By David Eisen From Hotel Management

Limited-service is hitting the islands. Grand Cayman, known for its high-end resorts and hotels, will soon have some down-scale product via a new brand from a local investment group.

Howard Hospitality Group (HHG), a Grand Cayman-based international hotel investor, developer and operator, has announced the launch of Locale, which the company is calling “an innovative new limited-service hotel brand that redefines traditional extended-stay conventions and appeals to the millennial mindset.”

This is not a novel concept but one that has not to now especially reared its head on an island like tony Grand Cayman. Locale’s tagline takes a page from Airbnb’s playbook: “Live Local. Stay Locale.”

According to a company release, the brand’s first hotel is currently under development on Grand Cayman along the Seven Mile Beach corridor, near local businesses and the Camana Bay shopping and dining area. The hotel is projected to open in September 2017.

The brand’s marketing speak sounds eerily similar to what one would find coming from the likes of WeWorks and the aforementioed Airbnb.

“When it opens, Locale Grand Cayman will feature smartly designed ‘live and work’ guestrooms and lofts catering to the business travel set frequenting Grand Cayman today; inclusive public spaces with trendsetting technologies; a variety of retail shops; and a roster of local partnerships to connect guests with memorable, immersive travel experiences. Dynamic F&B concepts will include Bonfire, an urban Italian kitchen, and Swirl, an artisanal Columbian gelato shop.”

“We are thrilled to officially announce the launch of our new brand, Locale, which lets us continue growing our footprint in Grand Cayman while introducing something truly fresh and new to the market here,” said Howard Sitzer, the CEO of HHG. “Grand Cayman is a hotbed of international tourists today, especially millennial business travelers frequenting the island for combined ‘bleisure’ trips.  We have begun crafting a uniquely modern hotel brand we feel will be groundbreaking and inspirational.”

While no renderings of the hotel spaces have been made available, Sitzer says the hotel is about “unique out-of-the-box experiences,” and that more Locales could come. More information about the brand can be found on the website of Brand Collective, which appears to be working on the hotel’s branding with HHG.

“We believe there is a definite appetite amongst frequent travelers today to be part of a cultural shift—a movement, really—creating the hotel brand of the future,” said Sitzer. “Based on the feedback we’ve already received from core target groups, we believe the future is incredibly bright for a model like Locale and we are excited to see where this takes us.”

According to HHG’s website, the company also owns and operates the Margaritaville Beach Resort Grand Cayman.

IMAGE: HHG’s new Locale brand is headed for Seven Mile Beach on Grand Cayman. Photo credit: Jan-Schneckenhaus//Getty Images

For more on this story go to: http://www.hotelmanagement.net/openings/gand-cayman-based-hhg-launches-its-new-extended-stay-hotel-brand-locale