News Briefs

Choice Hotels International, Inc. (NYSE: CHH), one of the world’s largest lodging franchisors, opened its 69th Annual Convention in Las Vegas this week with a keynote by President and CEO Patrick Pacious, setting the tone for three days centered on a single mission: “Powering the Future” for hotel owners and their businesses. The event brings together thousands of owners, operators, and industry partners for nearly 100 educational sessions, a trade show where owners can connect with hundreds of qualified vendors, and brand sessions to hear from Choice leaders about recent performance success and where the company is investing to help drive revenue and lower costs.   

“Everything we do at Choice Hotels is about delivering value to hotel owners. The stronger we and our franchisees grow together, the more we can re-invest in their future success,” said Pacious.  

Pacious opened with a clear message: Choice Hotels is not just bigger — it’s better and stronger. The company’s growth has allowed it to attract a more resilient and higher income customer, including more business travelers who now represent 40% of all stays. Its upscale and above brand portfolio grew rooms by 44% last year and with more than 7,500 hotels worldwide, the company is leveraging its growing size to strengthen value for owners, helping to increase revenue opportunities, reduce operating costs, and fuel long-term business success. Some of the results Choice and its owners have achieved include:  

• Loyalty membership has surged past 70 million, with members booking direct more often, staying longer, and spending more. The revamped program’s enhancements — longer booking windows, premium room redemptions, and exclusive experiences — have helped drive a 30% increase in redemptions and 13% growth in average length of stay.  
• Over 6% year-over-year increase in converting lookers into direct bookers as a result of the ChoiceHotels.com refresh, with upscale online booking conversion up more than 14% in the first quarter of 2025.  
• Area Directors helped owners find over $25 million in potential operational cost savings last year, an average of $33,000 per participating property.  
• A new food group purchasing program shows an average savings of 9% on food costs, based on market-basket comparisons since the program launched in July 2024 to March 2025.   
• In 2024, hotels that used ChoiceROCS, a consultancy program designed to help drive increased revenue by leveraging functional expertise and advanced data analytics to provide pricing and strategy recommendations, saw a 100-basis-point premium in RevPAR Index versus hotels not using the program. In total, ChoiceROCS drove $81 million in incremental revenue to participating properties. 

The scale of the company has helped facilitate the strategic investments in proprietary tech tools, the loyalty program, and an owner success system that helps its hotels stand out from the competition. “Becoming bigger has allowed us to build a better and stronger business for you,” Pacious told the crowd.   

Scale That Works for Hotel Owners 

In a competitive high-cost landscape, scale and attracting more and different customers are essential. From negotiating reduced OTA fees and leveraging Choice’s scale with suppliers, Choice delivers tangible results for its franchise owners. In Q4 2024, group business revenue jumped 45% year-over-year, and transient business revenue in upper midscale rose 20%.  

Through strategic partnerships — with AAA, AARP, Preferred Hotels & Resorts, and Westgate Resorts — a strengthened Choice Privileges loyalty program, and more, Choice Hotels is drawing more guests directly to its properties and marketing channels. AARP members booked over 1.1 million room nights at Choice hotels in 2024, and the average return on investment for hotels with an official AAA appointment is $50,000.  

Innovation for the Long Haul 

Choice continues to lead at the intersection of hospitality, franchising, and technology. The company has been leveraging Artificial Intelligence for over 5 years now, and is harnessing its power to deliver personalized marketing, smarter revenue management, and new tools to help owners grow their business. 

Last year, Choice Hotels launched an ambitious endeavor to develop and implement a suite of cutting-edge, complementary and needle-moving capabilities to be delivered over the next two years. These consist of four areas: 

1. Empowering franchisees across all segments to manage rates with greater flexibility. 
2. Driving more occupancy from small-to-mid-sized companies by making it easier for them to do business through a self-serve platform, with no new increased labor costs for hotels.
3. Attracting and retaining new and existing guests through enhanced, AI-ready digital marketing capabilities that enable delivery of personalized messages to drive the right customers to hotels.  
4. An AI-infused, streamlined group travel system that will help franchisees identify the optimal opportunity and respond to requests for proposals.  

A Segment Leader Built for What’s Next 

The company has earned its reputation as a leader in midscale and extended stay, and Pacious made clear that the company intends to stay ahead by continuing to invest where it matters most. Choice recently launched new, cost-effective prototypes for Comfort and Country Inn & Suites, refining their brand identities and introducing new brand features to drive growth and success. And with one in every four midscale hotels in the U.S. flying a Quality Inn flag — a brand that celebrated its 85th anniversary last year — Choice is helping owners capture the full potential of their share of today’s competitive travel economy.  

In extended stay, Choice continues to lead. In 2024, Choice brands accounted for half of all economy and midscale extended stay hotels open and under construction. Last year, the company celebrated the opening of its 500th property, and continues to innovate from the front with transformative solutions like “Lobby in a Box” and “Kitchen in a Box,” which make conversions easier and faster. Its midscale Everhome Suites brand is growing at a rapid pace, with 25 hotels projected to be open by the end of 2025. And the WoodSpring Suites brand continues to operate under a proven formula, with gross operating profits above 55%. 

In the upscale and upper upscale segments, where Pacious declared that “today’s Choice is the industry’s one to watch,” the company’s growing presence is fueled by a strong commitment to success, strategic investments and the rollout of a series of brand refreshes designed to stand out in a sea of sameness. In 2024 alone, upscale-and-above room count rose to over 110,000 rooms, and Choice Privileges members now benefit from access to 180,000 upscale rooms, including through partnerships with Westgate Resorts and Preferred Hotels & Resorts.  

Pacious closed with a message of momentum: Choice Hotels is delivering and has bold plans for tomorrow. From midscale and extended stay leadership to AI-powered transformation, Choice’s scale isn’t just making it bigger — it’s making it better. That scale, combined with a relentless commitment to innovation, is powering new possibilities for hotel owners ready to grow alongside one of the industry’s most forward-looking franchisors.  

Technoheaven (www.technoheaven.net) is launching its Smart Markup module at this year’s ATM.

Using advancements in AI technology, Technoheaven’s Smart Markup Module analyses booking history, search behavior, nationality trends and seasonal dynamics to automatically calculate the optimal markup on inventory using predictive pricing. 

Built on over 50 million daily searches, this latest module ensures pricing stays agile, adaptive and perfectly in tune with changes  in demand. Travel businesses can control all margins and markups by creating their own rules for adding an extra layer of profit based on the very latest global data . 

Vinod Kelwani, CEO of Technoheaven, said “Our Smart Markup module is built on AI technology and predictive pricing to create the most efficient and competitive pricing markup on any inventory, whether its accommodation, flights or tours.  Travel companies have complete control and set their own parameters based on critical data such as bookings, search and seasonal trends which are then calculated and applied automatically for maximum profitability.”

He added: “This innovation ensures pricing stays agile, adaptive, and perfectly in tune with demand curves – a much-needed leap in dynamic pricing strategy for today’s travel providers.”

Become a Bedbank with Technoheaven

Technoheaven will also be showcasing its new inventory system at ATM that enables travel businesses to become a Bedbank.

Technoheaven’s One-Stop API Marketplace, which integrates with over 100 suppliers, offers a unique opportunity for businesses to upload their property inventory and distribute it globally through Technoheaven’s system.

As a Bedbank, travel businesses can:

• Distribute their hotel inventory to OTAs, DMCs, tour operators, and other B2B client
• Offer room-level precision mapping to avoid data duplication
• Maximize your sales channels by connecting directly with over 100 suppliers
• Leverage dynamic pricing models to optimize revenue

Hotels, wholesalers, and tour operators can monetize their inventory on a global scale with minimal setup and maximum reach, including real-time inventory updates and smart mapping tools.

“Becoming a Bedbank with Technoheaven gives you the flexibility to manage, distribute, and monetize your inventory through one powerful platform,” says Technoheaven’s leadership team.

Sweetgreen, Inc. announced the appointment of Jason Cochran as the Company’s Chief Operating Officer, effective May 5th. Cochran will oversee Field Operations and as well as Operations Services and Innovation for the Company and will report directly to Sweetgreen’s Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Jonathan Neman.

“Jason is a trusted and visionary leader with hands-on operational experience at growth oriented brands,” said Jonathan Neman, Co-Founder and CEO of Sweetgreen. “His strategic mindset, operational discipline, and ability to inspire teams make him uniquely positioned to help lead Sweetgreen into its next chapter of growth. Jason’s alignment with our mission and cultural fit is clear, and I’m incredibly excited to welcome him to the team as we continue scaling our impact across more communities.”

Cochran brings more than two decades of executive leadership experience in restaurant and consumer retail. Prior to joining Sweetgreen, he served as CEO and a board member of American West Restaurant Group, the third-largest Pizza Hut franchisee in the U.S., where he led the company through transformational growth and operational improvements across hundreds of locations.

Previously, Cochran was Vice President of Operations Services at Chipotle Mexican Grill, supporting over 3,000 restaurants and $8.6 billion in annual revenue. During his tenure, he led cross-functional efforts in process improvement, menu and equipment innovation, new store development, and field training. Earlier in his career, Cochran spent 14 years at GameStop, ultimately serving as Senior Vice President of U.S. Stores, responsible for 4,400 locations and more than $7.5 billion in sales.

“I’m thrilled to join Sweetgreen at such a pivotal moment,” said Cochran. “I’ve long admired the brand’s mission, focus on real food, and commitment to operational excellence. I look forward to working alongside this talented team to scale the business, strengthen the culture, and deliver continued value for our customers, team members, and shareholders.”

Jurny, the leader in agentic AI for hospitality, announced the release of JurnyOS 3.5, the company’s most powerful platform release to date. Built around NIA (Networked Intelligent Automation), Jurny’s proprietary agentic AI, the new system moves beyond traditional automation—giving hospitality operators a platform that thinks, acts, learns, and improves over time.

Deployment of JurnyOS 3.5 will begin rollout to existing users today, April 29, 2025, with broader public releases occurring weekly throughout the month of May 2025. Full availability to all new users is anticipated by the end of May 2025.

To experience JurnyOS 3.5 in action, operators are invited to join a live demo during the April 29 webinar (details below), where the team will showcase the platform’s next-generation capabilities. A recorded session will also be available for those unable to attend live.

"JurnyOS 3.5 isn't just faster, it's smarter," said Luca Zambello, CEO and Founder of Jurny. "With NIA, we're taking agentic AI in hospitality to the next level—enhancing its ability to learn from operations, suggest improvements, automate repetitive workflows, and refine a company's standard operating procedures (SOPs)—all while ensuring operators maintain full control. It's the future of hospitality management—and it’s available today."

With JurnyOS 3,5, boutique hotels, vacation rentals, and hospitality brands can deploy a single AI-powered operating system that not only reacts to guest needs but also proactively optimizes operations, improves efficiency, personalizes guest journeys, and scales profitability with minimal human intervention.

Introducing the Power of NIA, True Agentic AI in Action

While most hospitality "AI" today is limited to reactive chatbots with limited capabilities, JurnyOS 3.5 leverages true agentic AI. NIA continuously learns from daily operations, guest behavior, and team workflows to proactively suggest improvements, launch intelligent automations, and self-optimize processes in real time.

Key innovations include:

• Proactive Business Insights – Operational suggestions and alerts driven by live data and sentiment analysis.
• Self-Learning Task Automation – Repetitive tasks are identified, automated, and optimized without manual programming.
• Dynamic SOP Creation – NIA helps create and refine Standard Operating Procedures based on observed best practices.
• Sentiment Analysis and Guest Personalization – Understand guest emotions, recognize VIP and repeat guests, and tailor experiences automatically.
• Unified, AI-Powered Inbox – Fully automated communication management across Airbnb, Booking.com, Expedia, 50+ OTAs, WhatsApp, SMS, voice, and email—where NIA can answer guest inquiries, accept and modify reservations, assist with concierge services, provide upselling, and take operational actions based on guest interactions.

Every action taken by NIA is transparent, auditable, and customizable to meet each operator’s unique standards and brand voice.