Extended Stay America, Inc., headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina, is the operator of an economy apartment hotel chain in the United States and Canada. As of December 31, 2019, the company owned and operated 557 hotel properties consisting of approximately 61,900 rooms and franchised or managed 73 hotel properties consisting of approximately 7,500 rooms. Prior to June 2021, when the company was acquired by Blackstone Real Estate and the Starwood Capital Group, it was publicly traded as a "paired share" with ESH Hospitality, Inc., a real estate investment trust and the owner of the hotels. As of 2022, there are 650+ Extended Stay America branded hotels. Extended Stay America was founded on January 9, 1995 in Fort Lauderdale, Florida by George D. Johnson, Jr. and Wayne Huizenga, both former executives from Viacom and its subsidiary Blockbuster LLC. The first two Extended Stay America hotels opened in August 1995 in Spartanburg, South Carolina and Marietta, Georgia. The company became a public company via an initial public offering on December 14, 1995. Extended Stay America acquired the extended-stay hotel chain StudioPLUS on April 11, 1997. The company also developed the Crossland Economy Studios brand as a budget extended-stay hotel brand. The 47 unit Crossland brand was sold to Westmont Hospitality Group for $285 Million in December, 2015.