New Upscale Brand Builds Momentum
BOISE, ID, November 1, 2005. Nine months after launching the brand, Choice Hotels has broken ground on the first Cambria Suites in Boise, Idaho. The company sees the event as a celebration of their commitment to the select-service upscale market and the confidence that hotel developers have shown for Choice's new brand.
The event comes on the heels of Choice Hotels' key hire in William Edmundson, a 20-year veteran of the lodging industry, with experience in brand management, operations, marketing, sales, service, quality and franchise relations for the Embassy Suites, Holiday Inns, Homewood Suites and most recently, Hampton Inns brands. "We are especially pleased that the developer for this project is The Summit Group," said William Edmundson, vice president of brand management for Cambria Suites.
Edmundson added, "With a well-experienced management team and a well-earned reputation as a first class hotel developer and operator, The Summit Group is exactly the type of developer we are looking for in our brand."
"The Cambria Suites project is an excellent opportunity for Summit to build upon our 15-year partnership with Choice Hotels," said Chris Bills, Chief Operating Officer of The Summit Group. "We are extremely pleased to be part of this project and are very excited to be the first developer to break ground with Choice on its all-suites concept."
Since the brand was launched, 8 deals have been executed with an additional 14 agreements in the pipeline. In addition, Badger Midwest Holdings, a development company based out of Jefferson, WI with more than 20 hotels in their portfolio including Comfort Inn, Comfort Suites, Sleep Inn, and Quality brands, has signed a letter of commitment to develop 10 Cambria Suites over a 3-year period.
"When Choice launched this brand in January of this year, we knew that an upscale, select service all-suites hotel would be a hit with both developers and consumers," said David Goldberg, Choice Hotels' senior vice president of brand strategy. "By investing the time and energy into researching what today's travelers truly value in a hotel stay, we were able to come up with a design that meets the needs of both business and leisure travelers as well as maximize ROI potential for our developers."
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