Choice Hotels Expands Cambria Brand in Phoenix, Eyes Growth

Choice Hotels International, Inc. CHH continues to expand through franchise agreements. Recently, the company announced the opening of Cambria Hotel Downtown Phoenix Convention Center, adding to its upscale Cambria brand.

Notably, the seven-storied, 127-roomed property is the company’s third hotel under the Cambria brand in Grand Canyon State, joining Cambria Hotel Phoenix Chandler-Fashion Center and Cambria Hotel North Scottsdale Desert Ridge. Moreover, the Cambria Hotel Downtown Phoenix Convention Center is managed and developed by Oxford Hotels & Resorts, LCC and True North Studio, LLC. This new property is also the latest in a long line of Cambria hotel openings this year across the country, in which 10 hotels have opened doors with over 1,600 upscale rooms.

Choice Hotels is confident about the success of this new property, situated at 222 E. Portland St. in downtown Phoenix's arts and culture district, offering easy access to the Phoenix Convention Centre, the Children's Museum of Phoenix, Sky Harbor International Airport and the Arizona Science Center. Janis Cannon, senior vice president, upscale brands, Choice Hotels, said that "Phoenix is the fastest-growing of America's five largest cities, making it another ideal location for Cambria as the brand approaches the end of another defining year".

Choice Hotels on Expansion Spree

Alongside domestic growth, Choice Hotels continues to expand its international footprint in new countries. The key international operating markets include Spain, Colombia, Panama, the Caribbean and Canada.

Moreover, Choice Hotels strengthened its presence with the launch of Clarion Pointe. The expansion of the brand is expected through 21 Clarion Pointe franchise agreements.

Last year, the company announced an alliance with Sercotel — a leading hotel operator and franchisor based in Spain. This alliance will enable the extension of Choice Hotels’ global footprint in Spain and other markets as well as the creation of opportunities for additional hotel development across Europe and Latin America.

In fact, the Cambria brand has been doing solid business. In the first nine months of 2019, Cambria's RevPAR increased 0.4%. The company stated that in third-quarter 2019, Cambria's business travel revenues increased 17% year over year. Moreover, in the third quarter, the Cambria pipeline expanded to 79 hotels.

Impressively, the year 2019 is turning out to be an exceptional one for Cambria and the brand has already opened nine hotels in places like Boston, Houston, Dallas and Milwaukee. It intends to open 50 hotels in top-tier markets. Notably, Choice Hotels is on track to break its openings record. To this end, it will be soon opening new properties in Anaheim, CA, and Bloomington, MN.

Backed by solid expansion strategies and a strong brand presence, shares of Choice Hotels have gained 35.7% so far this year, comparing favorably with the industry’s 27.9% rally.

Zacks Rank & Stocks to Consider

Choice Hotels, which shares space with Hilton Worldwide Holdings Inc. HLT, has a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). Better-ranked stocks in the same space include GreenTree Hospitality Group Ltd. GHG and Civeo Corporation CVEO. While Green Tree sports a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), Civeo carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

GreenTree Hospitality Group has an impressive long-term earnings growth rate of 17.6%.

Civeo reported better-than-expected earnings in three of the trailing four quarters, with the average being 42.5%.

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