Choice Hotels Had a Rough First Quarter

The U.S. hotel industry just posted its strongest first-quarter demand since the pandemic, with average occupancy at its highest level since 2019. Choice Hotels’ performance fell short of that upbeat vibe, and its stock price fell about 15% on a day when the market was up on average.

Consider the key industry metric of revenue per available room (RevPAR). CoStar data showed U.S. RevPAR up just under 4% year over year. But Choice came in at -2.3%.

“We cannot recall a diversified branded franchisor underperforming the U.S. industry to this degree,” wrote Truist Securities analyst Patrick Scholes and G