Choice Hotels First Major Hotel Brand to Outperform Pre-Pandemic Levels
Skift Take
Profitability is one thing, but out-performing 2019 is the genuine sign of a rebound. Choice Hotels is lucky to not have to worry as much about corporate travel and conventions as some of its competitors.
Limited exposure to corporate and group travel can be a major financial advantage to a hotel company in a global pandemic. Just ask Choice Hotels.
The company behind more drive-to and leisure-oriented brands like Comfort, Econo Lodge, and the higher-end Ascend Hotel Collection reported Thursday that its revenue per available room — the hotel industry’s key performance metric — exceeded 2019 levels for the last two months.
The performance bragging right, a first among major U.S. hotel companies, comes at the same time Choice was the first hotel company to post three consecutive quarters of profitability together during the health crisis.
“These elevated competitive share gains, even as the broader industry recovers, illustrates that our strategic investments are working and give us further optimism about our future revenue trajectory,” Choice Hotels CEO Patrick Pacious said Thursday on the company’s second quarter earnings call. “Our goal is not simply to
