hospitality celebrated a major milestone last year in its 40th anniversary, and the Raleigh, North Carolina-based hotel management, ownership and development company has its eyes set on another 40 years, starting with bolstering its footprint in the full-service and extended-stay segments.
Concord recently opened the Hilton Jacksonville at Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, Florida, and assumed management of the South Shore Harbour Resort & Conference Center in League City, Texas. Concord Hospitality has more than 140 hotels across 26 states and provinces.
It also opened the first StudioRes-branded hotel — Marriott's new midscale extended-stay brand — in Fort Myers, Florida, last year and opened a second in the Denver area in February.
Helene Okabe, senior vice president of business development at Concord, said in a video interview at the 2026 Hunter Conference she remains optimistic in the extended-stay segment.
"It's a segment that is very stable, and even though there has been an increase in supply in that segment, we feel like if you have the right product in the right market and are very disciplined about the segmentation strategy and making sure you capture that right length of stay and stick to the model, it can be very successful," she said.
Cost pressures have plagued hotel operations and development industrywide the past few years. Okabe said. It's challenging to get deals to pencil, but this high-cost environment is "just the world that we live in."
"We continue to look for ways to cut costs overall, in operations especially because if the [revenue per available room] lifts aren't going to be as high as we need them to keep up with inflation and our targets, then we really need to look for ways to get more efficient while not sacrificing that customer experience," she said.
For more from Concord Hospitality's Helene Okabe, watch the video or listen to the podcast embedded above.