hospitality

Extended Stay America Donates Rooms To Cancer Patients

Extended Stay America and the American Cancer Society are expanding their room donation program, called Hotel Keys of Hope.

More than doubling the previous contribution, the hotel brand is committing 100,000 rooms over the next two years, providing lodging support to a targeted 15,000 cancer patients. 

An estimated 1.6 million Americans will be diagnosed with some type of cancer this year, and thousands will travel away from home for treatment.

For cancer patients facing financial challenges, this program alleviates one of the largest barriers for treatment — lodging cost during treatment, says Gerry Lopez, chief executive officer, Extended Stay America.  Hotel Keys of Hope offers a comfortable suite with homelike amenities, the ability to have the comfort and support of family and even beloved pets.

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"Our goal is to come to work every day and create a stay that makes a difference. If we can help pay back, even a little bit, it makes our day, our month, our year," Lopez says in a release.

Extended Stay America provides free and deeply discounted hotel stays throughout the brand's 629 U.S. locations to cancer patients who face the financial challenges of receiving potentially lifesaving treatment away from home. Since launching nationwide in 2013, Extended Stay America has donated more than 45,000 room nights helping roughly 6,700 patients and their families save nearly $1.2 million in costs associated with traveling for necessary cancer treatments.

"The financial burden of paying for lodging while undergoing weeks or even months of cancer treatment can be unaffordable for many cancer patients,” says Gary Reedy, chief executive officer of the American Cancer Society. “Extended Stay America relieves that burden and enables patients to focus on what's important: receiving treatment and getting well."

Currently in the third year of collaboration, Extended Stay America continues to find more ways to align its partnership initiatives to further support the goals of the American Cancer Society.

In addition to room donations, Extended Stay America encourages hotel guests to provide hope, through its recently launched Hotel Keys of Hope program: “Leave a Key Help Save a Life.” Guests can participate by leaving their room keys in designated collection boxes located in their 629 hotel lobbies. For every key left in the collection box, the hotel will contribute $1 of hotel room value to the American Cancer Society Hope Lodge program.

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