Choice Hotels International Inc.

Highlights include new AI-driven tools and strategic investments strengthening franchisee economics, along with recognition of top-performing hotels and developers

NORTH BETHESDA, Md., May 12, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Last week, Choice Hotels International, Inc. (NYSE: CHH) held its 70th Annual Convention. Throughout the three-day event, the company highlighted how its ongoing growth, strategic investments, and focus on innovation are shaping the future of franchise ownership. At the convention, Choice Hotels unveiled a new suite of technology and AI-driven solutions aimed at helping franchise owners increase revenue, streamline operations, and prepare for the next generation of travel experiences and bookings. The company is continuing to innovate across its segments, including its enhanced Choice Privileges program, now with more than 75 million members, which is driving more repeat stays. The all-new experience enables members to earn rewards more frequently, and reach Elite status faster, along with exclusive benefits to get the most from every stay.

Choice Hotels also reinforced its commitment to long-term brand health and performance, including continued focus on property quality, owner support resources, and a strong development engine designed to help owners grow in an increasingly favorable operating environment.

"At Choice Hotels, our focus is simple: more revenue opportunities, lower operating friction, and the tools and support to run great hotels with confidence to Make More Possible. By combining the power of our scale, loyalty, and technology with hands-on support, we're helping owners grow profitability, so they can focus on delivering superb guest experiences," said President and CEO Patrick Pacious. "Looking ahead, we're investing to continue to lead in the next era of AI-led travel discovery and booking, while strengthening guest trust and loyalty across our brands. With agentic commerce, AI agents search for, research, compare, and book hotels on behalf of consumers. Choice Hotels is poised for this transformation and will help drive growth and performance for our franchisees for years to come."

In addition to sharing milestones and the key areas Choice Hotels is investing in across its system, the company also awarded and celebrated top-performing hotels and owners.

Premier Award Winners

The Premier Legacy Award recognizes phenomenal and longstanding hotel owners who have built a true legacy with the company. It goes to owners who have demonstrated an incredible commitment to development with Choice Hotels.

• Azim Saju and ARK Hospitality (Premier Legacy Award): Azim grew up in the hotel business, beginning with his family's first Econo Lodge purchase in 1981, and went on to buy his first hotel as owner of record—a Sleep Inn—in 2003. Today, he manages more than 100 hotel properties across multiple franchisors and holds ownership stakes in approximately 20, while also serving as a longtime and deeply engaged leader within Choice Hotels Owners Council, including three terms as Chairman and his current role as Director of Region 1.
• Ash Sangani and Giri Hotels (Premier Developer Award): Ash brings more than 25 years of experience in hotel ownership. Today, he owns 12 Choice Hotels properties and is currently leading development of the Cambria in Burlington, Vermont, the largest and most significant project ever undertaken by Giri Hotels.

Best of Choice Winners

Each year, the Best of Choice Awards recognizes the best U.S. hotel from each brand and the best international properties. Each winner demonstrates a commitment to superior guest service and operational excellence, representing the very best Choice Hotels has to offer from across its wide-ranging portfolio.

• Cambria Hotel Traverse City – Traverse City, Michigan
• Clarion Hotel Arlanda Airport Terminal – Stockholm, Sweden
• Clarion Inn Willow River – Sevierville, Tennessee
• Clarion Pointe Marshall – Marshall, Texas
• Comfort Inn Connellsville Riverview – Connellsville, Pennsylvania
• Comfort Inn & Suites – Terrace, BC, Canada
• Comfort Inn & Suites Caldwell – Caldwell, Ohio
• Comfort Suites Near Sam Houston Race Park – Houston, Texas
• Country Inn & Suites by Radisson, Belleville, ON – Belleville, Ontario, Canada
• Country Inn & Suites by Radisson, Lewisburg, PA – Lewisburg, Pennsylvania
• Econo Lodge Lenoir City – Knoxville Area – Lenoir, Tennessee
• Hotel Casa Don Luis by Faranda Boutique, a member of Radisson Individuals – Cartagena, Colombia
• Ingot Hotel Perth, an Ascend Collection Hotel – Perth, Australia
• MainStay Suites Winfield-Teays Valley – Hurricane, West Virginia
• Park Inn by Radisson, Calgary Airport North, AB – Calgary, AB, Canada
• Park Inn by Radisson Ortonville – Ortonville, Minnesota
• Quality Inn Ingleside – Corpus Christi – Ingleside, Texas
• Quality Inn & Suites - Lévis, QC, Canada
• Radisson Blu Belo Horizonte, Savassi – Belo Horizonte, Brazil
• Radisson Hotel Nashville Airport – Nashville, Tennessee
• Radisson Puebla Angelópolis - Puebla, México
• Radisson RED Campinas – Campinas, Brazil
• Rodeway Inn South Gate – Los Angeles South – South Gate, California
• Sleep Inn Winfield – Teays Valley – Hurricane, West Virginia
• Suburban Studios Monaca – Pittsburgh – Monaca, Pennsylvania
• WoodSpring Suites Columbus Urbancrest – Grove City, Ohio

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About Choice Hotels®    

Choice Hotels International, Inc. (NYSE: CHH), is one of the largest lodging franchisors in the world, with over 7,500 hotels, representing more than 650,000 rooms, in 51 countries and territories. A wide-ranging portfolio of 22 brands that includes full-service upper upscale, midscale, extended stay, and economy properties enables Choice® to meet travelers' needs in more places and for more occasions while driving more value for franchise owners and shareholders. The award-winning Choice Privileges® rewards program and co-brand credit card options provide members with a fast and easy way to earn reward nights and personalized perks. For more information, visit www.choicehotels.com.  

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release includes "forward-looking statements" about future events, including anticipated hotel openings, development pipeline growth, and brand expansion. Such statements are subject to numerous risks and uncertainties, including changes in economic conditions, travel demand, development timelines, and other factors discussed in Choice Hotels International's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Actual results may differ materially from those expressed or implied in these forward-looking statements, and Choice undertakes no obligation to update them.

Addendum

This is not an offering. No offer or sale of a franchise will be made except by a Franchise Disclosure Document first filed and registered with applicable state authorities. A copy of the Franchise Disclosure Document can be obtained through contacting Choice Hotels International at 915 Meeting Street, Suite 600, North Bethesda, MD 20852, or by email at development@choicehotels.com.

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SOURCE Choice Hotels International, Inc.

Choice Hotels Business Direct, EasyBid, CHARLIE, RAISE, AgentCore, and AgentForce reinforce the company's leadership in hospitality technology and innovation

NORTH BETHESDA, Md., May 7, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Choice Hotels International, Inc. (NYSE: CHH), one of the world's largest lodging franchisors, today announced a new set of technologies and AI-powered solutions designed to help franchise owners drive more revenue, improve operating efficiency, and prepare for the next era of travel discovery and booking. The newest innovations include Choice Hotels Business Direct, EasyBid, CHARLIE, and RAISE. In addition to relationships with Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Salesforce to utilize AgentCore and AgentForce respectively, these solutions reinforce Choice Hotels' leadership in delivering technology that helps owners capture demand and operate more efficiently.

For more than a decade, Choice Hotels has actively leveraged artificial intelligence and is now scaling AI across its business to help drive revenue and enhance operations for owners. These solutions support everything from generating group and business travel demand to enabling smarter pricing.

"At Choice Hotels, we believe that innovation should deliver real-world impact," said Patrick Pacious, President and CEO. "These tools are built to help our owners win more business as AI continues to reshape how travelers search, compare and book hotel stays. Throughout our history, we have been an industry leader in technology and digital transformation, and in today's dynamic world that is more important than ever. We are dedicated to deploying technology at scale to make more possible for our franchisees and guests."

Choice Hotels Business Direct

Launching next week, Choice Hotels Business Direct is a self-service digital booking platform purpose-built for small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs), enabling them to book stays directly on ChoiceHotels.com. The platform helps SMBs create travel policies, gives travel managers greater visibility into travel behavior, and provides travelers and their companies with benefits and rewards—helping hotels capture more midweek demand from this large and growing segment.

Choice Hotels EasyBid and EasyBid Plus

To help owners capture more group demand, Choice Hotels has launched EasyBid, an AI-enhanced group Request for Proposals (RFP) tool. EasyBid helps hotels manage and monitor group RFP opportunities in one place and submit faster, more effective responses. Speed matters in group sales, and EasyBid is built to help hotels respond quickly and convert more opportunities into booked revenue. For owners seeking even greater support, EasyBid Plus enables Choice Hotels to respond to RFPs directly on behalf of owners while maintaining oversight and control at no additional cost. This option is specifically designed to save time and boost win rates by targeting high-quality group leads, making it especially valuable for properties without dedicated sales teams or during periods of high RFP volume.

Turning on-demand tools into teammates with CHARLIE

Meet CHARLIE, an AI-powered virtual "teammate" designed to support hotel teams through Choice Hotels' core operating platforms. CHARLIE acts as a 24/7 digital coach that responds to hotel staff needs, surfaces insights, and bolsters Choice Hotels' brand standards, reducing the time staff spend searching for answers and enabling teams to focus more on enhancing the guest experience.

As Choice Hotels continues to evolve CHARLIE, the company expects to expand the agent's ability to help execute routine tasks, further accelerating productivity and improving consistency across hotel operations.

Making revenue management simpler with RAISE

Choice Hotels will soon launch RAISE, a next-generation rate management tool designed to streamline how owners manage pricing, rates and inventory. Built with extensive owner input, RAISE is designed to simplify complex workflows, reduce manual effort, and help owners stay competitive as market conditions shift by using AI to source the right information at the right time.

Built for enterprise scale: AgentCore and AgentForce

As AI moves from pilots to production, Choice Hotels is investing in the foundational capabilities needed to deploy AI safely and reliably across the enterprise.

AgentCore provides a secure, reusable foundation for intelligent agents, enabling Choice Hotels to scale agentic capabilities across teams while supporting governance and enterprise requirements. AgentForce supports the building and deployment of AI agents as teammates across sales, service, marketing, commerce, and internal operations that can help automate, accelerate, and scale workflows.

"Together, AgentCore and AgentForce help Choice Hotels move beyond isolated AI use cases to an integrated, enterprise-wide approach," said Anna Scozzafava, Chief Data, AI, & Technology Officer.  "This positions the company to lead in the emerging world of agentic commerce, where AI agents will increasingly research, compare and book travel on behalf of consumers."

Choice Hotels' technology roadmap is focused on delivering measurable value for owners: growing revenue, simplifying operations, and keeping the company's hotels visible and competitive as AI transforms travel discovery. By combining scale, data, and proprietary tools with an owner-first approach, Choice Hotels is helping franchisees compete in today's marketplace while preparing for what's next.

For more information on Choice Hotels and its technology innovations, visit choicehotels.com.

About Choice Hotels®   

Choice Hotels International, Inc. (NYSE: CHH), is one of the largest lodging franchisors in the world, with over 7,500 hotels, representing more than 650,000 rooms, in 51 countries and territories. A wide-ranging portfolio of 22 brands that includes full-service upper upscale, midscale, extended stay, and economy properties enables Choice® to meet travelers' needs in more places and for more occasions while driving more value for franchise owners and shareholders. The award-winning Choice Privileges® rewards program and co-brand credit card options provide members with a fast and easy way to earn reward nights and personalized perks. For more information, visit www.choicehotels.com.  

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release includes "forward-looking statements" about future events, including anticipated hotel openings, development pipeline growth, and brand expansion. Such statements are subject to numerous risks and uncertainties, including changes in economic conditions, travel demand, development timelines, and other factors discussed in Choice Hotels International's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Actual results may differ materially from those expressed or implied in these forward-looking statements, and Choice undertakes no obligation to update them.

Addendum

This is not an offering. No offer or sale of a franchise will be made except by a Franchise Disclosure Document first filed and registered with applicable state authorities. A copy of the Franchise Disclosure Document can be obtained through contacting Choice Hotels International at 915 Meeting Street, Suite 600, North Bethesda, MD 20852, or by email at development@choicehotels.com.

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SOURCE Choice Hotels International, Inc.