Choice Hotels Expands Upscale Portfolio

With Hurricane Milton anticipated to pass through our home area overnight, there will be no Daily Lodging Report on Thursday, October 10, as we attempt to return to the area.  

Crescent Hotels & Resorts announced the management of Hotel Cleveland, Autograph Collection, a historic property situated in downtown Cleveland, Ohio. The former Renaissance Cleveland Hotel underwent an extensive multi-year $80 million renovation and features a brand new lobby bar and restaurant, 60,000 square feet of meeting space and 491 re-imagined guestrooms.  

The Westin at Memorial City, in Houston, Texas, debuted its multi-million dollar renovation of its events spaces and meeting rooms. The Westin renovated 33,000 square feet of meeting and event venues located on the 289-key hotel’s second, third, and fourth floors. The property is managed by MetroNational.   

LBA Hospitality and BPR Properties celebrated the grand opening of Homewood Suites Goldsboro, their second hotel in Goldsboro, North Carolina. The property offers 113 suites and over 1,500 square feet of meeting space.   

The Hilton Garden Inn Bethesda Downtown has completed a $4 million transformation, including the lobby, meetings and events spaces, bar and lounge, restaurant, and a new fitness center. The 216-room hotel also features new technological enhancements such as enhanced WiFi capabilities, keyless locks, and UNO Net television systems. Twin Bridges Hospitality is the hotel’s asset manager, and HHM Hotels operates the property.   

The city of Jacksonville, Florida issued a permit for construction of a 5-story, 125-room Home2 Suites by Hilton hotel at 3609 San Pablo Parkway. The new hotel will offer meeting rooms, a fitness room, and a pool and deck. Hotel Development Partners is the developer.  

Remington Hospitality announced its new role managing the Kimpton Mas Olas Resort and Spa, set on Baja’s most beautiful stretch of Pacific coastline in Mexico. The property offers 93 guestrooms including 22 oceanfront suites and penthouses; Botanica Spa; outdoor pool; fitness center; and over 30,000 square feet of indoor and outdoor spaces and multiple food and beverage venues.   

IHG Hotels & Resorts, in conjunction with owner Sai Shallowford, LLC, and manager 3H Group Hotels, recently opened a new dual-branded Holiday Inn Express and Candlewood Suites hotel in Chattanooga, Tennessee. The Candlewood Suites side offers 68 suites and the Candlewood Cupboard market. The Holiday Inn Express side offers 86 guestrooms and a fitness center.

Tourbineau Real Estate Partners plan to redevelop a former department store at Country Club Plaza in Sacramento, California into a mixed-use development including self-storage, a five-story hotel, and new indoor/outdoor retail space. The first phase would include self-storage and retail, while the 2nd phase is a 200-guestroom hotel with a pool, fitness center, and meeting rooms.   

Choice Hotels has significantly expanded its upscale portfolio with the Cambria brand to move beyond the company’s midscale and economy offerings like Quality Inn and Comfort Inn. Despite early challenges in the upscale market, the brand has now grown to 74 open properties, with an additional 62 in development. One of the brand’s key hurdles was securing financing for new construction projects. To address this, Choice Hotels introduced a conversion model that allowed developers to re-flag and renovate existing hotels under the Cambria brand. This strategy allowed developers to secure loans more easily and spurred the brand’s growth, with Choice Hotels investing over $400 million between 2017 and 2021 to open Cambria’s in major markets.   

Read more on Skift (free for DLR subscribers).

Caliber has reached an agreement with Satori Collective in which Satori will contribute seven hotel properties to Caliber subsidiary Caliber Hospitality Trust. The transaction is expected to close in early 2025, subject to customary closing conditions. The seven Satori properties in this agreement include a mix of middle-market full-service, select-service, and extended-stay hotels in the Midwestern and Southern U.S., representing Marriott, Hilton, and IHG hospitality brands. The combined portfolio value is approximately $120 million. With the Satori portfolio, CHT currently has 15 properties in the closing process. Upon closing those contributions, CHT will have 22 hotels in ownership. These hotels will continue to be operated by Aperture Hotels.  

Personnel Moves

Makeready announced the expansion of its executive leadership team with the appointment of Eric Gavin as President of Operations. In this new role, Gavin will focus on managing performance throughout Makeready’s portfolio, overseeing all operational aspects of the company. Gavin most recently served as Chief Operating Officer for Benchmark, Pyramid Global Hospitality’s Independent, Luxury & Lifestyle division.   

Hotel Equities announced the appointment of Tim Ostrem as Regional Director of Operations in Canada. Ostrem will lend his expertise to oversee the firm’s expanding portfolio of Canadian Hotels, providing strategic leadership and driving operational excellence. Prior to joining HE, Ostrem served as an Area General Manager, where he delivered exceptional results at North America’s largest Residence Inn and mentored a team of General Managers to achieve similar success.   

Europe Highlights

After founding and developing the Zleep Hotels brand, CEO Peter Haaber has entered an agreement with Marriott International through his hotel management company, Core Hospitality, to rebrand its 14 Zleep Hotels properties in Denmark to the Four Points Flex by Sheraton brand. The majority of the hotels are expected to be fully rebranded in December of this year, with the rest following in early 2025. Through the conversions, Core Hospitality adds over 1,500 rooms and ten new markets to Marriott’s portfolio in Denmark. Additionally, the deal makes Core Hospitality the largest franchisee for Marriott in the Nordic region. Core Hospitality operates 17 hotels in Denmark across five of Marriott’s brands, with another three properties in the pipeline.   

Budget hotel brand B&B Hotels has taken a major step forward in its aspirations to expand across Europe, signing a portfolio agreement to add 30 hotels across Germany. The properties, in towns and cities across western Germany, were all previously branded and operating under Accor’s Ibis brand. They will be refurbished with energy efficiency upgrades before being relaunched over the coming months under their new branding. The opportunity to grab a significant presence in the German market came alongside investor BC Partners Real Estate, which acquired the hotel portfolio after it was put up for sale by AccorInvest. At a stroke, it will add 2,308 rooms to B&B’s growing budget hotel portfolio. Also part of the transaction was asset manager Hova Hospitality. Hova already has a relationship with B&B and, following the deal, will manage 120 B&B hotels. B&B will lease the newly upgraded hotels from BC Partners, signing long-term lease agreements.