Choice Hotels CEO Lays Out the Plan to Buy More Upscale Hotels
Photo Credit: Choice Hotels currently has the Cambria and Ascend Hotel Collection brands as upscale offerings. Choice Hotels
Skift Take
These aren’t going to be transformative deals for Choice Hotels like Starwood was for Marriott, but an upscale, extended stay brand would provides another option for business travelers. Meanwhile, a higher-end, full service brand would just help round out the overall portfolio.
Choice Hotels could add two upscale brands that cater to different customers if the right opportunity comes along. There is at least one viable takeover candidate.
The Choice Hotels leadership team fielded a lot of questions Wednesday about their acquisition outlook just a few weeks after their senior vice president of upscale brand development told Skift the company was considering acquiring a high-end, full-service brand. Full-service hotels offer more amenities like restaurants and spas. Choice CEO Patrick Pacious elaborated the company had a void in both the upscale extended stay segment as well as the “upper upscale” segment of hotels.
Marriott’s Residence Inn and Element are examples of upscale extended stay brands while flags like Sheraton and Hyatt Regency are considered “upper upscale.”
The news might be a bit of a head scratcher, given that the company also announced it exceeded pre-pandemic performance levels last year largel
