Parking a sleigh for a lengthy stay

This will rock your sleigh: Santa Claus is a business traveler.

I’m not talking about the thousands of air miles he logs flying from the North Pole behind his eight reindeer on Dec 24. I’m talking about the hundreds of shopping-mall Santas who have already started traveling across the nation for their work and often make themselves at home at extended-stay hotels.

The Santas join a growing number of business travelers who find themselves away from home for extended periods, including traveling nurses, professional athletes, information technology consultants from foreign countries and traveling companies of Broadway shows.

This breed of business traveler, who stays in one place for weeks or even months at a time, has helped spur growth in the extended-stay hotels market.

These hotels are adding rooms at 10 times the rate of the overall hotel industry, according to a report from the Highland Group, an Atlanta-based hotel investment advisory firm.

Demand for extended-stay hotels was up 5.1% in the second quarter of 2006 over the same period in 2005, according to Smith Travel Research. Demand for all hotels was up 1.6% for the same period.

Santas like these hotels because they are often away from home for as many as 40 days at a stretch, said Tim Connaghan of Riverside, executive director of the Amalgamated Order of Real Bearded Santas.

“We do all of our work in a one-month period,” he said.

Extended-stay hotels occupy the market niche between a regular nightly hotel or motel and a corporate apartment.

Unlike typical hotel accommodations, the rooms in an extended-stay hotel are equipped with a kitchenette complete with cooking and eating utensils, a refrigerator and a dining table.

Unlike a corporate apartment, no lease is required, and an extended-stay hotel can be rented for as little as one night. Generally, the more nights a traveler spends, the lower the nightly rate.

There were 264,664 extended-stay rooms in the U.S. at the end of the second quarter of 2006, according to the Highland Group.

Recently, I visited an Extended Stay America hotel in Northridge at the invitation of the parent company. Extended Stay Hotels Inc. of Spartanburg, S.C., has more than 680 hotels and 75,000 rooms in 44 states and Canada, including 45 hotels in Southern California. It is one of the nation’s largest extended-stay hoteliers.

Rates at the Northridge property start at $100 a night for a queen bedroom, the most popular type room, and drop to $90 a night for weekly stays and $80 for monthly stays.

The hotel opened in July 2005 with 117 rooms. A room I saw with a queen-size bed was attractively decorated and spacious-feeling -- even at 300 square feet. It includes a kitchenette, which comes equipped with a stove top and a microwave oven.

The kitchen, dining and working area and bed -- although all in one room -- did not appear crowded. The hotel also has rooms with double beds and king-size beds, including one 540-square-foot apartment with a large sitting area.

Prices at the chain’s other hotels are typically lower than at its Northridge property, in the $50-to-$70-a-night range depending on the location, said Tim Groves, executive vice president of sales and marketing for Extended Stay Hotels and one of my tour guides.

The chain is considered in the mid-price range, with rent of $300 to $600 a week, according to the Highland Group. Competitors include Candlewood Suites and TownePlace Suites.

At the economy end are brands such as Budget Suites and Value Place, which rent for less than $300 a week, and in the upscale category are properties from Hyatt Summerfield Suites and Homewood Suites by Hilton for more than $600 a week.

Amenities for the long-stay customer include wireless high-speed Internet at many properties. At Extended Stay Hotels it is available for a one-time fee of $5, regardless of the length of stay, which is about 20 nights on average, Groves said.

Erin Felkey of Colorado Springs, Colo., is a traveling nurse who works for San Diego-based Nurse Choice. She was on a two-month assignment at Northridge Hospital Medical Center when I found her washing clothes in the hotel’s 24-hour coin laundry room. It is a convenience of the extended-stay hotel that she appreciated having close at hand.

Hotel customers are often looking for a homey feel.

“We try to give them accommodations that are similar to an apartment,” said Mike Bordeleau, president of Chatsworth-based AmuseMatte, which this year will provide Santas to 50 shopping malls in 11 states.

About half his Santas will be put up at extended-stay hotels; the others are close to home or will travel in fifth-wheel trailers. Many will bring their wives. “They help take care of Santa’s needs, like cooking and fluffing his beard,” Bordeleau said.

The ability to cook in a room is important, and not just for Mrs. Claus. Overseas travelers from Asia, for example, might have trouble finding foods that they enjoy at nearby restaurants. Depending on the type of travelers, Extended Stay will try to accommodate cultural needs, including adding rice cookers to the kitchen.

But what about cookies and milk for Santa?

In all his travels as Santa, Connaghan has never had the traditional Santa meal left out for him at a hotel, extended stay or otherwise. “But,” he said, “they’ve left me giant chocolate Santas.”

james.gilden@latimes.com