WHY IT RATES: Choice Hotels’ upscale, soft-brand accommodations are enjoying an advantage over the rest of the segment amid the pandemic, largely owing to the independent and local character retained by its Cambria Hotels and Ascend Hotels Collections properties. — Laurie Baratti, TravelPulse Associate Writer
Choice Hotels International, Inc.‘s popular upscale brands, the Ascend Hotel Collection and Cambria Hotels, achieved impressive year-over-year room count growth and outperformed local competitors in RevPAR share gains in the third quarter of 2020.
The success of Ascend, a global portfolio of resorts, boutique and historic hotels; and Cambria, which is designed for modern travelers and offers a distinct local experience, further validates the company’s strategic focus on growing this revenue-intense segment.
“With leisure travel and road trips on the rise, our upscale brands continue to outperform the competition, since they are ideally suited for guests looking for an escape during the current environment. Not only do our hotels offer distinct upscale amenities, but they allow travelers to unwind and experience the local flavor of a new setting,” said Janis Cannon, senior vice president, upscale brands, Choice Hotels.
“In the past few months, we added several new Ascend hotels around the country—from New England, in time for leaf-peeping season, to Port St. Joe in Florida, so guests can take advantage of warmer climates as winter approaches. At the same time, Cambria Hotels continues its rapid U.S. expansion with recent openings in Greenville, South Carolina; Ocean City, Maryland; and Sonoma, California. We look forward to finishing the year strong by bringing more unique upscale properties to guests in their favorite destinations soon, including Cambria hotels in downtown Detroit; Napa, California; and Washington, D.C.”
Choice’s upscale brands experienced several notable achievements in the third quarter, including:
—Ascend Hotel Collection outperformed the upscale segment in year-over-year revenue per available room (RevPAR) change by over 26 percentage points, while achieving RevPAR share gains of nearly 19 percentage points and average daily rate index gains of approximately nine percentage points against local competitors. In fact, for the past six months, Ascend has significantly outperformed upscale soft brands and the segment overall in terms of year-over-year RevPAR change.
—Cambria Hotels: achieved RevPAR share gains versus local competitors of nearly 15 percentage points.
—These brands combined increased Choice’s domestic upscale room counts by an impressive 33 percent, despite the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Just as guests love Ascend and Cambria hotels, developers continue to seek out Choice brands to boost the value of their hotels,” said Mark Shalala, senior vice president of development, upscale brands, Choice Hotels. “While Ascend continues to extend its leadership position as the industry’s first and largest soft brand, Cambria’s pipeline of nearly 80 hotels makes it one of the top hotel brands expanding in North America, as recently ranked by TOPHOTELNEWS.”
For more information, visit choicehotels.com.
SOURCE: Choice Hotels press release.
