Where in the UK?
Choice has 40 properties in the UK and eight in Ireland, spread out geographically, but with most in the London area (17 are within the M25). The brands’ presence has some odd quirks, with notable omissions – there are no hotels in Manchester or several other major cities, and only one in Scotland, in Edinburgh.
The breakdown is 22 Comfort Inns, 17 Quality, and one Clarion, in Northern Ireland. Last year the chain opened the Quality Hotel Reading and the Quality Birmingham Airport/NEC, but there is no “typical” location for the hotels since they range from city centres to airports to suburban areas.
The brand is obviously going through a shake-down, since some of the out-of-date marketing material still present in the hotels states that there are up to 100 Choice Hotels properties in the UK.
What are they like?
There is a wide spread to the hotels, not only between the three brands but within each brand. Brian Garvan, UK director of sales, says Choice’s “family” of brands allows them to satisfy most UK travellers. “Comfort aligns with the Premier Inn and Travelodge type of product. We [then] have a product that sits in the middle, the Quality, and we have the more fully featured Clarion product,” he says.
I recently visited the Quality Hotel Maida Vale, and found it to be a modern, high-specification property with stylish design and good transport links into central London. There were iPod docks, free wifi, laptop safes and tea and coffee-making facilities in each of the rooms, as well as a decent restaurant. But catch a bus further into town and you have the alternative of the less expensive Comfort Inn Edgware Road, where the reception could be mistaken for a newsagent and the breakfast room has a corrugated plastic roof. However, it is a clean hotel, with tea and coffee-making facilities and flatscreen TVs.
A possible reason for these kinds of discrepancies is that the properties are all franchises, which means not only does Choice not run the hotels in the UK, but it doesn’t manage them either. Still, Garvan says they “offer consistent brand standards”, which Choice has upgraded in the past 18 months. “We’ve had a programme to introduce everything from the bedding, free breakfasts and free internet to technology at the front desks to improve the customer experience,” he says. The Comfort Inn I visited, however, charged £15 for 24 hours of internet use – Garvan says they are working with the hotels to remove such charges.
Are they for business travellers?
Most are, yes, and the chain is concentrating on appealing to this part of the market. Last year it introduced free internet access, upgraded bedding and created a consistent breakfast offering in all Comfort and Quality branded hotels in Europe. On the Continent, the 500 hotels are in 16 countries and, this year, the European directory of these properties (available to download from choicehotels.eu) also includes the details of 70 hotels that have superior conference facilities.
The directory also details whether they have restaurants, business centres, on-site parking, air conditioning in bedrooms and wifi access, along with information about nearby attractions, such as how close the hotel is to the sea, ski resorts or amusement parks.
Is there a loyalty scheme?
Yes, the Choice Privileges hotel rewards programme, which is a particular strength since there are more than 6,000 properties across ten brands in which you can earn and burn. Originally launched in 1998, Choice Privileges has been available in Europe since 2008.
There are 11 million members, and rewards include express check-in and extended check-out. There is also the option of redeeming points at luxury partner hotels such as Preferred Hotels and Resorts, through airline affiliates including American Airlines, Qantas, Delta and Czech Airlines, and car hire partners such as Avis Rent a Car and Budget.?
Tell me the good news…
A big one is the rewards programme, and let’s not be shy, the prices are attractive as well, with the Comfort brand offering rooms in central London on a weekday night for £55 for single occupancy.
And the bad…
The brand certainly needs to work on its website. The UK version is choicehotelsuk.co.uk, and perusing the destinations of its hotels will show their odd geographical distribution. Garvan recognises this and says: “This year we will be migrating the local websites for the UK, France and Germany on to the choicehotels.com platform, which is one of the most popular websites in the world.”
This may be true but, at present, for a user in the UK the website is fairly baffling, and unless you knew there was a Choice hotel close to your destination, you would have difficulty in finding it using only the website. A search for a hotel near Manchester, for example, throws up more than 20 “Manchester” options worldwide. Click on “Greater Manchester County, EN, GB” and you’ll get hotels in Chester, Stoke and Leeds Garforth.
Garvan says: “Some of the messaging on there can be US-centric at the moment, but there is development work going on so it can recognise where the user is logging on from, for instance.”
Future plans?
After de-listing some hotels, Choice sees the future as continued expansion, a focus on business travellers and an improved website.
Where can I learn more?
A combination of choicehotelsuk.co.uk and choicehotels.com, but be prepared for an adventure.
Who are they?
One of the largest hotel operators in the world, with more than 6,000 properties worldwide and more than 485,000 rooms. Choice has ten brands in total, but in the UK it concentrates on the budget end, with three – Clarion, Quality and Comfort.
