Back to top

Image: Shutterstock

Choice Hotels (CHH) Boosts Cambria Hotel Presence in Tennessee

Read MoreHide Full Article

In a bid to strengthen its portfolio in Tennessee, Choice Hotels International, Inc. (CHH - Free Report) recently entered into a franchise agreement with VRL Hotels to develop new Cambria Hotel Gatlinburg and Cambria Hotel Pigeon Forge.

Notably, the hotels will join the likes of Cambria Hotel Nashville Downtown as well as soon-to-open Cambria Hotel Nashville Airport and a future property in Nashville's West End neighborhood, thereby boosting the upscale brand's traction in Tennessee.

Mark Shalala, senior vice president of development, upscale brands, Choice Hotels, stated, "Since June, we've added five new hotels coast to coast — from Madeira Beach, Florida to Sonoma, California — and our developers continue to be heavily invested in the growth of the brand, as evidenced by these new franchise agreements in two highly sought-after leisure markets in Tennessee."

Located in in downtown Gatlinburg, the Cambria Hotel comes in close proximity to the Ripley's Aquarium of the Smokies and Haunted Adventure, Rocky Top Sports complex and many bourbon distilleries, breweries and wineries. The property is expected to open in 2022.

Meanwhile, the Cambria Hotel Pigeon Forge draws nearby attractions such as the LeConte Center, Titanic Museum, NASCAR and SpeedPark Smoky Mountains. It is expected to open in 2024.

Continuous Expansion Bodes Well

Choice Hotels relies heavily on expansion in both domestic and international markets. During the third quarter of 2020, the company awarded 81 domestic franchise agreements, out of which nearly three-fourth accounted for conversion hotels. Year to date through Sep 30, the company awarded nearly 230 new domestic franchise agreements.

Alongside domestic growth, the company continues to expand its international footprint in new countries. Key international operating markets include Spain, Colombia, Panama, the Caribbean and Canada.

Currently, the brand has more than 50 hotels (open or in the pipeline), thereby illustrating strong growth in its coast-to-coast expansion.



So far this year, shares of Choice Hotels have declined 0.1% compared with the industry’s fall of 7.5%.

Zacks Rank & Key Picks

Choice Hotels currently carries a Zacks Rank #4 (Sell).

Some better-ranked stocks in the Zacks Consumer Discretionary sector are Civeo Corporation (CVEO - Free Report) , YETI Holdings, Inc. (YETI - Free Report) and Vista Outdoor Inc. (VSTO - Free Report) , each sporting a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

2020 earnings for Civeo are expected to surge 143.5%.

YETI Holdings has a three-five year earnings per share growth rate of 18.3%.

Vista Outdoor has has delivered an earnings surprise of 63.5% in the last four quarters, on average.

Zacks Names “Single Best Pick to Double”

From thousands of stocks, 5 Zacks experts each have chosen their favorite to skyrocket +100% or more in months to come. From those 5, Director of Research SherazMian hand-picks one to have the most explosive upside of all.

You know this company from its past glory days, but few would expect that it’s poised for a monster turnaround. Fresh from a successful repositioning and flush with A-list celeb endorsements, it could rival or surpass other recent Zacks’ Stocks Set to Double like Boston Beer Company which shot up +143.0% in a little more than 9 months and Nvidia which boomed +175.9% in one year.

Free: See Our Top Stock and 4 Runners Up >>

Published in