Placemakr Adds 87 Apart-Hotel Units to Tempe’s Shorehaven Community

Placemakr’s second Arizona property brings 87 furnished, apartment-style accommodations to Tempe, where demand from business, university and leisure travelers is drawing interest in longer-stay lodging. Placemakr Tempe, Apartments by Hilton is scheduled to open Dec. 2, with bookings already available. The property enters a market where travelers may want more room and residential features than a conventional hotel room offers, though its mix of layouts and services will have to match what those guests actually need.

A new lodging option at Shorehaven

The new-build property sits on Vista Del Lago Drive along Tempe Town Lake, within Shorehaven, a mixed-use community developed by New York-based Silverstein Properties. The wider development is planned to include retail, dining, entertainment and office space. Its hospitality component adds to the range of uses taking shape at the lakefront site, and could give visitors a place to stay close to the activity the development is intended to attract. That connection depends on the other planned uses taking shape; the lodging component alone doesn’t establish how active the site will feel.

The 87 units span studios and one-, two-, and three-bedroom layouts, giving the property options for solo travelers, families and groups who need separate sleeping or working space. Guests will have access to a resort-style pool, game lawn, clubroom and fitness center. These shared amenities support a longer-stay pitch by offering places to spend time outside the unit, although their appeal will depend on how guests use them and how the property operates day to day. Arizona State University and downtown Tempe are minutes away, connecting the property with campus activity and the city’s dining and nightlife.

Silverstein Properties Vice President of Development Jamison Divoll said Shorehaven was envisioned to bring residential, retail, dining and hospitality together. For Placemakr, the location offers a mix of demand sources that can support apartment-style stays throughout the year. That’s a sensible premise for a property near both a university and downtown, since the sources of visitor activity may vary over the calendar. The claim still needs to be tested against actual bookings: a broad mix of potential guests doesn’t guarantee steady occupancy.

Hilton partnership expands

Placemakr Tempe is part of Apartment Collection by Hilton, launched in January through Hilton’s partnership with Placemakr. At launch, the arrangement was expected to add as many as 3,000 units to Hilton’s existing global inventory of about 10,000 apartment-style units. The figures describe the scale the partnership could reach, rather than the number of units already open. For Hilton, the collection extends its reach into furnished apartment stays; for Placemakr, it places the company’s format within a large hotel distribution network.

Placemakr CEO and co-founder Jason Fudin said the Greater Phoenix hospitality market continues to perform well and that demand for apartment-style stays is outpacing supply. He described Tempe as a natural fit because of its business, university and leisure travel mix. That assessment comes from the company entering the market, so it’s also a case for why the location makes sense for its own expansion. The opening will provide a further test of whether the demand he describes translates into sustained bookings for a property with this particular size and amenity mix.

The Tempe opening follows Placemakr’s first Arizona location, which opened in downtown Phoenix last October. The company presents the format as combining apartment living with hotel service. The distinction matters: guests may value the space and layout of an apartment while still expecting the operational support associated with a hotel. Delivering both consistently is part of the offer, and the description alone doesn’t tell readers how service will work at the property.

A growing apart-hotel field

Apartment Collection by Hilton has added properties in several markets this year. Openings in Salt Lake City and Atlanta came in April; in late September, Hilton opened Placemakr locations in downtown Pittsburgh and Huntsville, Alabama. Those sites join an existing location in Austin, Texas. The additions show that the partnership is building a presence across multiple markets, though a growing list of locations by itself says little about how well each one performs or whether the same guest mix applies from city to city.

Other hospitality groups are also expanding in apartment-style lodging. Marriott International operates Apartments by Marriott Bonvoy, while Wyndham Hotels & Resorts partnered with Reside in 2024. Apart-hotel operator Kasa also combined strategically with Mint House earlier this year. The participation of several hotel groups and operators points to a wider effort to serve guests who want furnished units and more space. The category’s reach may grow, but its appeal will still depend on whether the stay experience fits travelers’ needs and whether operators can deliver the promised service.

What the opening will show

For the Tempe market, the opening puts a branded, furnished-stay option near a major university and within a mixed-use waterfront community. This is more significant than it looks: the property is a practical test of whether one location can draw from campus visits, business travel and leisure trips without relying on a single source of demand. And yet. Those audiences may have different expectations about length of stay, room configuration and service.

If you’re working in this space, the useful signal will be whether the property’s varied unit sizes and shared amenities fit the guests it attracts. The numbers here are underwhelming as a forecast because the source provides no booking, occupancy or rate figures; the opening and its location establish an opportunity, not proof of performance. (And this is the part most people overlook.) A strong launch can show initial interest, while the longer-term question is whether demand holds across different travel purposes and seasons. For now, the property’s performance will offer another measure of how much traveler demand the apartment-style format can capture in Greater Phoenix—and whether the model can meet that demand with a consistent hotel service experience.