Where Choice Hotels' Radisson Acquisition Could Supercharge Growth
Skift Take
Choice Hotels International on Thursday talked at length for the first time about its expectations for its $675 million acquisition of Radisson Hotel Group Americas — a deal that's set to close this month. The hotel franchising giant said the transaction, which adds 80,000 rooms, would help the group grow its mix of higher-revenue, higher-margin brands.
"It'll give us more presence on the West Coast and upper Midwest," said Patrick Pacious, president and CEO of Choice, whose brands have had their deepest network in the U.S. southeast, Texas, and the U.S. southwest. "We'll have more units and more growth opportunity in Canada as well as the Caribbean and the rest of Latin America."
Justifying the Radisson deal, Choice executives were bullish that hotel owners who already have brands in the upscale segment will now sign up more frequently with Choice's Cambria and Ascend Hotel Collection brands because Choice can now offer a broader array of brands in the upscale segment.
"It's a nice network effect of additional corporate accounts that are in the Radisson Americas business from a business travel perspective," Pacious said. "The loyalty program members that we'll be adding, which is 10 million members that will be added to our 53 million — those skew business travelers, those skew higher income. It will be a nice accelerant for C
