Choice Hotels Australasia has launched a new hotel collective to enable independent hotels with a "historic, boutique aesthetic" to access its distribution channels, global network and reservations and marketing resources.
The Ascend Hotel Collection, launched by chief executive Trent Fraser at the Choice Hotels Conference in Darwin, caters to a market segment with an interest in unique, smaller properties between four and four and a half stars.
While the brand has existed in the US for a number of year's, Fraser identified it as a great fit for the local market due to the number of suitable guest houses located here, particularly in Tasmania and New Zealand.
"These properties have built up some really good brand equity over time," Fraser told Travel Today.
He explained that Ascend's appeal lies in its offer of non-intrusive services that do not detract from the property's individual brand with a small plaque the only requirement of membership.
"It's a membership program we can offer them where they can still operate under their own identity and maintain their own unique offering for their customers," he said.
"But they can also then leverage off what we do from sales, marketing and distribution point of view to get that message out to a wider audience."
The membership scheme launches with a portfolio which includes Sydney's Castlereagh Hotel, Denison Boutique Hotel in Rockhampton and Gibraltar Hotel Bowral, NSW. It also counts a New Zealand property – the Metropolis in Auckland.
Over the next 12 months, Fraser is targeting the addition of a further 12 to 15 properties to the collection.
"I'd be happy if we had 20 or so hotels under the Ascend Collection brand by the end of next year or so," he said.
Meanwhile, at the other end of Choice's brand spectrum, its economy offering Econo Lodge continues to flourish, he added.
"We've just touched on 30 Econo Lodge properties and we've got another half a dozen or so in the pipeline."
The hotel firm has 270 hotels in Australia, New Zealand and Singapore across its Econo Lodge, Comfort, Quality and Clarion brands.
Pictured: Fraser with Celebrity Apprentice host and executive chairman Yellow Brick Road Mark Bouris – a keynote speaker at the Choice Hotels Conference in Darwin, currently underway.
