ROCKVILLE, MD—Choice Hotels International, Inc., has entered into a new strategic venture with CapStar Hotel Co., a hotel investment group, in an effort to help drive growth for the Cambria Hotels & Suites brand.
The partnership will focus on the brand’s new conversion strategy, in top urban areas, to bring hotels to market quickly based on strong consumer demand that comes on the heels of a strong growth year for Cambria Hotels & Suites, according to the company.
As Choice’s flagship brand in the upscale segment, Cambria Hotels & Suites signed 26 deals in 2015, and opened its newest and largest property in early 2016, Cambria Hotels & Suites Times Square. Additional new properties are set to open in major urban markets, including Chicago, New Orleans and Los Angeles. In total, Cambria Hotels & Suites has more than 30 new locations in the pipeline.
“The growth we saw for the Cambria brand in 2015 was astounding, and with this new conversion approach and strategic venture with CapStar, we will continue to fuel that growth into 2016,” said Steve Joyce, president and CEO of Choice Hotels International. “We are excited to partner with Paul Whetsell and CapStar. The team’s experience and expertise in property acquisitions and conversions will be invaluable to the Cambria brand as we continue to build and grow in key urban markets across the country.”
As part of the new conversion strategy, Cambria Hotels & Suites will begin to leverage adaptive reuse properties as part of its development strategy to help drive additional growth. Through this new approach, the Cambria brand plans to supplement other development efforts to create new opportunities in major urban markets.
The new strategic venture with CapStar Hotel Co. is the latest strategic relationship Choice and the Cambria brand have executed with a collection of the industry’s developers, including Concord Hospitality Enterprises, Fillmore Hospitality, Fillmore Capital Partners, Meyer Jabara Hotels, O’Reilly Hospitality Management and Murphy Asset Management.