ROCKVILLE, MD—Choice Hotels International Inc. is expanding its presence in the Middle East and Mexico.
Choice plans to bring seven additional hotels to Saudi Arabia under its Comfort and Quality brands. The new hotels represent the first tranche of a broader strategy to open 30 Choice-branded hotels to Saudi Arabia.
The hotels include three Comfort Inn & Suites hotels in Riyadh; one Comfort Suites and two Quality Inn & Suites hotels in Jeddah; and one Comfort Inn & Suites in Taif.
This advances Choice’s strategy to expand internationally and follows the previously signed master development agreement with an affiliate of one of the largest tourism and travel companies in the Middle East, Al-Tayyar Travel Group.
All seven hotels will be operated through hotel-management agreements between CHME Ltd., a subsidiary of Al-Tayyar Travel Group, under a master license agreement with Choice Hotels. Four of these hotels already are under construction and expected to open beginning in the third quarter of 2019.
At a signing ceremony in Riyadh, Choice Hotels President and CEO Patrick Pacious said, “International growth remains a key strategic focus for Choice, and the Kingdom presents an attractive market for expansion. We are proud to leverage our decades of midscale experience to bring more hospitality options that travelers desire to the region.”
Al-Tayyar Travel Group CEO Abdullah Al Dawood said, “This is only the beginning of our group’s transformation plan, announced last year, to develop and operate 6,000 keys by 2022. We are confident in Choice’s expertise and ability to help us deliver a high-quality hospitality experience to meet the needs of the fast-growing midscale segment in line with the Kingdom’s Vision 2030.”
Additionally, Choice Hotels Mexico, a subsidiary of Choice Hotels International Inc., has signed an exclusive multi-unit agreement with SI Operaciones, a Mexican private equity fund, to develop 20 new-construction Sleep Inn hotels over the next five years. The agreement is expected to add 2,000 rooms in top markets, like Mexico City and Guadalajara, and more than triple the size of the brand’s footprint in the country.
SI Operaciones currently owns and operates five Sleep Inn hotels throughout Mexico with locations in Culiacan, Mazatlan, Hermosillo, Tijuana and Mexicali. The company’s sixth Sleep Inn is already under construction in Queretaro and slated to open in late 2019.
Choice Hotels first entered the Mexican market in 2004 and currently has 32 hotels in 25 cities across the country, with more than 3,500 rooms available to guests under the Comfort, Quality Inn, and Sleep Inn brands.