Extended Stay America CEO Sees 'Softness' – How He'd Handle a Mild Recession

Extended Stay America (ESA)'s utilitarian focus on long-stay guests may make it unusually well-prepared to weather a U.S. economic turndown if one should materialize.

"While, like the rest of the travel industry, we have experienced some softness in recent weeks, our fiscal year 2025 outlook still calls for steady occupancy — well above the industry average and our competitive set again this year," said Greg Juceam, ESA's President and CEO, in an interview Friday.

ESA's over 700 hotels across 45 states invite guests to settle for weeks or months and buy groceries to stock their kitchenettes.

Juceam said this business model could be resilient during a mild recession. But he didn't make any predictions about whether one was imminent.

On March 10, Delta Air Lines lowered its outlook for the first quarter (but not the year), and CEO Ed Bastian said his team saw a “pretty significant shift” in GDP sentiment in February. 

For the hotel sector, a key question is w