Choice Hotels International’s profit slipped in the first quarter. The company earned $15.8 million, versus $16.3 million in the same quarter of the prior year.

Published: 27 Apr 2010

Choice Hotels International’s profit slipped in the first quarter. The company earned $15.8 million, versus $16.3 million in the same quarter of the prior year.

Total revenue for the firm declined 6 percent compared to the same time last year. Choice Hotels reported revenue of $107.4 million, compared to $114.2 million during the first quarter of 2009.

Domestic system-wide revenue per available room (RevPAR) declined 10.3% for the first quarter of 2010 compared to the same period of 2009.

“While the domestic RevPAR and franchise sales environment remained challenging during the first quarter, the company’s overall franchise sales results and recent RevPAR trends indicate some stabilisation in this environment,” said Stephen P. Joyce, president and chief executive officer.

“As the domestic RevPAR and hotel transaction environment improves, we believe that Choice will remain a top choice for hotel developers, on account of our well-known family of brands, our ability to deliver guests to our franchisees’ hotels and our range of centralised support services designed to enhance our franchisees’ profitability.”

The company executed 55 new domestic hotel franchise contracts for the three months ended March 31, 2010, a decline of 8 percent compared to the 60 contracts executed in the same period of the prior year.

The number of domestic hotels under construction, awaiting conversion or approved for development declined 27 percent from March 31, 2009 to 657 hotels representing 52,483 rooms; the worldwide pipeline declined 25 percent from March 31, 2009 to 759 hotels representing 60,704 rooms.