Choice Hotels is no longer just a hotel company as it gets into timeshares

Choice Hotels entered into its first marketing agreement with a timeshare company, and the move is a symbol of how lodging companies are looking to branch out beyond their traditional "hotel" businesses.

The agreement means that Bluegreen Vacations, a Boca Raton, Florida, timeshare company, becomes the "official vacation ownership provider for Choice Hotels," and adds 21 Bluegreen Vacation Club Resorts to Choice's Ascend Hotel Collection.

Plenty of hotels offer timeshares, but for Choice Hotels CEO Steve Joyce the new arrangement "allows Choice Hotels to pursue alternative business and marketing opportunities in a new leisure segment and advances one of our key priorities to further expand in the upscale market through the addition of these premier resort destinations to our portfolio."

These timeshares are located in vacation destinations, including Aruba, Las Vegas, Miami, Orlando, Cape Cod, Phoenix, Savannah, and Myrtle Beach.

Choice Hotels franchises some 6,200 hotels in the U.S. and 30 other countries and territories, primarily under economy brands. Choice's brands include Comfort Inn, Comfort Suites, Quality, Clarion, Sleep Inn, Econo Lodge, Rodeway Inn, MainStay Suites, Suburban Extended Stay Hotel, Cambria Suites, and Ascend Collection.