Business transient now represents about 40% of revenue for Choice Hotels International, according to CEO Pat Pacious, speaking on a fourth quarter earnings call. He said the segment had jumped 14% year over year in the quarter, crediting the company’s expansion in the upscale sector as one reason for the increase.
“So far in the first quarter of 2025, our business travel is trending up,” said Pacious, “fueled by both group and business transient travel as we are seeing a pickup in locally negotiated business and year-over-year revenue growth through our digital channel that delivers midweek and corporate-managed business.”
The technology sector in particular offers Choice a business travel opportunity, according to Pacious. He said, “Traction in the technology vertical is particularly encouraging, and we believe we have a meaningful long-term opportunity to capture growing demand for both the technology and energy-related sectors driven in part by the significant infrastructure investments required by GenAI.”
Pacious also noted Choice’s growing extended stay brands as corporate choices, saying the company added more than 4,500 rooms in the segment in 2024.
Choice’s fourth-quarter domestic revenue per available room (RevPAR) increased 4.5% year over year to $50.51, while average daily rate rose 3.1% to $94.32 and occupancy increased 0.8 percentage points to 53.6%.
For full-year 2024, Choice domestic RevPAR declined 1.2% year over year to $54.54, while ADR declined 0.3% to $96.67 and occupancy rose 0.5 percentage points to 56.4%.
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