La Quinta Inns and Suites (or LQ) opened its first hotel in 1968 in San Antonio, Texas. The company was founded by brothers Sam and Phil Barshop.
La Quinta grew, mostly in Texas, during the 1970s. Phil Barshop left the company in 1977.
By 1986, the company had 170 hotels mostly in Texas and Florida.
In 1991, the company was taken over by the Bass and Taylor families of Ft. Worth, TX.
In 1999, the La Quinta corporate office moved from San Antonio to Irving, a Dallas suburb.
In early 2018, Wyndham Worldwide acquired La Quinta for $1.95 billion.
Today, the company operates over 800 hotels in the US, Mexico, and Canada.
