Choice Hotels Hints At Direct Discounts

At an annual earnings call last week, Choice Hotels implied it is working on a competitive response to other lodging firms who have begun offering direct discounts to loyalty-club members. While the company would not comment directly, analysts believe there might be an announcement this week, at its annual convention at the Luxor Hotel in Las Vegas.

CEO Stephen Joyce stated Choice is “very encouraged by what the other brand companies are doing” marketing direct discounts, and driving “customers back to proprietary sites. We are very much supportive of that movement and we will be a major player as part of it.”

During the earnings call, Joyce said the chain’s Choice Privileges frequency program grew by 63% in the first quarter of 2016 over the same period last year, to more than 26 million members.

That’s a fertile base to which to offer direct rates.