BWH Hotels has planted its @HOME extended-stay flag in Georgia for the first time, opening a property in McDonough that the company calls the brand's debut location in the state.

The McDonough opening sits inside a three-item lodging brief worth flagging this week. Highgate, the hospitality management and investment company, just named a new chief marketing officer. And a Ritz-Carlton Residences project in Florida has topped out — meaning the structural frame has hit full height, and the next phase turns to interiors and the buyer push.

Inside the @HOME debut

BWH Hotels, the parent of Best Western, runs @HOME as its extended-stay play, designed for travelers who want kitchen-equipped rooms for multi-night stays without paying full-service rates. McDonough, a Henry County suburb about 30 miles south of Atlanta, sits on I-75 — a corridor thick with distribution centers, weekend sports tourism, and the midweek contractor demand that extended-stay operators rely on.

A first-in-state opening signals that BWH is willing to convert existing Best Western buildings into the @HOME product rather than build from scratch, which keeps development costs down. It also puts BWH on the same shelf as extended-stay incumbents that have spent the past three years gaining share while the broader U.S. hotel industry chased group business back.

What does 'topped out' signal in Florida?

Marriott's Ritz-Carlton Residences are the brand's for-sale condominium product, marketed to individual owners who can place their unit into the hotel's rental program when they are not using it. The structure gives Marriott fee income without the capital weight of a company-owned hotel, and it keeps the brand in markets where luxury demand runs deeper than full-service hotel economics can capture alone. Florida remains a focal market for the product, and a topping-out milestone shifts the conversation from construction pace to sales velocity.

The Highgate marketing seat

Highgate just named a new chief marketing officer. The company operates or holds interests in a portfolio that spans the major chains — Marriott, Hilton, Hyatt, and IHG — with a tilt toward full-service and lifestyle flags. The marketing job at a management company that size shapes how individual properties position against competitors in markets that often stack two or three of the same brand within a short drive.

Expect the new CMO's fingerprints on brand standards, digital booking funnels, and group business development — the levers that move revenue per available room across a portfolio this large.

What it means for owners

Three things. A new conversion path into extended-stay through BWH's @HOME line. A new marketing lead at one of the country's largest third-party operators, which tends to ripple into brand standards across the chains Highgate touches. And a Ritz-Carlton Residences project closer to delivering keys, which will test buyer appetite for branded luxury condos in a softening Florida market.

Watch the @HOME pipeline through year-end, the Ritz-Carlton Residences sales launch, and how Highgate's new CMO reshapes the company's owner-facing pitch as RevPAR growth cools from its post-pandemic peak.