Choice Hotels credited its Cambria brand for "leading
the evolution of our portfolio to become more revenue intense by attracting
business travelers in top RevPAR markets," said president and CEO Patrick
Pacious. Cambria's business travel revenue grew 17 percent in the third quarter
year over year, and the brand's revenue per available room increased 2 percent.
Despite that, the company's domestic systemwide RevPAR declined 0.7 percent for
the third quarter compared to the third quarter in 2018.
Like other hotel companies in recent weeks, Choice has
downgraded its RevPAR guidance for the rest of the year. Domestic RevPAR for
the fourth quarter is expected to be within a range from flat to a 2 percent
decrease, year over year. RevPAR guidance for full-year 2019 is anticipated to
be between flat and a 1 percent decline.
Occupancy declined .2 percentage points to 68.4 percent.
Average daily rate decline 0.4 percent, to $86.47. Net income declined 5
percent to $76.2 million, year over year.
The number of domestic hotels and rooms increased 1.8
percent each during the quarter compared to the same period in 2018, growing to
5,893 and 453,439, respectively. The number of Cambria rooms grew the fastest,
at 20.1 percent, to 6,679. The Ascend Hotel Collection was second in terms of
growth rate, increasing 9.7 percent during the quarter to 15,670 rooms.
Discussing the business/leisure mix, Pacious said that as
Choice grows its upscale brands, Cambria and Ascend, the company is targeting a
mix of two thirds business to one third leisure for those brands. For Comfort,
the target is about 50/50.
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