Choice Hotels International's second-quarter revenue from small- and medium-sized business travel increased 8 percent year over year, the company announced Wednesday.
Choice interim CEO Dominic Dragisich during the company's earnings call said that its Business Direct platform, launched in the second quarter, is seeing early traction from SMEs.
"Approximately 60 percent of enrolled businesses are new to Choice, and nearly 90 percent of room nights occur midweek," Dragisich said.
The interim executive did not disclose overall business travel revenue during the company's earnings call. In response to an investor question about overall RevPAR performance, Dragisich said Choice is under-indexed in business transient, "which had a pretty big bounce-back in Q2."
Second-quarter group revenue grew 16 percent year over year. Dragisich said Choice's AI-enabled EasyBid platform improved group request-for-proposal conversion by 360 basis points.
Choice Q2 Metrics
Choice's systemwide second-quarter RevPAR increased 1.7 percent year over year to $61.95, as average daily rate grew 1.2 percent to $101.45 and occupancy rose 40 basis points to 61.1 percent.
By segment, extended-stay outperformed the rest of Choice's portfolio with a 3.7 percent year-over-year gain in RevPAR, driven by a 3.5 percent increase in average daily rate to $69.24 and a 10-basis-point rise in occupancy to 71.3 percent.
In the United States, second-quarter RevPAR increased 1.3 percent year over year to $58.92, as ADR grew 0.7 percent to $98.28 and occupancy improved 40 basis points to 60 percent.
Choice raised its full-year guidance, with systemwide RevPAR now expected to land between flat and a 1 percent year-over-year increase, up from its prior outlook of a 2 percent decline to a 1 percent increase.
Second-quarter total revenue increased 3.5 percent year over year to $441 million.
Second-quarter global net rooms grew 2.6 percent year over year, driven by 3.6 percent growth in extended stay, midscale, and upscale brands. U.S. extended-stay net rooms grew 13 percent year over year, marking the segment's 12th consecutive quarter of double-digit growth.
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