Dive Brief:
- Choice Hotels International opened the 150-key Cambria Hotel Burbank Airport in Burbank, California, the company announced Wednesday. The upscale hotel is located a mile from the Burbank airport and a short distance from West Hollywood and Beverly Hills.
- The hotel is part of Choice’s “strategic development of Cambria hotels in well-situated markets,” the company said. In the last year, Choice has expanded the upscale brand to new markets and top leisure destinations, including the Colorado mountains.
- The brand expansion is part of a larger push by Choice in the upscale segment. Over the last several months, the economy giant has made a concerted effort to grow its presence in upscale, including with brand enhancements and increased marketing spend.
Dive Insight:
Cambria Hotel Burbank Airport marks the ninth opening for the brand since the start of 2023, as Choice makes a strategic push in the upscale segment.
Over the past year, Choice opened other Cambria hotels in Austin, Texas; Lake Placid, New York; Copper Mountain, Colorado; and downtown Detroit, among others markets. Choice also broke ground on Cambria properties in the Pacific Northwest and the Dallas-Fort Worth metropolitan area, which has seen an uptick in upscale development of late.
Cambria has a pipeline of 81 hotels and 10,000 rooms, according to Choice. In 2024 alone, the company plans to open several Cambria hotels, including in North Conway, New Hampshire; Spokane, Washington; Rehoboth Beach, Delaware; Jacksonville, Florida; Denver and other markets.
With its recent Cambria openings and groundbreakings, Choice is “accelerating into a new level of competition within the upscale segment,” Mark Shalala, senior vice president of development for upscale brands at Choice, said in a November statement.
Beyond the brand’s physical expansion, Choice is beefing up marketing for Cambria, spotlighting it in the hotel company’s largest marketing campaign to date, which launched last month.
Choice Hotels Chief Marketing Officer Noha Abdalla previously told Hotel Dive the upscale brand was selected for the campaign to help change the perception around Choice’s segmentation.
Choice is also working on enhancements to five of its upscale and upper upscale brands, including Cambria, to create additional value for owners and drive repeat stays from guests.
Choice’s upscale push comes as the hotel company works to acquire peer Wyndham Hotels & Resorts.
