Students from the Savannah College of Art & Design created two design schemes, including the Vista look, which is in a new property near Houston.

A unique partnership between the Savannah College of Art and Design and IHG’s Staybridge Suites brand has born fruit. The first hotel in the brand’s portfolio to open with designs created by interior design students at the school debuted last week near Houston. The 90-unit property in Stafford, TX developed by Clifton Hospitality includes the brand’s new Vista design scheme, one of two developed by a graduate-level class at the school.

According to Rob Radomski, IHG’s vice president, global brand management, for extended-stay brands, the highly competitive environment in the upscale extended-stay segment mandates “out-of-the-box designs, so we took an out-of-the-box approach.”

Using 20-something-year-old students to create new looks for the brand has another advantage, says Radomski: “Since they also represent the next generation of travelers, they were able to give us their personal concerns and experiences, which they used in their designs, but which also helps us serve this next generation of guests.”

Perhaps reflecting the sensibilities of their generation, the students’ designs include a healthy dose of sustainability with much of the ff&e chosen for the suites made from green components. Modular carpet tiles are 100-percent recyclable and, as Radomski points out, reduce waste. “It’s a much more efficient floor covering application,” he says. “Unlike traditional carpeting, there is less cutting required so less product winds up in landfills. And with improvements in stain proofing and color fasting technology, replacement tiles can be installed to match the existing ones.”

The Spice design scheme is warmer and more traditional than Vista.

Other green design touches include kitchen countertops and bathroom vanities made of low-maintenance quartz and walls covered in low-VOC paint. Many of the fabrics are dyed and printed in a process that doesn’t require water, meaning leftover chemicals won’t be flushed into the environment.

The design process started in early 2009 when the SCAD class spent an entire quarter studying the brand and developing design concepts. The students stayed at several Staybridges, interviewed guests and talked to housekeeping and maintenance personnel to understand how to make the designs more efficient. At the end of the class, the students presented their concepts to IHG executives and some franchisees. That summer, IHG hired two of the students to help bring the concepts to life. They assisted in-house designers and procurement specialists in selecting final vendors and materials for the designs.

The Vista design look, which was adopted by the Houston property, uses light, cool colors, says Radomski, while the other scheme, Spice is “a bit warmer and more traditional.

“We call both looks refreshingly modern but not over-the-top contemporary,” he says. “Both of them are warm, residential and comfortable, which are the three iconic words we use as a basis for all of our interior designs.”

Staybridge Suites’ owners and developers will be able to use the two new looks as well as two existing design schemes that were updated in the last six months. Radomski says most new hotels in the brand pipeline are choosing one of the two new designs, and the developer of an upcoming Staybridge in Amarillo, TX apparently couldn’t decide, since he specified several floors each of Vista and Spice.

There are 106 properties in Staybridge Suites’ Americas pipeline, with eight more under development overseas. The chain has five properties in Europe and the Middle East—Liverpool and Newcastle, U.K., Cairo, Abu Dhabi and St. Petersburg, Russia. Next overseas property to open will be in Beirut, followed by a combination Holiday Inn/Staybridge Suites in Stratford, England near the Olympic stadium for the 2012 games.