Choice Hotels Strategy for Investing, Operating, Innovating

Investing: Building Growth Through Portfolio Expansion & Franchisee Support

• Robust development and conversion pipeline
  In 2023, Choice opened a record number of extended-stay properties: 61 in total—including 25 Suburban Studios and 24 WoodSpring Suites, plus pipeline builds for Everhome Suites
  In 2024, they added 27 upscale hotels, including 18 Ascend properties, along with new Cambria and Radisson locations. Radisson Americas saw nearly 7.5% RevPAR growth in its first year under Choice
• High franchisee satisfaction and retention
  Choice enjoys an industry-leading voluntary retention rate of 98%, indicating solid loyalty from owners
• Strategic brand acquisitions and integrations
  Key moves include the Radisson Hotels Americas acquisition and successful integration, plus development partnerships in Europe and Australia, such as with Sercotel and City Edge Apartment Hotels
• Standalone focus post-Wyndham bid
  

Operating: Streamlined Systems & Franchisee Enablement

• Scalable tech platforms for owners
  Choice offers a suite of integrated systems—Choice Advantage (PMS), choiceEDGE (CRS), and digital platforms—that aim to streamline operations, boost booking conversions, and cut costs by up to 20% for franchisees
• Cloud migration for agility
  Having fully migrated to AWS by 2024, Choice powers its reservation distribution engine with cloud infrastructure—enabling it to support high-volume partners and global expansion
• Revenue optimization tools for franchisees
  The mobile-first ChoiceMAX revenue management system, built with IDeaS, offers easy pricing management and real-time insights. Notably, 93% of its pricing recommendations are accepted by properties
• Cultural commitment to franchisee success
  Choice centers its operations around franchisee needs—evidenced by high engagement in its Mastery innovation summits and technology programs

Innovating: Technology-Driven Differentiation

• Mastery & MasteryX Summits
  These annual innovation summits rally engineers around real-world challenges—from automating rate promotions to reducing daily tickets via AI. Hundreds of technologists participate in workshops, hack-a-thons, and competitions with tangible results. A recent hack led to instant promotions instead of a 2.5-week turnaround, generating ~$31M in new sales from 450,000 additional room nights
• AI integration in business operations
  ChoiceMAX is an industry-first mobile AI revenue management solution, launched in 2021. Other AI projects include piloting Amazon Q for personalized customer interactions, using AI for identity resolution, optimizing site choice and development, fraud analytics, personalization, and decision-making
• Legacy of innovation
  Choice has a history of being first to market with hospitality tech:
  • First hotel site with real-time rates (1995)
  • First cloud-based PMS (choiceADVANTAGE, 2003)
  • First iPhone app (2009)
  • First instant TripAdvisor booking (2014)
  • First in-app gift card downloads (2016)
  • First cloud-based CRS (choiceEDGE, 2018)
  • First full AWS cloud migration (2024)