Choice rises in upscale and extended stay segments

In 2022 the Choice Hotels portfolio expanded to 22 brands and nearly 7,500 hotels, representing almost 630,000 rooms, in 46 countries and territories. 
Milestone moments
Last year saw the grand opening of the first Everhome Suites and opening of the 65th Cambria Hotel, to the brand relaunch of Suburban Studios and the acquisition of Radisson Hotels Americas.
The breadth of Choice Hotels brands across multiple segments provides a wide variety of options for developers looking to expand their portfolio of hotels.
Cambria challenger
Cambria Hotels has become a challenger brand for developers looking to move to upscale with the flexibility to build at a reduced cost while retaining a design-forward experience. Spurred by a new, lower cost prototype designed for secondary and leisure markets, Cambria has 20 new agreements signed as of the end of the third quarter of 2022.
There are currently 65 Cambria Hotels open, and as of the end of the third quarter, nearly 70 hotels in the pipeline across sought-after cities including Austin, Nashville, Denver, Spokane and Rehoboth Beach. In 2022, the brand broke ground on eight new properties, including four new, custom builds.
Doubling brand
Mark Shalala, senior vice president of upscale brands development at Choice Hotels, said: “Cambria Hotels is hitting its stride, doubling in size as it has entered nearly 75% of top US markets these past five years.
“Despite the rise in interest rates and cost of materials, deal volume for Cambria has never been stronger. Our impressive growth, design flexibility, and strategic deployment of capital as direct investments in projects with our development partners is attracting more investors and top developers to the brand.  As we enter 2023, we look forward to continuing to demonstrate the opportunity all our upscale brands, including Ascend Hotel Collection and new Radisson Hotel Americas properties, provide.”
With the acquisition of Radisson Hotels Americas and its upscale hotels consisting of the Radisson Collection, Radisson Red, Radisson Individuals, Park Plaza, Radisson Blu, and Radisson hotels, Choice now has more than 80,000 rooms open or in the pipeline across this segment. Through the integration, Choice intends to continue to accelerate growth of the Radisson Americas brands by leveraging its scale, network of owner and franchise relationships, and digital platforms.
Extended stay
Launched in 2020, Choice’s newest extended stay brand, Everhome Suites, is reporting developer demand since its first hotel, located in Corona, California, opened last September.
The brand is expected to expand, with more than 30 additional projects added to the pipeline as of the end of Q3 2022. Everhome secured a commitment with one of the largest extended stay investors in the nation to develop more than 20 new Everhome Suites in Colorado, Arizona, Utah, Nevada and Florida.
In addition to construction projects underway in Newnan, Georgia and Nampa, Idaho, the brand expects to commence projects in several locations including Arizona, California, Montana, Nevada, and Oregon.
Expanding extension
Also within extended stay, WoodSpring Suites is receiving increasingly strong interest from institutional investors, resulting in its pipeline expanding 68% from 2021 to 2022. Signings with prominent developers, including real estate investment groups, resulted in 54 deals through the end of Q3 2022.
Economy extended stay brand Suburban Studio was renamed from Suburban Extended Stay Hotel with a modernised look and feel in the first quarter of 2022. Innovations like the proprietary kitchen-in-a-box design—a modular, low-cost design to transform transient rooms into extended stay hotels—resulted in the most contracts being awarded since the brand’s acquisition nearly two decades ago.
Conversion brand MainStay Suites more than doubled its number of agreements with 93 hotels in the pipeline by the end of the third quarter of 2022.
Demand outstripping supply
Ron Burgett, senior vice president of extended stay development at Choice Hotels, commented: “Owners and developers continue to seek Choice’s proven service capabilities to help maximise return on investment while reducing total cost of ownership and meeting the needs of longer-staying guests. Our extended stay brands are a testament to this.
“There is no shortage of opportunity for investors in this desired segment. Demand for extended stay is nearly double the supply available.”
Source: tophotel.news