NEW YORK — Choice Hotels International will invest as much as $400 million to help owners speed up development of Cambria hotels in major U.S. cities.
The company is looking to expand the number of Cambria hotels to about 150 by the end of 2016; there are currently 20. The first Cambria hotel opened in 2007.
Choice CEO Stephen Joyce, speaking in New York late Monday at an event held after the first day of the NYU International Hospitality Industry Investment Conference, said Cambria was looking to take on brands such as Courtyard by Marriott and Hilton Garden Inn with the expansion.
Choice will focus its efforts on Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, Philadelphia and San Francisco, said Michael Murphy, the company’s senior vice president of upscale brands. The first Cambria hotel in Washington, D.C., opened last week.
Murphy declined to estimate how many hotels the $400 million would fund but estimated that the newer Cambria prototype costs about $100,000 per key to build.
Choice Hotels last year enacted a similar initiative to accelerate upgrades to Comfort Inn and Comfort Suites hotels, though that funding amount was about $40 million.
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