Q2 2026 Choice Hotels International Inc Earnings Call

August 5, 2026

Operator 3: Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing by. Welcome to Choice Hotels International's Q2 2026 Earnings Call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. Following the prepared remarks, we will open the line for questions. I will now turn the call over to Allie Summers, Senior Director of Investor Relations.

Operator: Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing by. Welcome to Choice Hotels International's Q2 2026 Earnings Call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. Following the prepared remarks, we will open the line for questions. I will now turn the call over to Allie Summers, Senior Director of Investor Relations.

Speaker #1: Following the prepared remarks, we will open the line for questions. I will now turn the call over to Allie Summers, Senior Director of Investor Relations.

Speaker #2: Good morning, and thank you for joining us. Before we begin, please note that today's discussion includes forward-looking statements as defined under U.S. Securities Laws.

Allie Summers: Good morning, thank you for joining us. Before we begin, please note that today's discussion includes forward-looking statements as defined under US securities laws. These statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied. For more information, please refer to our filings with the SEC, including our most recent Forms 10-K and 10-Q. These statements speak only as of today, and we undertake no obligation to update them. A reconciliation of any non-GAAP financial measures used in today's remarks is included in our earnings press release, available in the investor relations section of choicehotels.com. Joining me this morning are Dom Dragicevich, our Interim Chief Executive Officer, and Scott Oaksmith, our Chief Financial Officer. Dom will discuss our business performance and strategic progress, Scott will review our financial results and outlook.

Speaker #2: These statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied. For more information, please refer to our filings with the SEC, including our most recent Forms 10-K and 10-Q.

Speaker #2: These statements speak only as of today, and we undertake no obligation to update them. A reconciliation of any known gaps financial measures used in today's remarks is included in our earnings press release, available in the Investor Relations section of Choice Hotels.com.

Speaker #2: Joining me this morning are Dom Dragisic, our Interim Chief Executive Officer, and Scott Oaksmith, our Chief Financial Officer. Dom will discuss our business performance and strategic progress.

Speaker #2: And Scott will review our financial results and outlook. And with that, I'll turn the call over to Dom.

Allie Summers: With that, I'll turn the call over to Dom.

Speaker #3: Thank you, Allie, and good morning, everyone. The second quarter marked encouraging progress across our key priorities, highlighted by a 6% year-over-year increase in adjusted EBITDA.

Dom Dragicevich: Thank you, Allie, good morning, everyone. The Q2 marked encouraging progress across our key priorities, highlighted by a 6% year-over-year increase in adjusted EBITDA. Most importantly, US net rooms growth improved sequentially for the second consecutive quarter and is now nearly flat year-over-year. This reflects our strongest H1 performance since 2021. These improving net rooms growth trends in the US and continued international momentum led to global rooms growth of 2.6% in the Q2. We also continued to drive strong franchise agreement results during the quarter, reinforcing our confidence in future global and US rooms growth. US RevPAR increased 1.3% year-over-year, reflecting strengthening demand trends and benefiting in part from the FIFA World Cup. The RevPAR improvement we saw during the Q2, together with the trend since quarter end, show we are moving in the right direction.

Dom Dragisich: Thank you, Allie, good morning, everyone. The Q2 marked encouraging progress across our key priorities, highlighted by a 6% year-over-year increase in adjusted EBITDA. Most importantly, US net rooms growth improved sequentially for the second consecutive quarter and is now nearly flat year-over-year. This reflects our strongest H1 performance since 2021. These improving net rooms growth trends in the US and continued international momentum led to global rooms growth of 2.6% in the Q2. We also continued to drive strong franchise agreement results during the quarter, reinforcing our confidence in future global and US rooms growth. US RevPAR increased 1.3% year-over-year, reflecting strengthening demand trends and benefiting in part from the FIFA World Cup. The RevPAR improvement we saw during the Q2, together with the trend since quarter end, show we are moving in the right direction.

Speaker #3: Most importantly, U.S. net rooms growth improved sequentially for the second consecutive quarter and is now nearly flat year over year. This reflects our strongest first-half performance since 2021.

Speaker #3: These improving net rooms growth trends in the U.S. and continued international momentum led to global rooms growth of 2.6% in the second quarter. We also continued to drive strong franchise agreement results during the quarter, reinforcing our confidence in future global and U.S. performance.

Speaker #3: rooms growth. U.S. RevPAR increased 1.3% year over year, reflecting strengthening demand trends and benefiting in part from the FIFO World Cup. The RevPAR improvement we saw during the second quarter together with the trends since quarter end show we are moving in the right direction.

Speaker #3: I am confident this business can perform at an even higher level as we continue to realize greater value from the investments we've made in our commercial engine and technology focus on execution.

Dom Dragicevich: I am confident this business can perform at an even higher level as we continue to realize greater value from the investments we've made in our commercial engine and technology platform while maintaining a renewed focus on execution. Disciplined capital allocation also remains a key priority for Choice. In H1, capital outlays for hotel development declined 80% year-over-year as we continued our transition back to a pure play asset light franchising model, while maintaining flexibility to make targeted investments in attractive franchise growth opportunities. There is still more work to do, but the progress we have made this quarter and the underlying operating trends we're seeing give us greater confidence in the outlook for the balance of the year.

Dom Dragisich: I am confident this business can perform at an even higher level as we continue to realize greater value from the investments we've made in our commercial engine and technology platform while maintaining a renewed focus on execution. Disciplined capital allocation also remains a key priority for Choice. In H1, capital outlays for hotel development declined 80% year-over-year as we continued our transition back to a pure play asset light franchising model, while maintaining flexibility to make targeted investments in attractive franchise growth opportunities. There is still more work to do, but the progress we have made this quarter and the underlying operating trends we're seeing give us greater confidence in the outlook for the balance of the year.

Speaker #3: Discipline capital allocation also remains a key priority for Choice. In the first half of the year, capital outlays for hotel development declined 80% year over year as we continued our transition back to a pure-play asset-light franchising model, while maintaining flexibility to make targeted investments in attractive franchise growth opportunities.

Speaker #3: There is still more work to do, but the progress we have made this quarter and the underlying operating trends we're seeing give us greater confidence in the outlook for the balance of the year.

Speaker #3: As a result, we're raising our full-year outlook across several metrics, including adjusted EBITDA, U.S. and global RevPAR, U.S. royalty rate, and global net rooms growth, which Scott will cover shortly.

Dom Dragicevich: We're raising our full year outlook across several metrics, including adjusted EBITDA, US and global RevPAR, US royalty rate, and global net rooms growth, which Scott will cover shortly. Before I go into the quarter in more detail, I'd like to briefly share how I'm approaching this role. My focus is simple: execution. We have a meaningful opportunity to improve, and my job is to close the gap between where we are today and where I believe this business can perform. Since stepping in, I've spent most of my time listening to our franchisees and teams across the company. Those conversations have reinforced three priorities for me: staying close to our franchisees and the guests they serve, moving with greater urgency across the business, and being disciplined about where we invest our time and capital.

Dom Dragisich: We're raising our full year outlook across several metrics, including adjusted EBITDA, US and global RevPAR, US royalty rate, and global net rooms growth, which Scott will cover shortly. Before I go into the quarter in more detail, I'd like to briefly share how I'm approaching this role. My focus is simple: execution. We have a meaningful opportunity to improve, and my job is to close the gap between where we are today and where I believe this business can perform. Since stepping in, I've spent most of my time listening to our franchisees and teams across the company. Those conversations have reinforced three priorities for me: staying close to our franchisees and the guests they serve, moving with greater urgency across the business, and being disciplined about where we invest our time and capital.

Speaker #3: Now, before I go into the quarter in more detail, I'd like to briefly share how I'm approaching this role. My focus is simple: execution.

Speaker #3: We have a meaningful opportunity to improve, and my job is to close the gap between where we are today and where I believe this business can perform.

Speaker #3: Since stepping in, I spent most of my time listening to our franchisees and teams across the company. Those conversations have reinforced three priorities for me: staying close to our franchisees in the guests they serve, moving with greater urgency across the business, and being disciplined about where we invest our time and capital.

Speaker #3: Years of working across the business have given me firsthand insight into our strengths, where we can perform at a higher level, and where better execution will make the biggest difference.

Dom Dragicevich: Years of working across the business have given me firsthand insight into our strengths, where we can perform at a higher level, and where better execution will make the biggest difference. What's needed now is greater speed, discipline, and accountability to deliver stronger results for our franchisees and shareholders. Over the past several years, we've invested in building a stronger commercial engine and technology platform. I believe our biggest opportunity is realizing the full potential of what we've already built, turning those investments into stronger operating performance, improved franchisee profitability, better guest experience, and ultimately greater long-term shareholder value. We'll be candid about where we're making progress and where we still have work to do. Ultimately, you'll measure us by the results we deliver, and that's the standard I hold us to.

Dom Dragisich: Years of working across the business have given me firsthand insight into our strengths, where we can perform at a higher level, and where better execution will make the biggest difference. What's needed now is greater speed, discipline, and accountability to deliver stronger results for our franchisees and shareholders. Over the past several years, we've invested in building a stronger commercial engine and technology platform. I believe our biggest opportunity is realizing the full potential of what we've already built, turning those investments into stronger operating performance, improved franchisee profitability, better guest experience, and ultimately greater long-term shareholder value. We'll be candid about where we're making progress and where we still have work to do. Ultimately, you'll measure us by the results we deliver, and that's the standard I hold us to.

Speaker #3: What’s needed now is greater speed, discipline, and accountability to deliver stronger results for our franchisees and shareholders. Over the past several years, we’ve invested in building a stronger commercial engine and technology platform.

Speaker #3: Today, I believe our biggest opportunity is realizing the full potential of what we've already built, turning those investments into stronger operating performance, improved franchisee profitability, better guest experience, and ultimately greater long-term shareholder value.

Speaker #3: We'll be candid about where we're making progress and where we still have work to do. Ultimately, you'll measure us by the results we deliver, and that's the standard I hold us to.

Speaker #3: The way we'll achieve those results is by executing a business model that creates value for our franchisees and, in turn, our shareholders. At Choice, we strengthen franchisee economics by lowering owners' costs and delivering higher RevPAR through our commercial capabilities.

Dom Dragicevich: The way we'll achieve those results is by executing a business model that creates value for our franchisees and in turn, our shareholders. At Choice, we strengthen franchisee economics by lowering owners' costs and delivering higher RevPAR through our commercial capabilities. Stronger franchisee economics support rooms growth and in turn, more durable earnings and free cash flow. That gives us the flexibility to invest in the business while continuing to return capital to shareholders. My job is making sure we deliver on that consistently. In my conversations with franchisees, one message comes through consistently. They want a partner that lowers their costs, increases their revenue, and helps them operate more effectively. Technology has been helping us deliver on each of those priorities through several years of investment in our commercial engine and cloud platform. More recently, AI has helped us move even faster.

Dom Dragisich: The way we'll achieve those results is by executing a business model that creates value for our franchisees and in turn, our shareholders. At Choice, we strengthen franchisee economics by lowering owners' costs and delivering higher RevPAR through our commercial capabilities. Stronger franchisee economics support rooms growth and in turn, more durable earnings and free cash flow. That gives us the flexibility to invest in the business while continuing to return capital to shareholders. My job is making sure we deliver on that consistently. In my conversations with franchisees, one message comes through consistently. They want a partner that lowers their costs, increases their revenue, and helps them operate more effectively. Technology has been helping us deliver on each of those priorities through several years of investment in our commercial engine and cloud platform. More recently, AI has helped us move even faster.

Speaker #3: Stronger franchisee economics support rooms growth and, in turn, more durable earnings and free cash flow. That gives us the flexibility to invest in the business while continuing to return capital to shareholders.

Speaker #3: My job is making sure we deliver on that, consistently. In my conversations with franchisees, one message comes through consistently: they want a partner that lowers their costs, increases their revenue, and helps them operate more effectively.

Speaker #3: Technology has been helping us deliver on each of those priorities, several years of investment in our commercial engine and cloud platform. More recently, AI has helped us move even faster.

Speaker #3: On costs, we've reduced prototype costs by up to 25% across key mid-scale brands. Country in and suites by Radisson is a good example. The redesigned lower-cost prototype is driving renewed development momentum, with franchise agreements up 11% year over year in the first half of 2026.

Dom Dragicevich: On costs, we've reduced prototype costs by up to 25% across key midscale brands. Country Inn & Suites by Radisson is a good example. The redesigned lower cost prototype is driving renewed development momentum with franchise agreements up 11% year-over-year in H1 2026. We're also leveraging the scale of the Choice system to lower owners' ongoing cost through a new FF&E procurement program, which is expected to reduce cost up to an average of 20% across the program's FF&E and building product categories. On revenue, demand is strengthening, and I believe our biggest opportunity is earning a greater share of that demand by leveraging the commercial and technology investments we've made, particularly among our core value-oriented travelers.

Dom Dragisich: On costs, we've reduced prototype costs by up to 25% across key midscale brands. Country Inn & Suites by Radisson is a good example. The redesigned lower cost prototype is driving renewed development momentum with franchise agreements up 11% year-over-year in H1 2026. We're also leveraging the scale of the Choice system to lower owners' ongoing cost through a new FF&E procurement program, which is expected to reduce cost up to an average of 20% across the program's FF&E and building product categories. On revenue, demand is strengthening, and I believe our biggest opportunity is earning a greater share of that demand by leveraging the commercial and technology investments we've made, particularly among our core value-oriented travelers.

Speaker #3: We're also leveraging the scale of the Choice system to lower owners' ongoing costs through a new FF&E procurement program, which is expected to reduce costs up to an average of 20% across the program's FF&E and building product categories.

Speaker #3: On revenue, demand is strengthening, and I believe our biggest opportunity is earning a greater share of that demand by leveraging the commercial and technology investments we've made, particularly among our core value-oriented travelers.

Speaker #3: Earlier this year, we relaunched Choice Privileges to better serve that traveler by making our loyalty program more rewarding and better aligned with how our members travel.

Dom Dragicevich: Earlier this year, we relaunched Choice Privileges to better serve that traveler by making our loyalty program more rewarding and better aligned with how our members travel. While it's still early, we're seeing encouraging signs. Membership grew 7% year-over-year to 77 million, while loyalty contribution increased more than 250 basis points during the quarter. Importantly, members acquired since the relaunch are already generating higher average revenue than comparable members acquired a year ago. We are also seeing early traction from our recently launched Business Direct platform for small and medium-sized businesses. Approximately 60% of enrolled businesses are new to Choice, and nearly 90% of room nights occur midweek. More broadly, revenue from small and medium-sized business travelers increased 8% year-over-year in Q2. I mentioned AI allowing us to move faster, we are also using AI to deliver tangible benefits for our franchisees.

Dom Dragisich: Earlier this year, we relaunched Choice Privileges to better serve that traveler by making our loyalty program more rewarding and better aligned with how our members travel. While it's still early, we're seeing encouraging signs. Membership grew 7% year-over-year to 77 million, while loyalty contribution increased more than 250 basis points during the quarter. Importantly, members acquired since the relaunch are already generating higher average revenue than comparable members acquired a year ago. We are also seeing early traction from our recently launched Business Direct platform for small and medium-sized businesses. Approximately 60% of enrolled businesses are new to Choice, and nearly 90% of room nights occur midweek. More broadly, revenue from small and medium-sized business travelers increased 8% year-over-year in Q2. I mentioned AI allowing us to move faster, we are also using AI to deliver tangible benefits for our franchisees.

Speaker #3: While it's still early, we're seeing encouraging signs. Membership grew 7% year over year to 77 million, while loyalty contribution increased more than 250 basis points during the quarter.

Speaker #3: Importantly, members acquired since the relaunch are already generating higher average revenue than comparable members acquired a year ago. We are also seeing early traction from our recently launched business direct platform for small and medium-sized businesses.

Speaker #3: Approximately 60% of enrolled businesses are new to Choice, and nearly 90% of room nights occur midweek. More broadly, revenue from small and medium-sized business travelers increased 8% year over year in the second quarter.

Speaker #3: I mentioned AI allowing us to move faster, but we are also using AI to deliver tangible benefits for our franchisees. Our AI-enabled EasyBid platform improved group RFP conversion by 360 basis points, contributing to 16% year-over-year growth in group revenue in the second quarter.

Dom Dragicevich: Our AI-enabled EasyBid platform improved group RFP conversion by 360 basis points, contributing to 16% year-over-year growth in group revenue in Q2. Inside the hotel, our AI teammate, CHARLIE, within our property management system, reduced requests for operational support by about 40% in an early pilot, freeing up staff to spend more time with guests. There's more ahead in how AI reshapes hotel discovery and booking. We're continuing to refine our content and data, so Choice properties are discoverable and desirable wherever guests are searching next. We're working directly with the major AI platforms shaping that shift. It's early, we intend to be ahead of that curve. I believe technology and AI are becoming the engine that powers everything we do, not as separate initiatives, but as capabilities embedded across every part of the business.

Dom Dragisich: Our AI-enabled EasyBid platform improved group RFP conversion by 360 basis points, contributing to 16% year-over-year growth in group revenue in Q2. Inside the hotel, our AI teammate, CHARLIE, within our property management system, reduced requests for operational support by about 40% in an early pilot, freeing up staff to spend more time with guests. There's more ahead in how AI reshapes hotel discovery and booking. We're continuing to refine our content and data, so Choice properties are discoverable and desirable wherever guests are searching next. We're working directly with the major AI platforms shaping that shift. It's early, we intend to be ahead of that curve. I believe technology and AI are becoming the engine that powers everything we do, not as separate initiatives, but as capabilities embedded across every part of the business.

Speaker #3: Inside the hotel, our AI teammate Charlie, within our property management system, reduced requests for operational support by about 40% in an early pilot, freeing up staff to spend more time with guests.

Speaker #3: And there's more ahead in how AI reshapes hotel discovery and booking. We're continuing to refine our content and data so Choice properties are discoverable and desirable wherever guests are searching next, and we're working directly with a major AI platform shaping that shift.

Speaker #3: It's early, but we intend to be ahead of that curve. I believe technology and AI are becoming the engine that powers everything we do, not a separate initiative, but as capabilities embedded across every part of the business.

Speaker #3: That's how we create more value for our franchisees and, ultimately, our shareholders. Turning to RevPAR to demand environment was constructive, supported by our value-oriented brands, resilient workforce-related travel, and our extended stay portfolio.

Dom Dragicevich: That's how we create more value for our franchisees and ultimately our shareholders. Turning to RevPAR, the demand environment was constructive, supported by our value-oriented brands, resilient workforce-related travel, and our Extended Stay portfolio. We also benefited from major event-driven travel over the past two months, including the FIFA World Cup. Importantly, the World Cup brought in a meaningful number of first-time Choice guests and international travelers, expanding our reach into segments where we have historically been underrepresented. While the demand environment was constructive, our objective is not to rely on market tailwinds alone. We are focused on improving our competitive RevPAR performance by earning a greater share of demand through the commercial capabilities we've built and will continue to strengthen. That's how we'll deliver more consistent performance over time. Net rooms growth remains my top operating priority.

Dom Dragisich: That's how we create more value for our franchisees and ultimately our shareholders. Turning to RevPAR, the demand environment was constructive, supported by our value-oriented brands, resilient workforce-related travel, and our Extended Stay portfolio. We also benefited from major event-driven travel over the past two months, including the FIFA World Cup. Importantly, the World Cup brought in a meaningful number of first-time Choice guests and international travelers, expanding our reach into segments where we have historically been underrepresented. While the demand environment was constructive, our objective is not to rely on market tailwinds alone. We are focused on improving our competitive RevPAR performance by earning a greater share of demand through the commercial capabilities we've built and will continue to strengthen. That's how we'll deliver more consistent performance over time. Net rooms growth remains my top operating priority.

Speaker #3: We also benefited from major event-driven travel over the past two months, including the FIFA World Cup. Importantly, the World Cup brought in a meaningful number of first-time Choice guests and international travelers, expanding our reach into segments where we have historically been underrepresented.

Speaker #3: While the demand environment was constructive, our objective is not to rely on market tailwinds alone. We are focused on improving our competitive RevPAR performance by earning a greater share of demand through the commercial capabilities we've built and will continue to strengthen.

Speaker #3: That's how we'll deliver more consistent performance over time. Net Rooms growth remains my top operating priority. US Net Rooms growth improved sequentially as second-quarter openings reached a seven-year high, while exits declined to their lowest level in six years.

Dom Dragicevich: US net rooms growth improved sequentially as Q2 openings reached a 7-year high while exits declined to their lowest level in 6 years. The decline in exits reflects the growing value we're delivering to our franchisees through the Choice system, along with stronger franchisee engagement and improving owner economics. Our conversion-led development model continues to differentiate Choice through faster openings, lower owner investment requirements, and earlier royalty generation. That advantage was evident again this quarter as our US conversion pipeline expanded 6% sequentially. Importantly, about 75% of the US agreements we've signed year to date are expected to open this year, providing strong visibility into near-term growth. International net rooms continue to grow in the double digits, providing another avenue for durable earnings growth over time. Global franchise agreements increased 20% year over year during the quarter, reflecting continued demand across both our conversion-led and our higher revenue brands.

Dom Dragisich: US net rooms growth improved sequentially as Q2 openings reached a 7-year high while exits declined to their lowest level in 6 years. The decline in exits reflects the growing value we're delivering to our franchisees through the Choice system, along with stronger franchisee engagement and improving owner economics. Our conversion-led development model continues to differentiate Choice through faster openings, lower owner investment requirements, and earlier royalty generation. That advantage was evident again this quarter as our US conversion pipeline expanded 6% sequentially. Importantly, about 75% of the US agreements we've signed year to date are expected to open this year, providing strong visibility into near-term growth. International net rooms continue to grow in the double digits, providing another avenue for durable earnings growth over time. Global franchise agreements increased 20% year over year during the quarter, reflecting continued demand across both our conversion-led and our higher revenue brands.

Speaker #3: The decline in exits reflects the growing value we're delivering to our franchisees through the Choice system, along with stronger franchisee engagement and improving owner economics.

Speaker #3: Our conversion-led development model continues to differentiate Choice through faster openings, lower owner investment requirements, and earlier royalty generation. That advantage was evident again this quarter as our US conversion pipeline expanded 6% sequentially.

Speaker #3: Importantly, about 75% of the U.S. agreements we've signed year to date are expected to open this year, providing strong visibility into near-term growth. International net rooms continue to grow in the double digits, providing another avenue for durable earnings growth over time.

Speaker #3: Global franchise agreements increased 20% year over year during the quarter, reflecting continued demand across both our conversion-led and our higher revenue brands. Taken together, these trends reinforce my confidence that we're building a stronger foundation for sustained global and US Net Rooms growth.

Dom Dragicevich: Taken together, these trends reinforce my confidence that we're building a stronger foundation for sustained global and US net rooms growth. Beyond driving net rooms growth, we're also focused on disciplined capital allocation to maximize long-term shareholder value. Returning to our pure-play asset-light franchising roots remains an important part of that strategy. As development outlays continue to decline and market conditions improve, we expect to pursue additional capital recycling opportunities. Together, those actions strengthen our financial flexibility, allowing us to allocate capital towards the highest return opportunities while continuing to return excess capital to shareholders. We're encouraged by the progress we've made this quarter. Our focus now is on staying disciplined, holding ourselves accountable, and following through on the commitments we make. Stronger franchisee economics and thoughtful capital allocation put us in a better position to deliver durable earnings growth and long-term shareholder value.

Dom Dragisich: Taken together, these trends reinforce my confidence that we're building a stronger foundation for sustained global and US net rooms growth. Beyond driving net rooms growth, we're also focused on disciplined capital allocation to maximize long-term shareholder value. Returning to our pure-play asset-light franchising roots remains an important part of that strategy. As development outlays continue to decline and market conditions improve, we expect to pursue additional capital recycling opportunities. Together, those actions strengthen our financial flexibility, allowing us to allocate capital towards the highest return opportunities while continuing to return excess capital to shareholders. We're encouraged by the progress we've made this quarter. Our focus now is on staying disciplined, holding ourselves accountable, and following through on the commitments we make. Stronger franchisee economics and thoughtful capital allocation put us in a better position to deliver durable earnings growth and long-term shareholder value.

Speaker #3: Beyond driving net rooms growth, we're also focused on disciplined capital allocation to maximize long-term shareholder value. Returning to our pure-play, asset-light franchising roots remains an important part of that strategy.

Speaker #3: As development outlays continue to decline, and market conditions improve, we expect to pursue additional capital recycling opportunities. Together, those actions strengthen our financial flexibility, allowing us to allocate capital towards the highest return opportunities, while continuing to return excess capital to shareholders.

Speaker #3: We're encouraged by the progress we've made this quarter. Our focus now is on staying disciplined, holding ourselves accountable, and following through on the commitments we make.

Speaker #3: Stronger franchisee economics and thoughtful capital allocation put us in a better position to deliver durable earnings growth and long-term shareholder value. I believe this business has significantly more potential in delivering on that potential is what I'm focused on every day.

Dom Dragicevich: I believe this business has significantly more potential, delivering on that potential is what I'm focused on every day. With that, I'll turn the call over to Scott.

Dom Dragisich: I believe this business has significantly more potential, delivering on that potential is what I'm focused on every day. With that, I'll turn the call over to Scott.

Speaker #3: With that, I'll turn the call over to Scott.

Speaker #1: Good morning, everyone, and thanks, Dom. It's great to have you back on our quarterly earnings calls in your new role. Our second quarter results demonstrate that improving US operating fundamentals and the increasing contribution from our international business are translating into solid earnings growth.

Scott Oaksmith: Good morning, everyone, thanks, Dom. It's great to have you back on our quarterly earnings calls in your new role. Our Q2 results demonstrate that improving US operating fundamentals and the increasing contribution from our international business are translating into solid earnings growth. For Q2, adjusted EBITDA increased 6% to $175 million, primarily reflecting higher US royalties from improving RevPAR and royalty rate expansion, growth in our franchisee programs and services revenues, higher partnership revenues, as well as the continued benefit of our transition to direct franchising in Canada. These benefits were partially offset by higher SG&A expenses, which I'll discuss in more detail shortly. Our adjusted earnings per share increased 5% to $2.02, while revenues, excluding reimbursable revenue from franchise and managed properties, increased 7% year over year to $277 million.

Speaker #1: For the second quarter, adjusted EBITDA increased 6% to $175 million, primarily reflecting higher US royalties from improving RevPAR and royalty rate expansion. Growth in our franchisee programs and services revenues and higher partnership revenues as well as the continued benefit of our transition to direct franchising in Canada.

Speaker #1: These benefits were partially offset by higher SG&A expenses, which I'll discuss in more detail shortly. Our adjusted earnings per share increased 5% to $2.02, while revenues excluding reimbursable revenue from franchised and managed properties increased 7% year over year to $277 million.

Speaker #1: I will focus on three key operating priorities before discussing how they are shaping our updated earnings outlook. First, the improving trajectory of US Net Rooms growth, supported by our stronger openings and lower exits.

Scott Oaksmith: I will focus on three key operating priorities before discussing how they are shaping our updated earnings outlook. First, the improving trajectory of US net rooms growth, supported by our stronger openings and lower exits. Second, the acceleration of RevPAR from the first quarter and continued US royalty rate expansion. Third, lower development spend as investments associated with Cambria and Everhome continue to moderate. Net rooms growth remains one of our most important drivers of our long-term earnings growth, and operating indicators across our development funnel continued to improve during Q2. Global rooms increased 2.6% year over year, driven by a 16% increase in room openings. In the US, gross room openings increased 27% year over year and 9% sequentially. At the same time, room exits declined 50% year over year. Franchise agreements awarded in the US increased 30% year over year in Q2.

Speaker #1: Second, the acceleration of RevPAR from the first quarter and continued U.S. royalty rate expansion. And third, lower development spend as investments associated with Cambria and Everhome continue to moderate.

Speaker #1: Net Rooms growth remains one of our most important drivers of our long-term earnings growth, and operating indicators across our development funnel continued to improve during the second quarter.

Speaker #1: Global Rooms increased 2.6% year over year, driven by a 16% increase in room openings. In the US, Gross Room openings increased 27% year over year, and 9% sequentially.

Speaker #1: At the same time, room exits declined 50% year over year. Franchise agreements awarded in the US increased 30% year over year in the second quarter.

Speaker #1: We also shortened the average time from signing to opening for conversions by nearly one month, reinforcing the speed and efficiency of our development model The important point is that the key stages of our US development funnel are moving in the right direction, from stronger signings and faster conversions to higher openings and lower exits.

Scott Oaksmith: We also shortened the average time from signing to opening for conversions by nearly 1 month, reinforcing the speed and efficiency of our development model. The important point is that the key stages of our US development funnel are moving in the right direction, from stronger signings and faster conversions to higher openings and lower exits. Additional information on our US net rooms trends is included in today's supplemental materials on our investor relations website. Choice's conversion capabilities continue to provide an important competitive advantage, with conversions expected to represent approximately 90% of our 2026 US openings. Conversions generally enable owners to open hotels faster and with less capital than new construction, which remains important in the current development environment. During the quarter, US conversion franchise agreements increased 82% year over year, reflecting the value of our conversion model delivers to hotel owners.

Speaker #1: Additional information on our US Net Rooms trends is included in today's supplemental materials on our investor relations website. Choice's conversion capabilities continue to provide an important competitive advantage, with conversions expected to represent approximately 90% of our 2026 US openings.

Speaker #1: Conversions generally enable owners to open hotels faster and with less capital than new construction, which remains important in the current development environment. During the quarter, US conversion franchise agreements increased 82% year over year, reflecting the value of our conversion model delivers to hotel owners.

Speaker #1: Extended stay remains a key growth driver, with 12 consecutive quarters of double-digit rooms growth and representing more than 40% of our US pipeline. Within our mid-scale and economy transient brands, developer interest also continued to strengthen.

Scott Oaksmith: Extended Stay remains a key growth driver, with 12 consecutive quarters of double-digit rooms growth and representing more than 40% of our US pipeline. Within our midscale and economy transient brands, developer interest also continue to strengthen. US franchise agreements awarded increased more than 40% year over year, and the pipeline for these brands continues to build. Taken together, these trends reinforce our confidence that US net rooms growth will return to positive territory in 2026. Our operations outside the US continue to perform well, with international net rooms increasing 13% year over year, reflecting growth across our EMEA, Asia Pacific, and Americas regions. In Canada, net rooms increased 5.4% year over year. Our transition to a direct franchising model is producing both an immediate earnings benefit and a longer-term growth opportunity as the pipeline continues to expand. Turning to RevPAR.

Speaker #1: US franchise agreements awarded increased more than 40% year over year, and the pipeline for these brands continues to build. Taken together, these trends reinforce our confidence that US Net Rooms growth will return to positive territory in 2026.

Speaker #1: Our operations outside the US continue to perform well, with international Net Rooms increasing 13% year over year, reflecting growth across our India, Asia Pacific, and America's regions.

Speaker #1: In Canada, Net Rooms increased 5.4% year over year. Our transition to a direct franchising model is producing both an immediate earnings benefit and a longer-term growth opportunity as the pipeline continues to expand.

Speaker #1: Turning to RevPAR, global RevPAR increased 1.7% year over year on a currency-neutral basis in the second quarter. In the U.S., RevPAR increased 1.3% year over year during the quarter, supported by improving occupancy and rate trends.

Scott Oaksmith: Global RevPAR increased 1.7% year over year on a currency neutral basis in Q2. In the US, RevPAR increased 1.3% year over year during the quarter, supported by improving occupancy and rate trends. Together with encouraging preliminary Q3 trends, this supports our improved full year outlook. As anticipated, the FIFA World Cup contributed approximately 60 basis points to Q2 RevPAR. Because the event was concentrated in Q2 with only limited activity in our markets during Q3, we estimate the full year benefit at approximately 30 basis points. Extended Stay continues to benefit from a diverse mix of longer stay demand drivers, including workforce related travel, relocations, infrastructure investment, and manufacturing activity.

Speaker #1: Together with encouraging preliminary third-quarter trends, this supports our improved full-year outlook. As anticipated, the FIFA World Cup contributed approximately 60 basis points to second-quarter RevPAR, , because the event was concentrated in the second quarter with only limited activity in our markets during the third quarter, we estimate the full-year benefit at approximately 30 basis points.

Speaker #1: Extended stay continues to benefit from a diverse mix of longer-stay demand drivers, including workforce-related travel, relocations, infrastructure investment, and manufacturing activity. Approximately 45% of our U.S. extended stay portfolio is located within 10 miles of major data centers.

Scott Oaksmith: Approximately 45% of our US Extended Stay portfolio is located within 10 miles of major data centers, where those hotels generated approximately 100 basis points higher RevPAR growth than the system average during Q2. This highlights the benefits of our portfolio's exposure to durable project-based sources of demand. International RevPAR was up 2.1% year-over-year on a currency neutral basis, led by the Caribbean and Latin America, and supported by continued strength across Canada and Asia Pacific. In addition to RevPAR and net rooms growth, we are also increasing the earnings contribution from each hotel in our system. During Q2, our US average royalty rate increased 11 basis points. The increase reflects continued mix shift towards higher revenue brands and the benefits of the franchisee focus initiatives Dom discussed. Our non-RevPAR fee streams also further diversify our earnings base.

Speaker #1: Where those hotels generated approximately 100 basis points higher RevPAR growth than the system average during the second quarter. This highlights the benefits of our portfolio's exposure to durable project-based sources of demand.

Speaker #1: International RevPAR was up 2.1% year over year on a currency-neutral basis, led by the Caribbean and Latin America and supported by continued strength across Canada and Asia Pacific.

Speaker #1: In addition to RevPAR and Net Rooms growth, we are also increasing the earnings contribution from each hotel in our system. During the second quarter, our US average royalty rate increased 11 basis points.

Speaker #1: The increase reflects continued mixed shift towards higher-revenue brands and the benefits of the franchisee-focused initiatives DOM discussed. Our non-RevPAR fee streams also further diversify our earnings base.

Speaker #1: Franchisee adoption of our services continued to grow during the quarter, particularly our cloud-based property management system and revenue management solutions. Partnership services and fees increased 6% to $28.7 million in the quarter.

Scott Oaksmith: Franchisee adoption of our services continued to grow during the quarter, particularly our cloud-based property management system and revenue management solutions. Partnership services and fees increased 6% to $28.7 million in the quarter, mainly driven by higher procurement revenues. Together, royalty rate expansion and growth in our partnership services and fees reflect our strategy of creating more value for franchisees while generating higher fee revenue from each hotel in our system. Adjusted SG&A increased 7% during the quarter. The increase in our operating costs reflect our transition to direct franchising in Canada, which also contributed to the higher international earnings I discussed earlier. The remaining increase primarily reflected higher account receivable reserves. We expect adjusted SG&A growth in H2 to moderate from the H1 run rate, positioning us to deliver our full year guidance. Turning to capital allocation, our framework remains unchanged.

Speaker #1: Mainly driven by higher procurement revenues. Together, royalty rate expansion and growth in our partnership services and fees reflect our strategy of creating more value for franchisees while generating higher fee revenue from each hotel in our system.

Speaker #1: Adjusted SGA increased 7% during the quarter. The increase in our operating costs reflect our transition to direct franchising in Canada, which also contributed to the higher international earnings I discussed earlier.

Speaker #1: The remaining increase primarily reflected higher account receivable reserves. We expect adjusted SGA growth in the second half of the year to moderate from the first half run rate, positioning us to deliver our full-year guidance.

Speaker #1: Turning to capital allocation, our framework remains unchanged. We prioritize high-return investments maintaining a stable dividend and returning excess capital to shareholders through share repurchases.

Scott Oaksmith: We prioritize high return investments, maintaining a stable dividend, and returning excess capital to shareholders through share repurchases. Our wholly owned hotels were originally developed to establish and scale the Cambria and Everhome brands or were acquired as part of the Radisson Hotels Americas acquisition. Today, we wholly own 19 operating hotels and one hotel under construction. With no additional wholly owned hotels in our pipeline, we have substantially completed the capital intensive phase of building them. As a result, future growth will be driven through our franchise model rather than hotel ownership. Reflecting that transition, capital outlays for hotel development declined 80% year-over-year in H1. We are now well positioned to monetize those assets while continuing to grow through our franchise model. We currently expect the first disposition to occur in H1 2027, subject to market conditions.

Speaker #1: Our wholly owned hotels were originally developed to establish and scale the Cambria and Everhome brands, or were acquired as part of the Radisson Americas acquisition.

Speaker #1: Today, we wholly own 19 operating hotels and one hotel under construction. With no additional wholly-owned hotels in our pipeline, we have substantially completed the capital-intensive phase of building them.

Speaker #1: As a result, future growth will be driven through our franchise model rather than hotel ownership. Reflecting that transition, capital outlays for hotel development declined 80% year over year in the first half of the year.

Speaker #1: We are now well-positioned to monetize those assets while continuing to grow through our franchise model. We currently expect the first disposition to occur in the first half of 2027, subject to market conditions.

Speaker #1: Turning to our balance sheet, we ended the quarter with total liquidity of $475 million, and net leverage of 3.1 times adjusted EBITDA. Comfortably within our target range of 3 to 4 times.

Scott Oaksmith: Turning to our balance sheet, we ended the quarter with total liquidity of $475 million and net leverage of 3.1x adjusted EBITDA, comfortably within our target range of three to four times. During H1, we generated $67 million of operating cash flow compared to $116 million in the prior year period. The year-over-year change primarily reflects two factors. First, franchise agreement acquisition costs increased as US room openings grew 27% year-over-year. Second, operating cash flow was affected by higher marketing and reservation system reimbursable expenses driven by increased investment in franchisee facing tools and guest delivery capabilities. Year to date through 31 July, we returned $172 million to shareholders, including $133 million through share repurchases and $39 million through dividends. We continue to expect repurchase between $175 million and $225 million of shares in 2026.

Speaker #1: During the first six months of the year, we generated $67 million of operating cash flow, compared to $116 million in the prior year period.

Speaker #1: The year-over-year change primarily reflects two factors. First, franchise agreement acquisition costs increased as US room openings grew 27% year over year. Second, operating cash flow was affected by higher marketing and reservation system reimbursable expenses, driven by increased investment in franchisee-facing tools and guest delivery capabilities.

Speaker #1: Year-to-date through July 31st, we've returned $172 million to shareholders, including $133 million through share repurchases and $39 million through dividends. We continue to expect repurchase between $175 million and $225 million of shares in 2026.

Speaker #1: Based on our second quarter performance and the underlying operating trends we've discussed today, we are raising our full-year guidance for adjusted EBITDA, U.S. RevPAR, U.S. average royalty rate, and global net rooms growth.

Scott Oaksmith: Based on our Q2 performance and the underlying operating trends we've discussed today, we are raising our full-year guidance for adjusted EBITDA, US RevPAR, US average royalty rate, and global net rooms growth. We are also raising the lower end of our global RevPAR guidance range. We now expect full-year 2026 adjusted EBITDA of $635 million to $650 million. The increase primarily reflects stronger US RevPAR, improved global net rooms growth, and continued US royalty rate expansion. For modeling purposes, I'd note one item for Q3. The year-over-year adjusted EBITDA comparison includes approximately $9.5 million of liquidated damages within our other revenue line recognized in the prior-year quarter that are not expected to recur, reflecting continued improvement in our franchisee retention.

Speaker #1: We are also raising the lower end of our global RevPAR guidance range. We now expect full-year 2026 adjusted EBITDA of $635 million to $650 million.

Speaker #1: The increase primarily reflects stronger US RevPAR, improved global Net Rooms growth, and continued US royalty rate expansion. For modeling purposes, I'd note one item for the third quarter.

Speaker #1: The year-over-year adjusted EBITDA comparison includes approximately 9.5 million dollars of liquidated damages within our other revenue line, recognized in the prior year quarter, that are not expected to recur.

Speaker #1: Reflecting continued improvement in our franchisee retention. While our operating outlook has improved, we have updated our adjusted diluted earnings per share guidance to $6.86 to $7.10, primarily reflecting higher expected interest expense and a higher effective tax rate.

Scott Oaksmith: While our operating outlook has improved, we have updated our adjusted diluted earnings per share guidance to $6.86 to $7.10, primarily reflecting higher expected interest expense and a higher effective tax rate, partially offset by the benefit of share repurchases. We now expect full-year 2026 US RevPAR growth of 0% to 1.25% and global RevPAR growth of 0% to 1%, reflecting stronger underlying operating trends and continued commercial execution. Consistent with that outlook, US RevPAR trends remain encouraging, and we currently expect Q3 US RevPAR growth to exceed Q2 levels before moderating in Q4. We now expect US average royalty rate expansion of seven to nine basis points for the full-year, a range that incorporates tougher comparisons in H2.

Speaker #1: Partially offset by the benefit of share repurchases. We now expect full-year 2026 US RevPAR growth of 0% to 1.25%, and global RevPAR growth of 0% to 1%.

Speaker #1: Reflecting stronger underlying operating trends and continued commercial execution. Consistent with that outlook, US RevPAR trends remain encouraging, and we currently expect third-quarter US RevPAR growth to exceed second-quarter levels before moderating in the fourth quarter.

Speaker #1: We now expect US average royalty rate expansion of 7 to 9 basis points for the full year, a range that incorporates tougher comparisons in the second half of the year.

Speaker #1: When Net Rooms growth, we now expect global Net Rooms growth of approximately 1.5% for full year, up from our prior expectation of approximately 1%.

Scott Oaksmith: On net rooms growth, we now expect global net rooms growth of approximately 1.5% for full-year, up from our prior expectation of approximately 1%. This reflects increasing confidence in the trajectory of US net rooms growth together with stronger international performance. We remain on track to deliver positive US net rooms growth for the full-year, supported by both stronger gross openings and an expected 250 basis point improvement in our US net exit rate compared with last year. We expect Q3 US net rooms growth to remain broadly consistent with Q2 levels, with a more meaningful step up expected in Q4 as conversion openings seasonally increase and comparisons become more favorable. Adjusted SG&A for the full-year is expected to continue to grow in the mid-single digits, benefiting from operating efficiencies across the business, including the continued scaling of AI-enabled tools.

Speaker #1: This reflects increasing confidence in the trajectory of US Net Rooms growth, together with stronger international performance. We remain on track to deliver positive US Net Rooms growth for the full year, supported by both stronger gross openings and an expected $250 basis point improvement in our US net exit rate compared with last year.

Speaker #1: We expect a third-quarter US Net Rooms growth to remain broadly consistent with the second-quarter levels, with a more meaningful step-up expected in the fourth quarter as conversion openings seasonally increase and comparisons become more favorable.

Speaker #1: Adjusted SG&A for the full year is expected to continue to grow in the mid-single digits, benefiting from operating efficiencies across the business, including the continued scaling of AI-enabled tools.

Speaker #1: We are also investing more this year in franchisee-facing tools and guest delivery capabilities, which has increased our net reimbursable deficit expectations relative to last year.

Scott Oaksmith: We are also investing more this year in franchisee-facing tools and guest delivery capabilities, which has increased our net reimbursable deficit expectations relative to last year. As a reminder, these programs are structured to operate at a break-even over time. Overall, the progress we've discussed this morning reinforces our confidence that improving execution is translating into stronger operating performance, positioning us to create long-term shareholder value. With that, Dom and I are happy to take your questions. Operator?

Speaker #1: As a reminder, these programs are structured to operate at a break-even over time. Overall, the progress we've discussed this morning reinforces our confidence that improving execution is translating into stronger operating performance.

Speaker #1: Positioning us to create long-term shareholder value. With that, Dom and I are happy to take your questions. Operator?

Speaker #2: Thank you. We will now begin the question-and-answer session. If you would like to ask a question, please press star 1 to raise your hand.

Operator 3: Thank you. We will now begin the question and answer session. If you would like to ask a question, please press star one to raise your hand. To withdraw your question, press star one again. We ask that you pick up your handset when asking a question to allow for optimum sound quality. If you are muted locally, please remember to unmute your device. Your first question comes from the line of David Katz with Jefferies. David, your line is open. Please go ahead.

Operator: Thank you. We will now begin the question and answer session. If you would like to ask a question, please press star one to raise your hand. To withdraw your question, press star one again. We ask that you pick up your handset when asking a question to allow for optimum sound quality. If you are muted locally, please remember to unmute your device. Your first question comes from the line of David Katz with Jefferies. David, your line is open. Please go ahead.

Speaker #2: To withdraw your question, press star 1 again. We ask that you pick up your handset when asking a question to allow for optimum sound quality.

Speaker #2: If you are muted locally, please remember to unmute your device. Your first question comes from the line of David Katz with Jefferies. David, your line is open.

Speaker #2: Please go ahead.

Speaker #3: Hi. Good morning. Thanks for all of the commentary appreciated. I'm sure that there's some nuance and complexity to having royalty rates go up and at the same time delivering greater value to franchisees.

Operator 2: Hi. Good morning. Thanks for all of the commentary. Appreciate it. I'm sure that there's some nuance and complexity to having royalty rates go up and at the same time delivering greater value to franchisees. Can you help us unpack how that exactly works and why the royalty rate is up during a period of time where you're very obviously trying to increase the value proposition to franchisees?

David Katz: Hi. Good morning. Thanks for all of the commentary. Appreciate it. I'm sure that there's some nuance and complexity to having royalty rates go up and at the same time delivering greater value to franchisees. Can you help us unpack how that exactly works and why the royalty rate is up during a period of time where you're very obviously trying to increase the value proposition to franchisees?

Speaker #3: Can you help us unpack, right, how that exactly works and why the royalty rate is up during a period of time where you're very obviously trying to increase the value proposition to franchisees?

Speaker #4: Thanks, David. I'll kick things off. And if Scott wants to add any color, he certainly can. But I think first and foremost, this really goes back to the higher revenue per unit algorithm that we have.

Dom Dragicevich: Thanks, David. I'll kick things off, and if Scott wants to add any color, he certainly can. I think first and foremost, this really goes back to the higher revenue per unit algorithm that we have. When you take a look at the effect of royalty rates increasing, a lot of that is really represented by the mix shift, right? You're basically what's churning out of the portfolio is effectively your transient economy brands more heavily than what's coming into the portfolio. When you think about adding Comforts, et cetera, and that mid-scale, upper mid-scale segment, you effectively have that higher royalty rate across that portfolio. I think the other is really just the value that we are driving for our franchisees. The focus has always been on driving franchisee profitability. That comes through a lot of different approaches.

Dom Dragisich: Thanks, David. I'll kick things off, and if Scott wants to add any color, he certainly can. I think first and foremost, this really goes back to the higher revenue per unit algorithm that we have. When you take a look at the effect of royalty rates increasing, a lot of that is really represented by the mix shift, right? You're basically what's churning out of the portfolio is effectively your transient economy brands more heavily than what's coming into the portfolio. When you think about adding Comforts, et cetera, and that mid-scale, upper mid-scale segment, you effectively have that higher royalty rate across that portfolio. I think the other is really just the value that we are driving for our franchisees. The focus has always been on driving franchisee profitability. That comes through a lot of different approaches.

Speaker #4: So when you take a look at the effective royalty rates increasing, a lot of that is really represented by the makeshift, right? So you're basically what's churning out of the portfolio is effectively your transient economy brands more heavily than what's coming into the portfolio.

Speaker #4: So when you think about adding comforts, etc., and kind of that mid-scale, upper mid-scale segment, you effectively have that higher royalty rate across that portfolio.

Speaker #4: I think the other is really just the value that we are driving for our franchisees. The focus has always been on driving franchisee profitability, that comes through a lot of different approaches.

Speaker #4: I think you heard that on the in the prepared remarks with regards to prototype costs being down 25%. Our loyalty contribution has increased 250 basis points.

Dom Dragicevich: I think you heard that in the prepared remarks with regards to prototype costs being down 25%, our loyalty contribution has increased 250 basis points. FF&E is down 20%. You've got CHARLIE sitting in the property management system at this point. There's a lot of other things that we've done to work with our franchisees to reduce their fees. I know one question has been in the past, just with regards to how do you incentivize higher guest review scores, and we do have programs out there right now to reduce business as usual fees and other loyalty fees associated with those properties that are driving those higher guest demand scores. Again, we're working very closely with our franchisees, and candidly, we think that the increased value that we're providing is showing up in the stronger development results.

Dom Dragisich: I think you heard that in the prepared remarks with regards to prototype costs being down 25%, our loyalty contribution has increased 250 basis points. FF&E is down 20%. You've got CHARLIE sitting in the property management system at this point. There's a lot of other things that we've done to work with our franchisees to reduce their fees. I know one question has been in the past, just with regards to how do you incentivize higher guest review scores, and we do have programs out there right now to reduce business as usual fees and other loyalty fees associated with those properties that are driving those higher guest demand scores. Again, we're working very closely with our franchisees, and candidly, we think that the increased value that we're providing is showing up in the stronger development results.

Speaker #4: FF&E is down 20%. You've got Charlie sitting in the property management system at this point. And there's a lot of other things that we've done to work with our franchisees to reduce their fees.

Speaker #4: I know one question has been in the past just with regards to how do you incentivize higher guest review scores? And we do have programs out there right now to reduce business-as-usual fees and other loyalty fees associated with those properties that are driving those higher guest demand scores.

Speaker #4: So again, we're working very closely with our franchisees and candidly, we think that the increased value that we're providing is showing up in the stronger development results.

Speaker #5: Hey, David, one thing I ask is these are contractual rates. As some of our older fee contracts have burned off or have been replaced with these new higher royalty rates that were put in really back in 2016, 2017, you're seeing that move to more of the franchise agreements in the construct that we have today.

Scott Oaksmith: Hey, David. The only thing I'd add is these are contractual rates. As some of our older fee contracts have burned off or have been replaced with these new higher royalty rates that were put in really back in 2016, 2017. You're seeing that move to more of the franchise agreements in the construct that we have today. This isn't raising rates on existing franchisees, but more contractual as new hotel owners come into the system and pay the published rack rates that we have today.

Speaker #5: So this isn't raising rates on existing franchisees, but more contractual as new hotel owners come into the system, and pay the published direct rates that we have today.

Speaker #3: Thank you very much. Appreciate it.

Operator 2: Thank you very much. Appreciate it.

David Katz: Thank you very much. Appreciate it.

Speaker #4: Thank you.

Dom Dragicevich: Thank you.

Dom Dragisich: Thank you.

Speaker #2: Your next question comes from the line of Lizzie Dove with Goldman Sachs. Lizzie, your line is open. Please go ahead.

Operator 3: Your next question comes from the line of Lizzie Dove with Goldman Sachs. Lizzie, your line is open. Please go ahead.

Operator: Your next question comes from the line of Lizzie Dove with Goldman Sachs. Lizzie, your line is open. Please go ahead.

Speaker #6: Hey, good morning. Thanks for taking the question. I just wanted to ask about the US Rooms growth trends, which looked pretty encouraging this quarter.

Lizzie Dove: Hey, good morning. Thanks for taking the question. I just wanted to ask about the U.S. rooms growth trends, which looked pretty encouraging this quarter. In the deck you posted, I think there was some interesting information about U.S. rooms exit this year versus last year, which seemed to improve a lot. Could you maybe just unpack that a little more? I'm curious how much of this is maybe that revenue intensity strategy coming to an end versus just kind of underlying improvement under the hood and what you're seeing there. Thanks.

Speaker #6: And in the deck you posted, I think there was some interesting information about US Rooms exit this year versus last year, which seemed to improve a lot.

Speaker #6: So could you maybe just unpack that a little more? I'm curious how much of this is maybe that revenue-intense strategy coming to an end versus just kind of underlying improvement under the hood and kind of what you're seeing there.

Speaker #6: Thanks.

Dom Dragicevich: Yeah. Thanks for the question. As I had mentioned, just with regards to the net rooms growth, this continues to be my top priority, I think the entire management team's top priority. The first thing I would just say is consistent progress leads to our confidence. Right now, we are confident that we're doing the right things to drive that sustained net rooms growth well into the future. I think you mentioned the Q2 results specifically that we posted on the website, really it's the strength that we saw in Q2 that reinforces that confidence. Our openings for the quarter were up 27%, our exits were down about 50%, franchise agreements were up 30%.

Dom Dragisich: Yeah. Thanks for the question. As I had mentioned, just with regards to the net rooms growth, this continues to be my top priority, I think the entire management team's top priority. The first thing I would just say is consistent progress leads to our confidence. Right now, we are confident that we're doing the right things to drive that sustained net rooms growth well into the future. I think you mentioned the Q2 results specifically that we posted on the website, really it's the strength that we saw in Q2 that reinforces that confidence. Our openings for the quarter were up 27%, our exits were down about 50%, franchise agreements were up 30%.

Speaker #4: Yeah. Thanks for the question. And as I had mentioned just with regards to the net rooms growth, this continues to be my top priority.

Speaker #4: I think the entire management team's top priority. And the first thing I would just say is consistent progress leads to more confidence. Right now, we are confident that we're doing the right things to drive that sustained net rooms growth well into the future.

Speaker #4: I think you mentioned the Q2 results specifically that we posted on the website. And really, it's the strength that we saw on Q2 that reinforces that confidence.

Speaker #4: Our openings for the quarter were up 27%. Our exits were down about 50%. Franchise agreements were up 30%. And what's great about the franchise agreements is we have visibility, very strong visibility for the remainder of the year because 75% of those agreements that we sold this year, given the speed of the conversion engine, will open this year.

Dom Dragicevich: What's great about the franchise agreements is we have visibility, very strong visibility for the remainder of the year because 75% of those agreements that we sold this year, given the speed of the conversion engine, will open this year. Again, we've got pretty good line of sight here over the course of the next six months. Obviously, it's early innings, but we're very much encouraged by that progress. I do believe that we're going to continue to see that acceleration. One thing you did mention, Lizzie, obviously the confidence is even better because of the mix, right? You talked about the revenue intensity, when you take a look at those net rooms growth figures that are in the higher revenue intensity segments, we're actually seeing about 100 basis points higher. It's 3.6% versus the 2.6%.

Dom Dragisich: What's great about the franchise agreements is we have visibility, very strong visibility for the remainder of the year because 75% of those agreements that we sold this year, given the speed of the conversion engine, will open this year. Again, we've got pretty good line of sight here over the course of the next six months. Obviously, it's early innings, but we're very much encouraged by that progress. I do believe that we're going to continue to see that acceleration. One thing you did mention, Lizzie, obviously the confidence is even better because of the mix, right? You talked about the revenue intensity, when you take a look at those net rooms growth figures that are in the higher revenue intensity segments, we're actually seeing about 100 basis points higher. It's 3.6% versus the 2.6%.

Speaker #4: So again, we've got pretty good line of sight here over the course of the next six months. Obviously, it's early innings, but we're very much encouraged by that progress.

Speaker #4: I do believe that we're going to continue to see that acceleration. One thing you did mention, Lizzie—obviously, the confidence is even better because of the mix, right?

Speaker #4: You talked about the revenue intensity. And when you take a look at those net rooms growth figures that are in the higher revenue intense segments, we're actually seeing about 100 basis points higher.

Speaker #4: So it's 3.6% versus the 2.6. And one of the things also you mentioned is that coming to an end. And I think this is really important just kind of sitting in the seat that I'm sitting in today.

Dom Dragicevich: One of the things also you mentioned is that coming to an end. I think this is really important, just kind of sitting in the seat that I'm sitting in today. I absolutely think the net rooms growth algorithm can and should be a both/and. We're going to continue to drive higher quality units with a higher revenue per unit. There's no reason why we shouldn't be winning in the economy segment and that lower mid-scale segment as well. We're going to continue to see improvements there. That's the goal. The reality is we're going to continue to see improvements on the retention side as well, because retention is equally as important as the development algorithm. Again, overall, this is an area that we're very satisfied with the continued progress.

Dom Dragisich: One of the things also you mentioned is that coming to an end. I think this is really important, just kind of sitting in the seat that I'm sitting in today. I absolutely think the net rooms growth algorithm can and should be a both/and. We're going to continue to drive higher quality units with a higher revenue per unit. There's no reason why we shouldn't be winning in the economy segment and that lower mid-scale segment as well. We're going to continue to see improvements there. That's the goal. The reality is we're going to continue to see improvements on the retention side as well, because retention is equally as important as the development algorithm. Again, overall, this is an area that we're very satisfied with the continued progress.

Speaker #4: I absolutely think the net rooms growth algorithm can and should be a both-and. We're going to continue to drive higher quality units with a higher revenue per unit.

Speaker #4: But there's no reason why we shouldn't be winning in the economy segment and kind of that lower mid-scale segment as well. And so we're going to continue to see improvements there.

Speaker #4: That's the goal. And the reality is we're going to continue to see improvements on the retention side as well because retention is equally as important as the development algorithm.

Speaker #4: So again, overall, this is an area that we're very satisfied with—the continued progress. We are going to continue to push on this and try to drive acceleration in the back half.

Dom Dragicevich: We are going to continue to push on this and then try to drive acceleration in the back half.

Dom Dragisich: We are going to continue to push on this and then try to drive acceleration in the back half.

Speaker #6: That's helpful. Thank you.

Lizzie Dove: That's helpful. Thank you.

Speaker #4: Thank you.

Dom Dragicevich: Thank you.

Dom Dragisich: Thank you.

Speaker #2: Your next question comes from the line of Daniel Politzer with JP Morgan. Daniel, your line is open. Please go ahead.

Operator 3: Your next question comes from the line of Daniel Pulitzer with J.P. Morgan. Daniel, your line is open. Please go ahead.

Operator: Your next question comes from the line of Daniel Pulitzer with J.P. Morgan. Daniel, your line is open. Please go ahead.

Speaker #7: Hey, good morning, everyone. Thanks for the question. I wouldn't talk about the red part for the quarter. I think domestically up 1.3%, which lagged your weighted change scale mix.

Daniel Pulitzer: Hey, good morning, everyone. Thanks for the question. I wanted to talk about the RevPAR for the quarter, I think domestically up 1.3%, which lagged your weighted chain scale mix. I guess, how do we kind of reconcile that? Similarly, I think you mentioned on the Q3 and Q4, the cadence. It looks like the Q4 RevPAR comparison is by far the easiest of the year, so why should we think about RevPAR decelerating from Q3 to Q4, if I have that right?

Daniel Politzer: Hey, good morning, everyone. Thanks for the question. I wanted to talk about the RevPAR for the quarter, I think domestically up 1.3%, which lagged your weighted chain scale mix. I guess, how do we kind of reconcile that? Similarly, I think you mentioned on the Q3 and Q4, the cadence. It looks like the Q4 RevPAR comparison is by far the easiest of the year, so why should we think about RevPAR decelerating from Q3 to Q4, if I have that right?

Speaker #7: I guess how do we kind of reconcile that? And then similarly, I think you mentioned on the third quarter and fourth quarter the cadence.

Speaker #7: It looks like the fourth quarter red part comparison is by far the easiest of the year. So why should we think about red part decelerating from Q3 to Q4 if I have that right?

Speaker #4: Yeah. I'll start at kind of the top and just with regards to what we're seeing in the context of the current red part performance and then Scott can walk you through the Q3 and Q4 in terms of what we're assuming from a modeling perspective.

Dom Dragicevich: Yeah, I'll start at kind of the top and just with regards to what we're seeing in the context of the current RevPAR performance, then Scott can walk you through the Q3 and Q4 in terms of what we're assuming from a modeling perspective. On the RevPAR side, I would say we're encouraged by the sequential progress. Totally agree with there's still more work to do here as well. The reality is when you think about what we've invested in, we talked a lot about the $60 million of investments in the commercial engine, that ultimately will be a huge driver for sustained RevPAR within the future. Now it's just a matter of really executing, activating. We talked about EasyBid, Business Direct, Loyalty. Those are the types of things that we're encouraged by.

Dom Dragisich: Yeah, I'll start at kind of the top and just with regards to what we're seeing in the context of the current RevPAR performance, then Scott can walk you through the Q3 and Q4 in terms of what we're assuming from a modeling perspective. On the RevPAR side, I would say we're encouraged by the sequential progress. Totally agree with there's still more work to do here as well. The reality is when you think about what we've invested in, we talked a lot about the $60 million of investments in the commercial engine, that ultimately will be a huge driver for sustained RevPAR within the future. Now it's just a matter of really executing, activating. We talked about EasyBid, Business Direct, Loyalty. Those are the types of things that we're encouraged by.

Speaker #4: But on the red part side, I would say we're encouraged by the sequential progress. Totally agree—there's still more work to do here as well.

Speaker #4: And the reality is, is when you think about what we've invested in, we talked a lot about the $60 million of investments in the commercial engine that ultimately will be a huge driver for sustained red part within the future.

Speaker #4: So now it's just a matter of really executing activating. We talked about easy bid. Business direct loyalty. Those are the types of things that we're encouraged by.

Speaker #4: And candidly, we're encouraged by the broader macro backdrop, which we can certainly get into as well. But while we saw the sequential improvement, when you take a look at just from an index perspective, there was a gap, right?

Dom Dragicevich: Candidly, we're encouraged by the broader macro backdrop, which we can certainly get into as well. While we saw the sequential improvement, when you take a look at just from an index perspective, there was a gap, right? I think when you peel back the onion, we are under-indexed in urban markets. We're under-indexed in business transient, which had a pretty big bounce back in Q2, and obviously there was a World Cup tailwind as well. Having a lower number of units in those markets created that sort of gap. We are encouraged by one trend that we are seeing very much, and that's occupancy. We're continuing to drive occupancy index gains. Our biggest opportunity at this point right now is rate. When you take a look at the sequential improvements, it wasn't just quarter-over-quarter.

Dom Dragisich: Candidly, we're encouraged by the broader macro backdrop, which we can certainly get into as well. While we saw the sequential improvement, when you take a look at just from an index perspective, there was a gap, right? I think when you peel back the onion, we are under-indexed in urban markets. We're under-indexed in business transient, which had a pretty big bounce back in Q2, and obviously there was a World Cup tailwind as well. Having a lower number of units in those markets created that sort of gap. We are encouraged by one trend that we are seeing very much, and that's occupancy. We're continuing to drive occupancy index gains. Our biggest opportunity at this point right now is rate. When you take a look at the sequential improvements, it wasn't just quarter-over-quarter.

Speaker #4: And so I think when you peel back the onion, we are under-indexed in urban markets. We're under-indexed in business transient, which had a pretty big bounce back in Q2.

Speaker #4: And obviously, there was a World Cup tail end as well. So having a lower number of units in those markets created that sort of gap.

Speaker #4: We are encouraged by one trend that we are seeing very much in that occupancy. So we're continuing to drive occupancy index gains. And so our biggest opportunity at this point right now is rate.

Speaker #4: And when you take a look at in the sequential improvements, it wasn't just quarter over quarter. We actually saw July improve by about 100 basis points versus June as well.

Dom Dragicevich: We actually saw July improve by about 100 basis points versus June as well. We're seeing progression there. There is some lumpiness and some timing phenomena in the back half of the year that I think Scott can hit on as well.

Dom Dragisich: We actually saw July improve by about 100 basis points versus June as well. We're seeing progression there. There is some lumpiness and some timing phenomena in the back half of the year that I think Scott can hit on as well.

Speaker #4: So we're seeing progression there. There is some lumpiness and some timing phenomena in the back half of the year. That I think Scott can hit on as well.

Speaker #3: Yeah, Dan. So our second half of the year red part guidance for the full six months is about one and a half percent. As we mentioned on the call, we think that'll be a little stronger in Q3, as Don mentioned.

Scott Oaksmith: Yeah, Dan, our H2 RevPAR guidance for the full six months is about 1.5%. As we mentioned on the call, we think that'll be a little stronger in Q3, as Dom mentioned. We did see July up about 100 basis points. There are some calendar shifts in the August timeframe with the Labor Day holiday pushed deeper into September and fewer weekend days in August than previous, which mitigates a little bit of our RevPAR performance given the higher concentration of leisure travel that we have. We do see that moderating a little bit in Q4. As we've talked about in the past, our booking windows are fairly short, we don't have a lot of visibility into that Q4.

Speaker #3: We did see July up about 100 basis points. There are some calendar shifts in the August timeframe, with the Labor Day holiday pushed deeper into September.

Speaker #3: And a fewer weekend days. In August and previous, which mitigates a little bit of our red part performance given the higher concentration of leisure travel that we have.

Speaker #3: We do see that moderating a little bit in Q4. As we've talked about in the past, our booking windows are fairly short. So we don't have a lot of visibility into that Q4.

Speaker #3: So I think when we gave our guidance of up to 1.25%, that does assume a little bit stronger Q4 if that were to take place.

Scott Oaksmith: I think that when we gave our guidance of up to 1.25%, that does assume a little bit stronger Q4, if that were to take place.

Speaker #7: Got it. Thanks so much for all the color.

Daniel Pulitzer: All right. Thanks so much for all the color.

Daniel Politzer: All right. Thanks so much for all the color.

Speaker #2: Your next question comes from the line of Michael Bellisario with Baird. Michael, your line is open. Please go ahead.

Operator 3: Your next question comes from the line of Michael Bellisario with Baird. Michael, your line is open. Please go ahead.

Operator: Your next question comes from the line of Michael Bellisario with Baird. Michael, your line is open. Please go ahead.

Speaker #5: Thanks, good morning, Don. Welcome back to the call. First question, can we dig into the I think you said moving with greater urgency is one of your priorities.

Michael Bellisario: Thanks. Good morning, Don. Welcome back to the call. First question, can we dig into what I think you said moving with greater urgency is one of your priorities. Just maybe help us understand sort of what people and processes have changed so far, what have you already seen impact in Q2, and what's still to come?

Speaker #5: Just maybe help us understand sort of what people and processes have changed so far? What have you already seen impact in in Q2? And then what's still to come?

Speaker #3: Yeah. So I think broadly speaking,

Dom Dragicevich: Yeah. I think, broadly speaking, stepping into the role really just reinforced rather than fundamentally changed a lot of the thinking that I had, right? I think one of the most important elements, and I mentioned this in my prepared remarks as well, it really is staying close to our franchisees. That's what matters most, really grounded in those relationships, the franchisee success system. Owner economics is the linchpin. I talked a little bit about the net rooms growth side of the house as well, and where we made some significant changes, frankly, was on the retention side of the equation. I think from a people, process, and systems perspective, there were several investments that we made H2 of last year, and that's paying dividends today. I think you see it in the 50% reduction in this quarter alone with regards to the exits.

Dom Dragisich: Yeah. I think, broadly speaking, stepping into the role really just reinforced rather than fundamentally changed a lot of the thinking that I had, right? I think one of the most important elements, and I mentioned this in my prepared remarks as well, it really is staying close to our franchisees. That's what matters most, really grounded in those relationships, the franchisee success system. Owner economics is the linchpin. I talked a little bit about the net rooms growth side of the house as well, and where we made some significant changes, frankly, was on the retention side of the equation. I think from a people, process, and systems perspective, there were several investments that we made H2 of last year, and that's paying dividends today. I think you see it in the 50% reduction in this quarter alone with regards to the exits.

Speaker #7: stepping into the role really just reinforced rather than fundamentally changed a lot of the thinking that I had, right? And I think one of the most important elements and I mentioned this in my prepared remarks as well.

Speaker #7: It really is staying close to our franchisees. That's what matters most. Really grounded in those relationships, the franchisee success system, owner economics is the linchpin.

Speaker #7: I talked a little bit about the net rooms growth side of the house as well. And where we made some significant changes, frankly, was on the retention side of the equation.

Speaker #7: I think from a people, process, and systems perspective, there were several investments that we made back half of last year and that's paying dividends today.

Speaker #7: I think you see it in the 50% reduction in this quarter alone with regards to the exits. And the last is really around just the commercial and technology capabilities.

Dom Dragicevich: The last is really around just the commercial and technology capabilities. I think AI is obviously the flavor of the day, so to speak, and I don't think it's just a flavor. I think it's going to be sustained, and we see that as the next part of our technology evolution, so making sure that we're holding those teams accountable. I think what has changed is really just importance of accountability and communication, both internally and with all of you. I don't think we should ever be sitting on a quarterly earnings call and have surprises. That's going to continue to be something that I urge the team to do as well. We simplified parts of the organization by just realigning some of the functions that naturally work together, single points of accountability around key operating priorities.

Dom Dragisich: The last is really around just the commercial and technology capabilities. I think AI is obviously the flavor of the day, so to speak, and I don't think it's just a flavor. I think it's going to be sustained, and we see that as the next part of our technology evolution, so making sure that we're holding those teams accountable. I think what has changed is really just importance of accountability and communication, both internally and with all of you. I don't think we should ever be sitting on a quarterly earnings call and have surprises. That's going to continue to be something that I urge the team to do as well. We simplified parts of the organization by just realigning some of the functions that naturally work together, single points of accountability around key operating priorities.

Speaker #7: I think AI is obviously the flavor of the day, so to speak. And I don't think it's just a flavor. I think it's going to be sustained and we see that as the next part of our technology evolution.

Speaker #7: So making sure that we're holding those teams changed is really just importance of accountability and communication both internally and with all of you. I don't think we should ever be sitting on a quarterly earnings call and have surprises.

Speaker #7: And so that's going to continue to be something that I urge the team to do as well. And we simplified parts of the organization by just realigning some of the functions that naturally work together single points of accountability around key operating priorities.

Speaker #7: And at the end of the day, that's about reducing friction, making faster decisions, and translating all the things I just talked about into results and ultimately you're going to evaluate us based on the results that we deliver.

Dom Dragicevich: At the end of the day, that's about reducing friction, making faster decisions, and translating all the things I just talked about into results. Ultimately, you're going to evaluate us based on the results that we deliver.

Dom Dragisich: At the end of the day, that's about reducing friction, making faster decisions, and translating all the things I just talked about into results. Ultimately, you're going to evaluate us based on the results that we deliver.

Speaker #5: Got it. That's all very helpful. And then just on your guidance, if I can ask you a second one here, just maybe remind us of your philosophy around sort of conservatism.

Michael Bellisario: Got it. That's all very helpful. Just on your guidance, if I can ask you a second one here. Just maybe remind us of your philosophy around sort of conservatism, I think as you just sort of touched on communication too. Any puts and takes to call out with EBITDA up only a half a percentage point, but RevPAR up by more than that, plus better net unit growth and a higher expected royalty rate expansion. Anything to call out there in the back half? Thanks.

Speaker #5: I guess you just sort of touched on communication too. And then any puts and takes to call out with EBITDA up only a half a percentage point, but red part up by more than that, plus better net unit growth and a higher expected royalty rate expansion.

Speaker #5: Anything to call out there in the back Thanks.

Speaker #7: Sure. Sure. I think at the highest level, we did beat the internal forecast that we had. And when we flowed that beat through. So very much encouraged by the trends we're seeing across every core revenue driver, rooms, red part, effective royalty rate.

Dom Dragicevich: Sure. I think at the highest level, we did beat the internal forecast that we had, when we flowed that beat through. Very much encouraged by the trends we're seeing across every core revenue driver, rooms, RevPAR, effective royalty rate. To Scott's point, some of this is timing related. There are a couple puts and takes, specifically in the back half, and I think Scott mentioned that in his prepared remarks as well. In Q3 of last year, we did have elevated liquidated damages that are tied to exits. We brought this number down, which actually is a good news story for the algorithm. Obviously, there's a one-time reduction in revenue associated with that. Given the fact that we are more encouraged by the room's progress, that's going to be a better long-term value driver for us. We're pretty excited about that one.

Dom Dragisich: Sure. I think at the highest level, we did beat the internal forecast that we had, when we flowed that beat through. Very much encouraged by the trends we're seeing across every core revenue driver, rooms, RevPAR, effective royalty rate. To Scott's point, some of this is timing related. There are a couple puts and takes, specifically in the back half, and I think Scott mentioned that in his prepared remarks as well. In Q3 of last year, we did have elevated liquidated damages that are tied to exits. We brought this number down, which actually is a good news story for the algorithm. Obviously, there's a one-time reduction in revenue associated with that. Given the fact that we are more encouraged by the room's progress, that's going to be a better long-term value driver for us. We're pretty excited about that one.

Speaker #7: To Scott's point, some of this is timing related. There are a couple puts and takes specifically in the back half. And I think Scott mentioned that in his prepared remarks as well.

Speaker #7: In Q3 of last year, we did have elevated liquidated damages that are tied to exits. And so we brought this number down, which actually is a good news story.

Speaker #7: For the algorithm, obviously, there's a one-time reduction in revenue associated with that. But given the fact that we are more encouraged by the room's progress, that's going to be a better long-term value driver for us.

Speaker #7: So we're pretty excited about that one. I would say we're taking a more cautious approach to Mia in particular to Europe and just given what you're seeing overseas.

Dom Dragicevich: I would say we're taking a more cautious approach to EMEA, in particular to Europe, just given what you're seeing overseas. The reality is, if we continue to execute the way that I know we can, you could possibly push to the higher end of the guidance, as of right now, the midpoint is effectively where we feel most comfortable.

Dom Dragisich: I would say we're taking a more cautious approach to EMEA, in particular to Europe, just given what you're seeing overseas. The reality is, if we continue to execute the way that I know we can, you could possibly push to the higher end of the guidance, as of right now, the midpoint is effectively where we feel most comfortable.

Speaker #7: And the reality is if we continue to execute the way that I know we can, you could possibly push to the higher end of the guidance.

Speaker #7: But as of right now, the midpoint is effectively where we feel most comfortable.

Speaker #5: Helpful. Thank you.

Michael Bellisario: Helpful. Thank you.

Speaker #7: Thank you.

Dom Dragicevich: Thank you.

Dom Dragisich: Thank you.

Speaker #2: Your next question comes from the line of Sean Kelly with Bank of America. Sean, your line is open. Please go ahead.

Operator 3: Your next question comes from the line of Shaun Kelley with Bank of America. Shaun, your line is open. Please go ahead.

Operator: Your next question comes from the line of Shaun Kelley with Bank of America. Shaun, your line is open. Please go ahead.

Speaker #5: Hi, good morning, everyone. And Don, welcome back to the public calls. If I could just maybe have you guys elaborate on two areas. First one, Don, maybe a high level, sort of owner health and sort of the costs, I think all inclusive costs of franchising to owners has been a theme kind of throughout the entire lodging industry this quarter.

Shaun Kelley: Hi, good morning, everyone, and Dom, welcome back to the public calls. If I could just maybe have you guys elaborate on two areas. First one, Dom, maybe a high level sort of owner health and sort of the costs. I think all-inclusive costs of franchising to owners has been a theme kind of throughout the entire lodging industry this quarter. I'm kind of curious on how that impacts your philosophy or your thinking, sort of how you maybe weight your brands and your offering relative to some of the other things that are being done out there as you're starting to see other franchise companies starting to use some of their heft and weight to try and get slightly better deals for their franchisees or charge them all-in fees that are a little lower.

Speaker #5: So I'm kind of curious on how that impacts or your philosophy or your thinking sort of how you maybe weight your brands and your offering relative to some of the other things that are being done out there as you're starting to see other franchise companies starting to kind of use some of their heft and weight to try and get I think slightly better deals for their franchisees or charge them all in fees that are a little lower.

Speaker #5: So that's kind of the high level one. And then maybe one for Scott. If you could just quickly give us a thought. I think on the key money environment on the one side, I think you said that contract acquisition costs were up pretty materially in the first half of the year.

Shaun Kelley: That's kind of the high level one. Then maybe one for Scott, if you could just quickly give us thought, I think on the key money environment. On the one side, I think you said that contract acquisition costs were up pretty materially in the H1 of the year, on the other side, I think all-in capital intensity with CapEx and some of the renovation stuff you're doing is down. Just trying to weigh those two factors and think about key money investment for the balance of the year.

Speaker #5: But on the other side, I think all in capital intensity with CapEx and some of the renovation stuff you're doing is down. So just trying to weigh those two factors and think about key money investment for the balance of the year.

Speaker #7: Thanks. So I'll start at the high level and then Scott could hit the second part of your question. And I mentioned a little bit of this in I think the first question, but when you take a look at what we're doing to lower the cost for our owners, I mean, we don't have perfect visibility into their P&L.

Dom Dragicevich: Thanks. I'll start at the high level, and then Scott could hit the second part of your question. I mentioned a little bit of this in I think the first question, when you take a look at what we're doing to lower the cost for our owners, we don't have perfect visibility into their P&L. I'll start with the bottom line up front. We believe it's still in that teens in terms of owner returns and whatnot. We're seeing the improved value proposition showing up in the development results. When you take a look at where we were last year versus this year, we're lowering the cost of customer relations. We're exploring insurance options. We've reduced, we're in the process of having conversations with regards to reduced commissions. The cost of prototypes being down 25%, FF&E down 20%.

Dom Dragisich: Thanks. I'll start at the high level, and then Scott could hit the second part of your question. I mentioned a little bit of this in I think the first question, when you take a look at what we're doing to lower the cost for our owners, we don't have perfect visibility into their P&L. I'll start with the bottom line up front. We believe it's still in that teens in terms of owner returns and whatnot. We're seeing the improved value proposition showing up in the development results. When you take a look at where we were last year versus this year, we're lowering the cost of customer relations. We're exploring insurance options. We've reduced, we're in the process of having conversations with regards to reduced commissions. The cost of prototypes being down 25%, FF&E down 20%.

Speaker #7: So I'll start with the bottom line up front. We believe it's still in that teens in terms of owner returns and whatnot. We're seeing the improved value proposition showing up in the development results.

Speaker #7: So when you take a look at where we were last year versus this year, I mean, we're lowering the cost of customer relations. We're exploring insurance options.

Speaker #7: We've reduced we're in the process of having conversations with regards to reduced commissions. The cost of prototypes being down 25%. FF&E down 20%. So all in all, we feel like our value proposition is very much competitive against the competition.

Dom Dragicevich: All in all, we feel like our value proposition is very much competitive against the competition. That's really, again, showing up, I think, in the 30% higher development results this quarter versus where we were last year. Again, the profitability is going to continue to be core to who we are. What's been very consistent in every conversation I've had with franchisees, and I've probably talked to hundreds since I've stepped into this role now at this point, they want the lower cost, and those are all the things that I just talked about. They want to see stronger top line and a lot of those commercial capabilities that I talked about as well. We are confident that it's going to show up in top line gains in the long term. They want tools that makes their lives a lot easier.

Dom Dragisich: All in all, we feel like our value proposition is very much competitive against the competition. That's really, again, showing up, I think, in the 30% higher development results this quarter versus where we were last year. Again, the profitability is going to continue to be core to who we are. What's been very consistent in every conversation I've had with franchisees, and I've probably talked to hundreds since I've stepped into this role now at this point, they want the lower cost, and those are all the things that I just talked about. They want to see stronger top line and a lot of those commercial capabilities that I talked about as well. We are confident that it's going to show up in top line gains in the long term. They want tools that makes their lives a lot easier.

Speaker #7: And that's really, again, showing up, I think, in the 30% higher development results this quarter versus where we were last year. So again, the profitability is going to continue to be core to who we are.

Speaker #7: And what's been very consistent in every conversation I've had with franchisees, and I've probably talked to hundreds since I've stepped into this role now at this point, they want the lower cost.

Speaker #7: And those are all the things that I just talked about. They want to see stronger top line. And a lot of those commercial capabilities that I talked about as well, we are confident that it's going to show up in top line gains in the long term.

Speaker #7: And they want tools that make their lives a lot easier. And the one piece of feedback that we've gotten in particular is this AI-enabled teammate, Charlie, within the property management system.

Dom Dragicevich: The one piece of feedback that we've gotten in particular is this AI enabled teammate, CHARLIE, within the property management system, and that alone has reduced operational requests to corporate by 40%. If you have the ability to replace some of that FTE time so that they could go spend with their guests, et cetera, that's a net benefit. Again, we feel like we're well-positioned. We're going to continue to pound the pavement in the context of our development this year and looking forward to continuing to drive their profitability.

Dom Dragisich: The one piece of feedback that we've gotten in particular is this AI enabled teammate, CHARLIE, within the property management system, and that alone has reduced operational requests to corporate by 40%. If you have the ability to replace some of that FTE time so that they could go spend with their guests, et cetera, that's a net benefit. Again, we feel like we're well-positioned. We're going to continue to pound the pavement in the context of our development this year and looking forward to continuing to drive their profitability.

Speaker #7: And that alone has reduced operational requests to corporate by 40%. So if you have the ability to replace some of those some of that FTE time so that they could go spend with their guests, etc., that's a net benefit.

Speaker #7: So again, we feel like we're well positioned. We're going to continue to pound the pavement in the context of our development this year. And looking forward to continuing to drive their profitability.

Speaker #3: Hey, Sean, in terms of your question about capital intensity, so as you mentioned, the key money was up from the first half of '25 to the first half of '26, which really driven by the rise in the number of room openings we've had during the quarter.

Scott Oaksmith: Hey, Shaun, in terms of your question about capital intensity, as you mentioned, the key money was up from the H1 of 2025 to the H1 of 2026, was really driven by the rise in the number of room openings we've had during the quarter. We were up about 27% in room openings in the US compared to the prior year. Additionally, the mix of hotels that opened this shift, that we've seen a lot more stronger growth in our core brands of the mid-scale, upper mid-scale, and upscale, which bring us higher revenues, but also sometimes slightly higher key money checks. Overall, we feel really good about where we are in terms of the amount of key money that it takes to win a deal. We haven't seen that increase.

Speaker #3: So we were up about 27% in room openings. And the US compared to the prior year. And additionally, the mix of hotels that opened has shifted.

Speaker #3: We've seen a lot more stronger growth in our core brands of the mid-scale over mid-scale and upscale, which bring us higher revenues, but also sometimes slightly higher key money checks.

Speaker #3: But overall, we feel really good about where we are in terms of the amount of key money that it takes to win the deal.

Speaker #3: We haven't seen that increase, and we really have a disciplined strategy against that. We underwrite those to really attract the returns with reasonable payback periods.

Scott Oaksmith: We really have a disciplined strategy against that, and we underwrite those to really attractive returns with reasonable payback periods. What you're really seeing is a healthier pipeline coming in and more openings. With that, we do believe that our use of key money will be slightly higher than we originally talked about earlier in the year, probably in the order of $15 to $20 million higher. On the flip side, as you also mentioned, we are seeing less capital intensity as we wind down the development programs for both our Cambria and Everhome programs, the use of that capital was down 80% for H1. We expect that to be down about 70% for the full year.

Speaker #3: So which is really seeing is a healthier pipeline coming in and more openings. With that, we do believe that our use of key money will be slightly higher than we originally talked about earlier in the year, probably in the order of 15 to 20 million dollars higher.

Speaker #3: But on the flip side, as you also mentioned, we are seeing less capital intensity as we wind down the development programs for both our Cambria and Ever Homes.

Speaker #3: Programs, which were the use of that capital was down 80% for the first half of the year. We expect that to be down about 70% for the full year.

Speaker #3: And as we wind up the more capital intensive phase of building up those brands and return to asset-light franchising, which is our core offerings, we will move now to start exploring the sale of those assets.

Scott Oaksmith: As we wind up the more capital intensive phase of building out those brands and return to asset light franchising, which is our core offerings, we will move now to start exploring the sale of those assets. As we said in the prepared remarks, we have started to evaluate the timing of those sales. We do expect some of the first ones to happen in H1 of 2027.

Speaker #3: As we said in the prepared remarks, we have started to evaluate the timing of those sales. We do expect some of the first ones to happen in the first half of 2027.

Speaker #7: Sean, the only thing that I realize is on the key money side of the house too, is we've been very sorry, Sean. I was just saying the only thing I would add just on the key money is that we've been pretty disciplined in the context of tying that key money more closely to our property improvement plans.

Dom Dragicevich: Shaun, the only thing that I would add just on the key money side of the house too, is that we've been pretty disciplined in the context of tying that key money more closely to our property improvement plans. Just in terms of obviously the cost to convert is a huge consideration for any owner, and so being able to effectively offer them a property improvement plan that allows them to convert a project that is lower in cost, but also ties that key money to ultimately improve the product and drive the better guest experience, AI benefits and otherwise, something that we're being very disciplined in doing. Again, feeling good about the way that we're using the key money to improve the product portfolio.

Dom Dragisich: Shaun, the only thing that I would add just on the key money side of the house too, is that we've been pretty disciplined in the context of tying that key money more closely to our property improvement plans. Just in terms of obviously the cost to convert is a huge consideration for any owner, and so being able to effectively offer them a property improvement plan that allows them to convert a project that is lower in cost, but also ties that key money to ultimately improve the product and drive the better guest experience, AI benefits and otherwise, something that we're being very disciplined in doing. Again, feeling good about the way that we're using the key money to improve the product portfolio.

Speaker #7: And just in terms of obviously the cost to convert is a huge consideration for any owner. And so being able to effectively offer them a property improvement plan that allows them to convert a project that is lower in cost, but also ties that key money to ultimately improve the product and drive the better guest experience, AI benefits and otherwise, something that we're being very disciplined in doing.

Speaker #7: So again, feeling good about the way that we're using the key money to improve the product portfolio.

Speaker #5: Thank you both.

Shaun Kelley: Thank you both.

Dom Dragicevich: Thank you.

Dom Dragisich: Thank you.

Speaker #7: Thank you.

Speaker #1: Your next question comes from the line of Patrick with Truist Securities. Patrick, your line is open. Please go ahead.

Operator 3: Your next question comes from the line of Patrick Scholes with Truist Securities. Patrick, your line is open. Please go ahead.

Operator: Your next question comes from the line of Patrick Scholes with Truist Securities. Patrick, your line is open. Please go ahead.

Speaker #6: Hi. Good morning, everyone. Congratulations on the net rooms growth improvement. I'd like to just step back and ask a high-level question here. When I think about two or so years ago with the failed Wyndham takeover, one of the things that really percolated up that maybe wasn't as well known was some dissatisfaction from your franchisees or I should say less than ideal franchisor or franchisee relationships versus perhaps that of some of your peers.

Patrick Scholes: Hi. Good morning, everyone. Congratulations on the net rooms growth improvement. I'd like to just step back and ask a high level question here. When I think about two or so years ago with the failed Wyndham takeover, one of the things that really percolated up that maybe wasn't as well known was some dissatisfaction from your franchisees, or I should say less than ideal franchisor-franchisee relationships, versus perhaps that of some of your peers. In that regard, I recall around that time, you folks had dropped out of the AHLA organization. Would you ever consider rejoining that organization? That certainly being the largest franchisee organization out there. Thank you.

Speaker #6: And in that regard, I recall around that time you had folks had dropped out of the AHOA organization. Would you ever consider rejoining that organization, that certainly being the largest franchisee organization out there?

Speaker #6: Thank you.

Speaker #3: Yeah. Thanks for the question. I mean, I think first and foremost, we've said this previously, but we paused the membership. We never paused the relationship with AHOA.

Dom Dragicevich: Yeah, thanks for the question. I think first and foremost, we've said this previously, but we paused the membership. We never paused the relationship with AHLA. So I think that's first and foremost.

Dom Dragisich: Yeah, thanks for the question. I think first and foremost, we've said this previously, but we paused the membership. We never paused the relationship with AHLA. So I think that's first and foremost.

Speaker #3: And so I think that's first and foremost. We continue to work with them very collaboratively in the context of those items that ultimately support the broader franchise business model that ultimately support the hotel industry.

Patrick Scholes: Okay.

Dom Dragicevich: We continue to work with them very collaboratively, in the context of those items that ultimately support the broader franchise business model, that ultimately support the hotel industry. There are many things, and candidly, the vast majority, 99.99% of the things that we are more aligned on. I think there was one element in particular, where all the hotel companies paused that membership. Not saying that if there was an opportunity to rejoin that we wouldn't, it's a conversation that we would certainly entertain. The reality here is, we work very collaboratively with our self-elected owners' councils to really address those items that our franchisees are dealing with day in and day out. Many of those members are also members of AHLA. Again, there's a collaborative effort on that side as well.

Dom Dragisich: We continue to work with them very collaboratively, in the context of those items that ultimately support the broader franchise business model, that ultimately support the hotel industry. There are many things, and candidly, the vast majority, 99.99% of the things that we are more aligned on. I think there was one element in particular, where all the hotel companies paused that membership. Not saying that if there was an opportunity to rejoin that we wouldn't, it's a conversation that we would certainly entertain. The reality here is, we work very collaboratively with our self-elected owners' councils to really address those items that our franchisees are dealing with day in and day out. Many of those members are also members of AHLA. Again, there's a collaborative effort on that side as well.

Speaker #3: There are many, many things, and candidly, the vast majority, 99.99% of the things that we are more aligned on. And so I think there was one element in particular where all the hotel companies paused that membership.

Speaker #3: Not saying that if there was an opportunity to rejoin that we wouldn't. It's a conversation that we would certainly entertain. But the reality here is we work very collaboratively with our self-elected owners' councils to really address those items that our franchisees are dealing with day in and day out.

Speaker #3: Many of those members are also members of AHOA. So again, there's a collaborative effort on that side as well. And broadly speaking, we feel like the relationship that we've had with our franchisees has never been better.

Dom Dragicevich: Broadly speaking, we feel like the relationship that we've had with our franchisees has never been better. We continue to see that, we had that experience at our franchisee convention just two months ago, and we're encouraged by the continued feedback that we're getting from our franchisees with regards to everything that we're doing to allow them to operate their businesses more effectively, to drive their profitability. It's showing up. I think it's showing up on the retention side of the house, there's a reason why we believe that the numbers are down 50% in terms of the exits from the portfolio year over year. That's because of not just the performance that we're driving, but the broader relationship that we have with them and the trust that they have in us.

Dom Dragisich: Broadly speaking, we feel like the relationship that we've had with our franchisees has never been better. We continue to see that, we had that experience at our franchisee convention just two months ago, and we're encouraged by the continued feedback that we're getting from our franchisees with regards to everything that we're doing to allow them to operate their businesses more effectively, to drive their profitability. It's showing up. I think it's showing up on the retention side of the house, there's a reason why we believe that the numbers are down 50% in terms of the exits from the portfolio year over year. That's because of not just the performance that we're driving, but the broader relationship that we have with them and the trust that they have in us.

Speaker #3: We continue to see that, and we had that experience at our franchisee convention just two months ago. And we're encouraged by the continued feedback that we're getting from our franchisees with regards to everything that we're doing to allow them to operate their businesses more effectively.

Speaker #3: To drive their profitability. And it's showing up. I think it's showing up on the retention side of the house. And there's a reason why we believe that the numbers are down 50% in terms of the exits from the portfolio year over year.

Speaker #3: And that's because of not just the performance that we're driving, but the broader relationship that we have with them and the trust that they have in us.

Patrick Scholes: Okay. Thank you. Follow-up, not so much as a question, but just passing on quite a few thoughts or requests from a number of shareholders this morning. Certainly, what I'm hearing is we, myself and shareholders, certainly would encourage more granularity. You've certainly talked about from a high level on this, but certainly more granularity to address RevPAR improvement. When we look at the index of your performance, it looked to be about 300 basis points below. I get it, some of it may be location or customer, but I don't think that explains the whole thing. Certainly going forward, providing as much granularity as far as your plan to improve that would certainly go a long way. Just passing that on, and I appreciate your consideration. Thank you.

Speaker #6: Okay. Thank you. And then follow-up, not so much as a question, but just passing on quite a few thoughts or requests from a number of shareholders this morning.

Speaker #6: Certainly, what I'm hearing is we, myself and shareholders, certainly would encourage more granularity. And you've certainly talked about from a high level on this, but certainly more granularity to address rev par improvement.

Speaker #6: When we look at the index of your performance, it looked to be about 300 basis points below. I get it. Some of it may be location or customer, but I don't think that explains the whole thing.

Speaker #6: So certainly going forward, providing as much granularity as far as your plan to improve that would certainly go a long way. So just passing that on.

Speaker #6: And I appreciate your consideration. Thank you.

Speaker #7: Absolutely. Thanks for that, Patrick. And the reality is communication and transparency are critical. I think we are doing a much better job as it pertains to showing the puts and takes on the net rooms growth in the prepared remarks on the rev par side.

Dom Dragicevich: Absolutely. Thanks for that, Patrick. The reality is communication and transparency are critical. I think we are doing a much better job as it pertains to showing the puts and takes on the net rooms growth, the prepared remarks on the RevPAR side. We obviously try to provide that, we'll continue to do so in the future.

Dom Dragisich: Absolutely. Thanks for that, Patrick. The reality is communication and transparency are critical. I think we are doing a much better job as it pertains to showing the puts and takes on the net rooms growth, the prepared remarks on the RevPAR side. We obviously try to provide that, we'll continue to do so in the future.

Speaker #7: We obviously tried to provide that, and we'll continue to do so in the future.

Speaker #6: Okay. Thank you.

Patrick Scholes: Okay. Thank you.

Speaker #7: Thank you.

Dom Dragicevich: Thank you.

Dom Dragisich: Thank you.

Speaker #1: Your next question comes from the line of Robin Farley with UBS. Robin, your line is open. Please go ahead.

Operator 3: Your next question comes from the line of Robin Farley with UBS. Robin, your line is open. Please go ahead.

Operator: Your next question comes from the line of Robin Farley with UBS. Robin, your line is open. Please go ahead.

Speaker #2: Great. Thank you. Two questions. One is just going back to the commentary about the expected increase in US rooms really sounds like in Q4.

Robin Farley: Great. Thank you. Two questions. One is just going back to the commentary about the expected increase in US rooms, really sounds like in Q4. Maybe I'm doing the math wrong on this, but it looks like your US pipeline is down year over year. Is the growth in US rooms, is it more just this fewer exits? Is that the right way to think about it? Was there a purposeful program to get rid of certain properties that now is winding down or just to understand the components of that US growth?

Speaker #2: Maybe I'm doing the math wrong on this, but it looks like your US pipeline is down year over year. So is the growth in US rooms, is it more just this fewer exits?

Speaker #2: Is that the right way to think about it? And was there a purposeful program to get rid of certain properties that is now winding down, or is this just to understand the components of that U.S. growth?

Speaker #3: Thanks for the question, Robin. And I'll hit it at a high level. And if Scott wanted to add anything, certainly can. But I think it is coming from both, right?

Dom Dragicevich: Thanks for the question, Robin. I'll hit it at a high level, and if Scott wanted to add anything, certainly can. I think it is coming from both. Right. It's coming from an increase in openings. I think in this quarter you actually did see a 27% or so increase in the openings, we're very encouraged by what we're seeing. The reality is that the vast majority, about 90% of those openings, and that we expect in the full year as well, are coming from conversions. We have that proven conversion engine. We're actually seeing a reduction in the time between a franchise agreement being signed and when a hotel opens by almost one month. Again, we're seeing speed to open increasing as well.

Dom Dragisich: Thanks for the question, Robin. I'll hit it at a high level, and if Scott wanted to add anything, certainly can. I think it is coming from both. Right. It's coming from an increase in openings. I think in this quarter you actually did see a 27% or so increase in the openings, we're very encouraged by what we're seeing. The reality is that the vast majority, about 90% of those openings, and that we expect in the full year as well, are coming from conversions. We have that proven conversion engine. We're actually seeing a reduction in the time between a franchise agreement being signed and when a hotel opens by almost one month. Again, we're seeing speed to open increasing as well.

Speaker #3: It's coming from an increase in openings. I think in this quarter, you actually did see a 27% or so increase in the openings. And so we're very encouraged by what we're seeing.

Speaker #3: And the reality is that the vast majority, about 90% of those openings, and that we expect in the full year as well, are coming from conversions.

Speaker #3: And so we have that proven conversion engine where actually seeing a reduction in the time between a franchise opens by almost one month. And so again, we're seeing speed to open increasing as well.

Speaker #3: So we're very encouraged by the fact that about 75% of the conversions that we're signing this year are going to open in year. So we do expect to see a pretty significant well, the increase that's in line with the guidance at least on the opening side.

Dom Dragicevich: We're very encouraged by the fact that about 75% of the conversions that we're signing this year are going to open in-year. We do expect to see a pretty significant, the increase that's in line with the guidance, at least, on the opening side. We also continue to see the trend that we're seeing on exits continuing in the back H2 of the year. It's going to be a both/and, as it pertains to the opening side and the exit side. New construction obviously has been light across the industry. Supply growth is less than 1%, which is one of the reasons why you're seeing the pipeline where it is. We're not just looking at the pipeline in terms of the catalyst for future growth because of that conversion engine that we do have. Again, very much excited about where we're heading there.

Dom Dragisich: We're very encouraged by the fact that about 75% of the conversions that we're signing this year are going to open in-year. We do expect to see a pretty significant, the increase that's in line with the guidance, at least, on the opening side. We also continue to see the trend that we're seeing on exits continuing in the back H2 of the year. It's going to be a both/and, as it pertains to the opening side and the exit side. New construction obviously has been light across the industry. Supply growth is less than 1%, which is one of the reasons why you're seeing the pipeline where it is. We're not just looking at the pipeline in terms of the catalyst for future growth because of that conversion engine that we do have. Again, very much excited about where we're heading there.

Speaker #3: We also continue to see the trend that we're seeing on exits continuing in the back half of the year. So, it's going to be a both-and as it pertains to the opening side and the exit side.

Speaker #3: New construction, obviously, has been light across the industry. Supply growth less than 1%, which is one of the reasons why you're seeing the pipeline where it is.

Speaker #3: But we're not just looking at the pipeline in terms of the catalyst for future growth because of that conversion engine that we do have.

Speaker #3: So again, very much excited about where we're heading there.

Speaker #5: Yeah, as Don mentioned, it really is a conversion story today. And if you look at our conversion pipeline in the US, it's up about 24% since last year at the same time.

Scott Oaksmith: Yeah, as Dom mentioned, it really is a conversion story today. If you look at our conversion pipeline in the US, it's up about 24% since last year at the same time, and up about 6% sequentially since the end of March. Really reflecting the success our franchise development team has done in signing agreements. As Dom mentioned, new construction has declined year-over-year as we've seen less starts with the current economic conditions. It's basically flat since the end of the year. Really it's both increasing conversion openings as well as a decline in our termination rate, which is expected to be down about 250 basis points year-over-year.

Speaker #5: And about 6% sequentially since the end of March. So really reflecting the success our franchise development team has done in signing agreements. And as Don mentioned, new construction has declined year over year as we've seen less starts with the current economic conditions.

Speaker #5: But it's basically flat since the end of the year. So really it's a increasing conversion openings as well as a decline in our termination rate, which is expected to be down about 250 basis points year over year.

Speaker #2: Okay. Great. Thank you. And then my other question was just if you could help us understand you talked about the net capital outlay for hotel development declining pretty significantly.

Robin Farley: Okay, great. Thank you. My other question was just if you could help us understand, you talked about the net capital outlay for hotel development declining pretty significantly. Also in the quarter, you talked about the increase in franchise agreement acquisition costs. Can you just help us understand what is different about those two buckets? Thanks.

Speaker #2: But also in the quarter, you talked about the increase in franchise agreement acquisition costs. So can you just help us understand what is different about those two buckets?

Speaker #2: Thanks.

Speaker #5: Yeah. The net development outlay is really focused specifically on building hotels through wholly owned ownership, joint ventures, as well as loans. So those were specific programs that we had done to launch our both Cambria and Ever Home brands.

Scott Oaksmith: Yeah. The net development outlays really focus specifically on building hotels through wholly owned ownership, joint ventures, as well as loans. Those were specific programs that we had done to launch our both Cambria and Everhome brands. Now that we've gotten both of those to the scale that we believe is necessary for them to grow more in an asset-light nature and franchising only, we're able to pull back the spending on those programs and now move to recycle that capital. That'll be capital that comes back in. Key money is more focused on cost of acquiring a franchise agreement. As Dom mentioned earlier, really it's around helping the owner as they transition to our brand, to upgrade the hotel, make sure the quality is in the right spot for each one of the brands, make sure we're enhancing guest experience.

Speaker #5: And now that we've gotten both of those to the scale that we believe is necessary for them to grow more in an asset light nature and franchising only, we're able to pull back the spending on those programs and now move to recycle that capital.

Speaker #5: So that'll be capital that comes back in. Key money is more focused on cost of acquiring a franchise agreement. And as Don mentioned earlier, really it's around helping the owners as they transition to our brand to upgrade the hotel, make sure the quality is in the right spot for each one of the brands, make sure we're enhancing guest experience.

Speaker #5: So those come with a very long franchise agreement and assuming the franchisee operates within our system over the term of the agreement, the key money is forgiven over time.

Scott Oaksmith: Those come with a very long franchise agreement, and assuming the franchisee operates within our system over the term of the agreement, the key money is forgiven over time. Really it's a cost of acquiring the contract, but very high IRRs on that as we go forward. A little bit different when you look at the overall capital intensity of the business. It's certainly declining, and we expect free cash flow conversion over the next several years to get back to the more historical levels that we've had.

Speaker #5: So really it's a cost of acquiring the contract. But very high IRRs on that as we go forward. So a little bit different when you look at the overall capital intensity of the business, it's certainly declining.

Speaker #5: And we expect free cash flow conversion over the next several years to get back to more of the historical levels that we've had.

Speaker #2: Okay. Great. Thank you.

Robin Farley: Okay, great. Thank you.

Speaker #7: Thank you.

Dom Dragicevich: Thank you.

Dom Dragisich: Thank you.

Speaker #1: Your next question comes from the line of Stephen Grambling with Morgan Stanley. Stephen, your line is open. Please go ahead.

Operator 3: Your next question comes from the line of Stephen Grambling with Morgan Stanley. Stephen, your line is open. Please go ahead.

Operator: Your next question comes from the line of Stephen Grambling with Morgan Stanley. Stephen, your line is open. Please go ahead.

Speaker #6: Thank you. So maybe just to follow up there, and I guess in the vein of disclosure, what percentage of the key money that you expect this year is for supporting existing owners versus what's in the pipeline?

Stephen Grambling: Thank you. Maybe just to follow up there, I guess in the vein of disclosure, what percentage of the key money that you expect this year is for supporting existing owners versus what's in the pipeline? Some of your peers have also talked about supporting owners through programs to incentivize them spending on properties and aligning the brand with owners. Sounds like you're alluding to a bit of a similar dynamic with your own cost reductions, but should investors anticipate this will be funded through your P&L or the system fund, or are you finding outright reductions and the system fund should still be kind of breakeven longer term?

Speaker #6: And then some of your peers have also talked about supporting owners through programs to incentivize them spending on property and aligning the brand with owners.

Speaker #6: It sounds like you're alluding to a bit of a similar dynamic with your own cost reductions, but should investors anticipate this will be funded through your P&L or the system fund, or are you finding outright reductions in the system fund should still be kind of break even longer term?

Speaker #3: Yeah. So I'll hit the cost and the key money associated with the existing owners and the reality is when an owner is coming up on an expiration or whatnot, obviously, in order to retain that owner, if we expect for them to have a capital outlay associated with improving that particular hotel, that's our opportunity to work with them on what that property improvement plan looks like, making sure that we're ultimately tailoring it in such a way that meets their needs, but more importantly, the needs of the guest in terms of those longer-term guest reviews and whatnot.

Dom Dragicevich: Yes. I'll hit the cost and the key money associated with the existing owners. The reality is when an owner is coming up on an expiration or whatnot, obviously in order to retain that owner, if we expect for them to have a capital outlay associated with improving that particular hotel, that's our opportunity to work with them on what that property improvement plan looks like, making sure that we're ultimately tailoring it in such a way that meets their needs, but more importantly, the needs of the guest in terms of those longer term guest reviews and whatnot. You are seeing us being able to meet the owner where they are as it pertains to retaining them and as it pertains to supporting that property improvement plan.

Dom Dragisich: Yes. I'll hit the cost and the key money associated with the existing owners. The reality is when an owner is coming up on an expiration or whatnot, obviously in order to retain that owner, if we expect for them to have a capital outlay associated with improving that particular hotel, that's our opportunity to work with them on what that property improvement plan looks like, making sure that we're ultimately tailoring it in such a way that meets their needs, but more importantly, the needs of the guest in terms of those longer term guest reviews and whatnot. You are seeing us being able to meet the owner where they are as it pertains to retaining them and as it pertains to supporting that property improvement plan.

Speaker #3: And so you are seeing us being able to meet the owner where they are as it pertains to retaining them. And as it pertains to supporting that property improvement plan, there's other creative things that we've always done in the past, candidly, that I know some of our competitors are talking about today with regards to reducing certain fees as well based on guest review scores.

Dom Dragicevich: There's other creative things that we've always done in the past, candidly, that I know some of our competitors are talking about today with regards to reducing certain fees as well based on guest review scores. We have an internal acronym for it, but it's effectively your guest review scores around hitting a certain threshold and having a reduction in a loyalty fee, hitting a certain score and having a reduction to other business as usual fees and customer relations and whatnot. Again, there's the capital piece that ultimately flows through the P&L, and then there's the P&L piece that does not have a material impact on the effective royalty rate and the overall royalty fees.

Dom Dragisich: There's other creative things that we've always done in the past, candidly, that I know some of our competitors are talking about today with regards to reducing certain fees as well based on guest review scores. We have an internal acronym for it, but it's effectively your guest review scores around hitting a certain threshold and having a reduction in a loyalty fee, hitting a certain score and having a reduction to other business as usual fees and customer relations and whatnot. Again, there's the capital piece that ultimately flows through the P&L, and then there's the P&L piece that does not have a material impact on the effective royalty rate and the overall royalty fees.

Speaker #3: We have an internal acronym for it, but it's effectively your guest review scores hitting a certain threshold and having a reduction in a loyalty fee, hitting a certain score and having a reduction to other business-as-usual fees, and customer relations and whatnot.

Speaker #3: And so again, there's the capital piece that ultimately flows through the P&L. And then there's the P&L piece that does not have a material impact on the effective royalty rate and the overall royalty fees as well.

Speaker #5: And in terms of your question on key money, at this point in the year, we have fairly good visibility in terms of how much key money is tied up in the pipeline today.

Scott Oaksmith: In terms of your question on key money, at this point in the year, we have fairly good visibility in terms of how much key money is tied up into the pipeline today. Certainly, the timing of disbursement can fluctuate over periods as your hotels, particularly as we mentioned earlier, 90% of our openings this year will be conversion open within three to six months. There can be unforeseen circumstances as people do their property improvement plans that could either accelerate it or push that into the next year. There will be still deals that we will do for the remainder of the year that will open in the year that we have not executed yet. There is always a little bit of volatility in terms of predicting the key money in any one period.

Speaker #5: Certainly, the timing of disbursement can fluctuate over periods as our hotels, particularly as we mentioned earlier, 90% of our openings this year will be conversion open within three to six months.

Speaker #5: But there can be unforeseen circumstances as people do their property improvement plans that could either accelerate it or push that into the next year.

Speaker #5: And there will be still deals that we'll do for the remainder of the year that will open in the year that we have not executed yet.

Speaker #5: So there's always a little bit of volatility in terms of predicting the key money in any one period. But generally, we have a very good sense of kind of the total outlays over an 18-month period.

Scott Oaksmith: Generally, we have a very good sense of the total outlays over an 18-month period.

Speaker #6: Thank you.

Stephen Grambling: Thank you.

Speaker #7: Thank you.

Dom Dragicevich: Thank you.

Dom Dragisich: Thank you.

Speaker #1: Your next question comes from the line of Trey Bowers with Wells Fargo. Trey, your line is open. Please go ahead.

Operator 3: Your next question comes from the line of Trey Bowers with Wells Fargo. Trey, your line is open. Please go ahead.

Operator: Your next question comes from the line of Trey Bowers with Wells Fargo. Trey, your line is open. Please go ahead.

Speaker #4: Hey, guys. Thanks for the question. I guess in the vein of what have you done for me lately, you guys have done a great job kind of breaking out the net capital outlays and the improvement from last year.

David Brown: Hey, guys. Thanks for the question. I guess in the vein of what have you done for me lately, you guys have done a great job breaking out the net capital outlays and the improvement from last year. As we look out to 2027 and think about free cash flow dynamics, should we expect that to be a net positive number next year? Less negative? Just any framework as you guys look to start to distribute some of these assets, what that could mean. Thanks.

Trey Bowers: Hey, guys. Thanks for the question. I guess in the vein of what have you done for me lately, you guys have done a great job breaking out the net capital outlays and the improvement from last year. As we look out to 2027 and think about free cash flow dynamics, should we expect that to be a net positive number next year? Less negative? Just any framework as you guys look to start to distribute some of these assets, what that could mean. Thanks.

Speaker #4: But as we look out to 2027 and think about free cash flow dynamics, should we expect that to be a net positive number next year?

Speaker #4: Less negative, just any framework as you guys look to start to distribute some of these assets, what that could mean? Thanks.

Speaker #5: Yeah. At this point in time, Trey, we're done on at the end of this year for the most part. There may be a few dollars that trickle into 2027.

Scott Oaksmith: Yeah. At this point in time, Trey, we're done at the end of this year for the most part. There may be a few dollars that trickle into 2027, but as the final projects are finished. The capital outlays, there's no more commitments to that. At this point in time, in terms of our support of Cambria and Everhome, we will be net recyclers of that. As we wind up some of the joint ventures we have, as we sell the wholly owned assets, as we collect the outstanding loans we have, we will be in a net surplus position, which will obviously be a tailwind to our cash flow.

Speaker #5: But as the final projects are finished, but the capital outlays, there's no more commitments to that. So at this point in time, in terms of our support of Cambria and Ever Home, we should we will be net recyclers of that.

Speaker #5: So as we wind up some of the joint ventures we have, as we sell the wholly owned assets, as we collect the outstanding loans we have, we will be in a net surplus position, which will obviously be a tailwind to our cash flow.

Speaker #5: So we expect no more substantial money to go out and really over the next 12 to 24 months as we work through the market conditions and take those assets to market to be net recyclers of capital.

Scott Oaksmith: We expect no more substantial money to go out and really over the next 12 to 24 months as we work through the market conditions and take those assets to market to be net recyclers of capital.

Speaker #4: And then I guess as a follow-up, as I think about the owned portfolio, is that a number that over time should go to zero?

David Brown: I guess as a follow-up, as I think about the owned portfolio, is that a number that over time should go to zero? Would you like to be 100% franchised, or will there always be some small portion of the portfolio that you guys want to hold on to just to kind of control brand standards? Finally against that, any sense of kind of magnitude if you were to execute all these sales, what that would mean? Thank you.

Trey Bowers: I guess as a follow-up, as I think about the owned portfolio, is that a number that over time should go to zero? Would you like to be 100% franchised, or will there always be some small portion of the portfolio that you guys want to hold on to just to kind of control brand standards? Finally against that, any sense of kind of magnitude if you were to execute all these sales, what that would mean? Thank you.

Speaker #4: Would you like to be 100% franchised or will there always be some small portion of the portfolio that you guys want to hold on to just to kind of control brand standards?

Speaker #4: And then finally, against that, any sense of kind of magnitude execute all these sales, what that would mean? Thank you.

Speaker #5: Yeah. In terms of ownership, that's really not in our long-term plans. The hotels we own really are concentrated in three different ways. As I mentioned earlier, building some Cambria is an early Ever Homes to get the brands launched.

Scott Oaksmith: Yeah, in terms of ownership, that's really not in our long-term plans. The hotels we own really are concentrated in three different ways. As I mentioned earlier, building some Cambrias and early Everhomes to get the brands launched. We did acquire three assets when we acquired Radisson. At this point in time, we don't see any long-term strategic value into owning them. We are an asset light franchising company, so we do not plan on holding any of the assets. Really now it's around making sure that we're maximizing the value on sales as well as retaining franchise agreements is really what we're focused on. In terms of magnitude, we've got about $650 million on our balance sheet related to those programs. It is mixed between owned hotels, some joint ventures we have, as well as lending.

Speaker #5: And then we did acquire three assets when we acquired Radisson. At this point in time, we don't see any long-term strategic value into owning them.

Speaker #5: We are an asset-light franchising company. So we do not plan on holding any of the assets. Really around now is around making sure that we're maximizing the value on sales as well as retaining franchise agreements is really what we're focused on.

Speaker #5: In terms of magnitude, we've got about $650 million on our balance sheet related to those programs. It is mixed between owned hotels, some joint ventures we had, as well as lending.

Speaker #5: About 450 million of it is on owned hotels. So that would be the more immediate area that we have the ability to go sell and monetize those prior investments.

Scott Oaksmith: About $450 million of it is on owned hotels, so that would be the more immediate area that we have the ability to go sell and monetize those prior investments.

Speaker #4: Great. Thank you.

David Brown: Great. Thank you.

Trey Bowers: Great. Thank you.

Speaker #7: Thank you.

Dom Dragicevich: Thank you.

Dom Dragisich: Thank you.

Speaker #1: Your next question comes from the line of Meredith Jensen with HSBC. Meredith, your line is open. Please go ahead.

Operator 3: Your next question comes from the line of Meredith Jensen with HSBC. Meredith, your line is open. Please go ahead.

Operator: Your next question comes from the line of Meredith Jensen with HSBC. Meredith, your line is open. Please go ahead.

Speaker #8: Good morning. Two very quick things. One, Scott, I think you mentioned some penetration in terms of loyalty. I was hoping you might discuss a little bit further what you're seeing since the refresh.

Meredith Prichard Jensen: Good morning. Two very quick things. One, Scott, I think you mentioned some penetration in terms of loyalty. I was hoping you might discuss a little bit further what you're seeing since the refresh, what some opportunities you're seeing maybe in the future given that increase of engagement. Secondly, if you might speak a little bit more about the partnership revenues in terms of the moving parts in there and sort of the sustainability of how we might model that over the longer term. Thanks a lot.

Meredith Jensen: Good morning. Two very quick things. One, Scott, I think you mentioned some penetration in terms of loyalty. I was hoping you might discuss a little bit further what you're seeing since the refresh, what some opportunities you're seeing maybe in the future given that increase of engagement. Secondly, if you might speak a little bit more about the partnership revenues in terms of the moving parts in there and sort of the sustainability of how we might model that over the longer term. Thanks a lot.

Speaker #8: What some opportunities you're seeing maybe in the future given that increase of engagement. And secondly, if you might speak a little bit more about the partnership revenues in terms of the moving parts in there and sort of the sustainability of how we might model that over the longer term.

Speaker #8: Thanks a lot.

Speaker #4: Thank you. And I'll start with the loyalty piece. And the reality is we're encouraged by the progress that we're seeing. I think the most important kind of result that we wanted to highlight there is just the increase in loyalty contribution which is in that 250 basis point range.

Dom Dragicevich: Thank you. I'll start with the loyalty piece. The reality is we're encouraged by the progress that we're seeing. I think the most important kind of result that we wanted to highlight there is just the increase in loyalty contribution, which is in that 250 basis point range. At the end of the day, that's all about driving our franchisees' profitability. The more direct business that we're driving to them through the loyalty program, the better their economics are going to be. Again, the relaunch of the loyalty program in isolation was a great win for us. It's a bigger part of that commercial ecosystem that we've invested in to really close that RevPAR gap and to really drive the same-store sale number higher in the future.

Dom Dragisich: Thank you. I'll start with the loyalty piece. The reality is we're encouraged by the progress that we're seeing. I think the most important kind of result that we wanted to highlight there is just the increase in loyalty contribution, which is in that 250 basis point range. At the end of the day, that's all about driving our franchisees' profitability. The more direct business that we're driving to them through the loyalty program, the better their economics are going to be. Again, the relaunch of the loyalty program in isolation was a great win for us. It's a bigger part of that commercial ecosystem that we've invested in to really close that RevPAR gap and to really drive the same-store sale number higher in the future.

Speaker #4: And at the end of the day, that's all about driving our franchisees' profitability. So the more direct business that we're driving to them through the loyalty program, the better their economics are going to be.

Speaker #4: And so again, the relaunch of the loyalty program in isolation was a great win for us. But it's a bigger part of that commercial ecosystem that we've invested in to really close that red par gap and to really drive the same-store sale number higher in the future.

Speaker #4: So that's part of a loyalty tool a guest data platform, the relaunch of our or the launch, I should say, of our EasyBid RFP response tool.

Dom Dragicevich: That's part of a loyalty tool, a guest data platform, the launch, I should say, of our EasyBid RFP response tool. It's a consolidated ecosystem, candidly, that's made up of a number of different programs that we think is going to be a net tailwind for us from a RevPAR perspective into the future. We're also seeing an increase in active members within the loyalty program itself at the highest level. The last piece is really those new loyalty program members are actually driving more RevPAR than the loyalty program members that we added during the same period last year. Again, all encouraging signs. Not going to take a victory lap just yet. It's early days, but we feel like this is going to be a big part of that commercial engine into the future.

Dom Dragisich: That's part of a loyalty tool, a guest data platform, the launch, I should say, of our EasyBid RFP response tool. It's a consolidated ecosystem, candidly, that's made up of a number of different programs that we think is going to be a net tailwind for us from a RevPAR perspective into the future. We're also seeing an increase in active members within the loyalty program itself at the highest level. The last piece is really those new loyalty program members are actually driving more RevPAR than the loyalty program members that we added during the same period last year. Again, all encouraging signs. Not going to take a victory lap just yet. It's early days, but we feel like this is going to be a big part of that commercial engine into the future.

Speaker #4: So it's a consolidated ecosystem, candidly, that's made up of a number of different programs that we think is going to be a net tailwind for us from a red par perspective into the future.

Speaker #4: We're also seeing an increase in active members within the loyalty program itself at the highest level. And then the last piece is really those new loyalty programs members are actually driving more red par than the loyalty program members that we added during the same period last year.

Speaker #4: So again, all encouraging signs. I'm not going to take a victory lap just yet. It's early days. But we feel like this is going to be a big part of that commercial engine into the future.

Speaker #5: And it dovetails well into the partnership question that you had. As we continue to bring more guests into our ecosystem and a higher value guest, they're very valuable to the various partners that we have.

Scott Oaksmith: It dovetails well into the partnership question you had as we continue to bring more guests into our ecosystem and a higher value guest. They're very valuable to the various partners that we have, gives us the ability to cross-sell different services, whether they're travel adjacent or something else to our very most loyal members, which we then earn fees off of. The growth of the loyalty program really sets us up well to continue to monetize that guest in other ways to drive that revenue line item. The other area for the partnership services and fees that we've focused on very much, and it's been the theme of this call, is franchisee economics.

Speaker #5: So it gives us the ability to cross-sell different services whether they're travel-adjacent or something else to our very most loyal members, which we then earn fees off of.

Speaker #5: So the growth of the loyalty program really sets us up well to continue to monetize that guest in other ways to drive that revenue line item.

Speaker #5: The other area for the partnership services and fees that we focus on very much, and it's been the theme of this call, is franchisee economics.

Speaker #5: So leveraging the size and scale of our overall franchise system to drive down the cost of operating a hotel, whether that's through various procurement of the types of items that are used in the hotel, whether that's driving down cost of converting the hotels that we've talked about, the 25% reduction in prototype cost, as we do that, we're able to both lower costs for our franchisees, but also then earn fees from those third-party vendors.

Scott Oaksmith: Leveraging the size and scale of our overall franchise system to drive down the cost of operating a hotel, whether that's through various procurement of the types of items that are used in the hotel, whether that's driving down cost of converting the hotels. We've talked about the 25% reduction in prototype cost. As we do that, we're able to both lower costs for our franchisees, but also then earn fees from those third-party vendors. We feel good about where we are in those programs. Our guide for this year is that mid-single digit increase. I think we have a lot of opportunity in the future to accelerate that growth.

Speaker #5: So we feel good about where we are on those programs. Our guide for this year is kind of that mid-single-digit increase. But I think we have a lot of opportunity in the future to accelerate that growth.

Speaker #8: That's super helpful. Tom, did you mention the penetration or the contribution for the loyalty just so we can keep track on the progress?

Meredith Prichard Jensen: That's super helpful. Dom, did you mention the actual penetration, or the contribution for the loyalty just so we can keep track on the progress?

Meredith Jensen: That's super helpful. Dom, did you mention the actual penetration, or the contribution for the loyalty just so we can keep track on the progress?

Speaker #4: We didn't disclose that, but I mean, it's different across the chain scales. In the past, we've talked about it being a little north of 40% across.

Dom Dragicevich: We didn't disclose that. It's different across the chain scales. In the past, we've talked about it being a little north of 40% across. Again, in the mid-scale and above, you see a much higher loyalty penetration.

Dom Dragisich: We didn't disclose that. It's different across the chain scales. In the past, we've talked about it being a little north of 40% across. Again, in the mid-scale and above, you see a much higher loyalty penetration.

Speaker #4: But again, the kind of in the mid-scale and above, you see a much higher loyalty penetration.

Speaker #5: Yeah. Really, the portfolio is very different. So below the 30 in our economy brands. But when you get to the upper mid-scale and upscale hotels, more in that 50 to 60, close to 50 to 60 percent range where it blends to 40.

Scott Oaksmith: Yeah. Really, the portfolio is very different. Below the 30 in our economy brands, when you get to the upper mid-scale and upscale hotels, more in that close to 50% to 60% range where it blends to 40. I think that's pretty common across the industry, particularly in the economy segment, where it tends to be a little more cost-conscious and less value guests. As you move up the chain scale, a lot more loyalty from your guests.

Speaker #5: And I think that's pretty common across the industry, particularly in the economy segment where it tends to be a little more cost-conscious and less value guests.

Speaker #5: But as you move up the chain scale, a lot more loyalty from your guests.

Speaker #8: Thanks much. Really appreciate the caller.

Meredith Prichard Jensen: Thanks much. Really appreciate the color.

Meredith Jensen: Thanks much. Really appreciate the color.

Speaker #7: Thank you.

Dom Dragicevich: Thank you.

Dom Dragisich: Thank you.

Speaker #1: Your last question comes from the line of Alex Brignall with Rothschild & Co. Alex, your line is open. Please go ahead.

Operator 3: Your last question comes from the line of Alex Brignall with Rothschild & Co. Alex, your line is open. Please go ahead.

Operator: Your last question comes from the line of Alex Brignall with Rothschild & Co. Alex, your line is open. Please go ahead.

Speaker #4: Thank you very much for taking the questions. The first one is on the churn rate. Massively appreciative of the new color that you've given for the US.

Alex Brignall: Thank you very much for taking the questions. The first one is on the churn rate. Massively appreciative of the new color that you've given for the US. Is there anything that you could just tell us whether it's directional in terms of the international piece or just what it would look like on a whole system basis, and whether that 250 basis point reduction in churn would apply across the whole group, and if not, why there are differences? Then just in terms of the reimbursable revenue and expenses, obviously, the gap has widened a little bit. Could you just talk about how this will progress then sort of out to years? Thank you.

Speaker #4: Is there anything that you could just tell us whether it's directional in terms of the international piece or just what it would look like on a whole system basis?

Speaker #4: And whether that's 250 basis point reduction in churn would apply across the whole group? And if not, why they're a difference is? And then just in terms of the reimbursable revenue and expenses, obviously, the gap has widened a little bit.

Speaker #4: Could you just talk about how this will progress in sort of outer years? Thank you.

Speaker #2: Yeah. So I'll hit the international and just the broader portfolio net rooms growth question and specifically on the churn rate and then Scott can hit on the reimbursable.

Dom Dragicevich: Yes. I'll hit the international and just the broader portfolio net rooms growth question specifically on the churn rate, then Scott can hit on the reimbursable. When you take a look at just where we are from a net rooms growth perspective, we would expect to see international consistent into the future as it pertains to the churn rates. International growth this year was pretty significant, we're lapping a pretty tough comp in the back half of the year. Right now, with the net rooms growth at 2%, and we're guiding to globally about 1.5%, that's because of the fact that we're lapping that pretty difficult comp. We do expect to still grow our international portfolio and call it kind of a low to mid-single digits after 13% growth year over year. Those churn rates we expect to stay stable.

Dom Dragisich: Yes. I'll hit the international and just the broader portfolio net rooms growth question specifically on the churn rate, then Scott can hit on the reimbursable. When you take a look at just where we are from a net rooms growth perspective, we would expect to see international consistent into the future as it pertains to the churn rates. International growth this year was pretty significant, we're lapping a pretty tough comp in the back half of the year. Right now, with the net rooms growth at 2%, and we're guiding to globally about 1.5%, that's because of the fact that we're lapping that pretty difficult comp. We do expect to still grow our international portfolio and call it kind of a low to mid-single digits after 13% growth year over year. Those churn rates we expect to stay stable.

Speaker #2: But when you take a look at just where we are from a net rooms growth perspective, we would expect to see international consistent into the future as it pertains to the churn rates.

Speaker #2: International growth this year was pretty significant. And so we're lapping a pretty tough cop in the back half of the year. So right now, with the net rooms growth at 2% and we're guiding to globally about 1.5%, that's because of the fact that we're lapping that pretty difficult cop.

Speaker #2: But we do expect to still grow our international portfolio and call it kind of the low to mid-single digits after 13% growth. Year over year.

Speaker #2: And so those churn rates, we expect to stay stable. Obviously, we're continuing to see the openings as well throughout that portfolio. We are seeing significant momentum in Canada following the transition to direct franchising, or I should at least say momentum, where we're driving mid-single digit net rooms growth, low to mid-single digit red par growth.

Dom Dragicevich: Obviously, we're continuing to see the openings as well throughout that portfolio. We are seeing significant momentum in Canada following the transition to direct franchising, or I should at least say momentum, where we're driving mid-single digit net rooms growth, low to mid-single digit RevPAR growth. We also do see an opportunity in CALA following the Radisson acquisition. Asia Pacific remains a little bit of a distribution market for us outside of Australia. Again, encouraged by the continued progress there. I wouldn't sit here and say you should expect to see 13% rooms growth internationally over the course of the next six to 12 months, I think you're going to see more of a moderation, which means as US growth picks up, we feel confident in that 1.5% guide.

Dom Dragisich: Obviously, we're continuing to see the openings as well throughout that portfolio. We are seeing significant momentum in Canada following the transition to direct franchising, or I should at least say momentum, where we're driving mid-single digit net rooms growth, low to mid-single digit RevPAR growth. We also do see an opportunity in CALA following the Radisson acquisition. Asia Pacific remains a little bit of a distribution market for us outside of Australia. Again, encouraged by the continued progress there. I wouldn't sit here and say you should expect to see 13% rooms growth internationally over the course of the next six to 12 months, I think you're going to see more of a moderation, which means as US growth picks up, we feel confident in that 1.5% guide.

Speaker #2: We also do see an opportunity in Calla following the Radisson acquisition. In Asia Pac, it remains a little bit of a distribution market for us outside of Australia.

Speaker #2: So again, encouraged by the continued progress there, I wouldn't sit here and say you should expect to see 13% rooms growth internationally over the course of the next 6 to 12 months.

Speaker #2: But I think you're going to see more of a moderation, which means as US growth picks up, we feel confident in that 1.5% guide.

Speaker #5: Yeah. In terms of your question about the marketing reservation reimbursable, so yes, we have had a temporary acceleration of the investments really around our franchisee and guest value proposition.

Scott Oaksmith: Yeah, Alex, in terms of your question about the marketing reservation reimbursables. Yes, we've had a temporary acceleration of the investments really around our franchisee and guest value proposition. We've been investing in capabilities that improve distribution, strengthen our reservation delivery, modernize our loyalty technology, and improve our rate-setting abilities, which ultimately will help franchisees acquire customers and operate their hotels more efficiently. The current level of spending is not intended to represent a permanent run rate. We did have some accumulated surpluses from prior years, where we're able to fund this defined period of elevated investment. As we wind those up, I would expect this to be the high water mark in terms of the amount of spending into this year, and we'll see that start to come down as these investments are completed this year and going into the following years.

Speaker #5: So we've been investing in capabilities that improve distribution, strengthen our reservation delivery, modernize our loyalty technology, and improve our rate-setting abilities. Which ultimately will help franchisees acquire customers and operate their hotels more efficiently.

Speaker #5: The current level of spending is not intended to represent a permanent run rate. We did have some accumulated surpluses from prior years, where we're able to fund this defined period of elevated investment.

Speaker #5: So as we wind those up, I would expect this to kind of be the high-water mark in terms of the amount of spending in this year.

Speaker #5: And we'll see that start to come down as these investments are completed this year and going into the following years. Those reimbursable expenses, as measured against revenues, will be more aligned.

Scott Oaksmith: Those reimbursable expenses as measured against revenues will be more aligned.

Speaker #4: Could you quantify the surplus that you had there, please? Thank you.

Alex Brignall: Could you quantify the surplus that you had there, please? Thank you.

Speaker #5: Yeah. Coming into the year, we had a little over, I think it was about 25 million dollars in surpluses. So we are going into more of a deficit with the spending levels this year.

Scott Oaksmith: Yeah. Coming into the year, we had a little over, I think it was about $25 million in surpluses. We are going into more of a deficit with the spending levels this year. The way our contracts work is we will then recover that over the next several years back to break even.

Speaker #5: But the way our contracts work is we will then recover that over the next several years back to break even.

Speaker #4: Okay. Thank you so much.

Alex Brignall: Okay. Thank you so much.

Speaker #2: Thank you.

Scott Oaksmith: Thank you.

Speaker #1: Okay. Final question coming from Brant Montour with Barclays. Brant, your line is open. Please go ahead.

Operator 3: A final question coming from Brandt Montour with Barclays. Brandt, your line is open. Please go ahead.

Operator: A final question coming from Brandt Montour with Barclays. Brandt, your line is open. Please go ahead.

Speaker #7: Hi. I apologize if I missed this. I wanted to ask about the pipeline, the domestic pipeline specifically. And the fact that it's down quarter over quarter, down year over year.

Brandt Montour: Hi. I apologize if I missed this. I wanted to ask about the pipeline, the domestic pipeline specifically, and the fact that it's down quarter-over-quarter, down year-over-year. I know franchise agreements and signings are up and they're sort of moving in a better direction, opposite direction. I know the pipeline is not really representative of the signings because you're conversion heavy, but you kind of always have been conversion heavy. I guess the question is why are those numbers moving in the opposite direction? If there's a significant change of mix toward closer in conversions, and why not sort of just put them in the pipeline?

Speaker #7: I know franchise agreements and signings are up, and they're sort of moving in a better direction, opposite direction. I know the pipeline is not really representative of the signs because you're conversion-heavy, but you kind of always have been conversion-heavy.

Speaker #7: So I guess the question is, why are those numbers moving in the opposite direction? And if there's a significant change of mix toward closer in conversions, and then why not sort of just put them in the pipeline?

Speaker #2: Yeah. There's a couple of stories within the story there, Brant. And I think when you take a look at the pipeline, year over year, there was a pretty significant set of hotels that were in the pipeline globally.

Dom Dragicevich: Yeah. There's a couple stories within the story there, Brandt. I think when you take a look at the pipeline year-over-year, there was a pretty significant set of hotels that were in the pipeline globally, so in our international division, which led to the 13% growth. Those effectively were open hotels that brought the pipeline down. When you take a look at the domestic pipeline year-over-year, it's effectively flat. I think it's down 40 basis points and 0.4%. A lot of that has to do with the fact that, again, new construction has been pretty muted. I think we are encouraged by new construction that we're seeing on Extended Stay, which now represents about 40% of the pipeline, 13% unit growth. We continue to see that momentum on the Extended Stay portfolio.

Dom Dragisich: Yeah. There's a couple stories within the story there, Brandt. I think when you take a look at the pipeline year-over-year, there was a pretty significant set of hotels that were in the pipeline globally, so in our international division, which led to the 13% growth. Those effectively were open hotels that brought the pipeline down. When you take a look at the domestic pipeline year-over-year, it's effectively flat. I think it's down 40 basis points and 0.4%. A lot of that has to do with the fact that, again, new construction has been pretty muted. I think we are encouraged by new construction that we're seeing on Extended Stay, which now represents about 40% of the pipeline, 13% unit growth. We continue to see that momentum on the Extended Stay portfolio.

Speaker #2: So at our international division, which led to the 13% growth. So those effectively were open hotels that brought the pipeline down. When you take a look at the domestic pipeline year over year, it's effectively flat.

Speaker #2: And I think it's down 40 basis points, so 0.4%. So a lot of that has to do with the fact that, again, new construction has been pretty muted.

Speaker #2: And I think we are encouraged by new construction that we're seeing on extended stay, which now represents about 40% of the pipeline. 13% unit growth.

Speaker #2: And so we continue to see that momentum on the extended stay portfolio. But broadly speaking, you are seeing just a higher velocity within that conversion those conversion development agreements.

Dom Dragicevich: Broadly speaking, you are seeing just a higher velocity within those conversion development agreements, where we actually reduced time to open by, I think it was between 10% and 15%. Again, the more development agreements that are being signed, the more you're basically seeing open in-year, or in some cases, even within the quarter, so that those aren't even showing up in the pipeline. Again, we're still pretty darn confident about where we're heading from a net rooms growth perspective, which is why we guided even with the pipeline effectively staying flat year-over-year domestically.

Dom Dragisich: Broadly speaking, you are seeing just a higher velocity within those conversion development agreements, where we actually reduced time to open by, I think it was between 10% and 15%. Again, the more development agreements that are being signed, the more you're basically seeing open in-year, or in some cases, even within the quarter, so that those aren't even showing up in the pipeline. Again, we're still pretty darn confident about where we're heading from a net rooms growth perspective, which is why we guided even with the pipeline effectively staying flat year-over-year domestically.

Speaker #2: We actually reduced time to open by, I think it was between 10 and 15 percent. And so again, the more development agreements that are being signed, the more you're basically seeing open in year or in some cases even within the quarter.

Speaker #2: So those aren't even showing up in the pipeline. So again, we're still pretty darn confident about where we're heading from a net rooms growth perspective, which is why we guided even with the pipeline effectively staying flat year over year domestically.

Speaker #5: Yeah. Brant, I think to the point we made earlier, we really are more in a heavier conversion, especially in the US environment. I believe about 90% of our US openings this year historically, it's been more in the mid-60s, just with the lack of supply growth across the entire US industry.

Scott Oaksmith: Yeah, Brandt, I think to the point we made earlier, we really are more in a heavier conversion, especially in the US environment. I believe about 90% of our US openings this year. Historically, it's been more in the mid-60s, just with the lack of supply growth across the entire US industry. Really, where we've been focused on is our US conversion pipeline is up 24% year-over-year and 6% sequentially since 31 March of this year. We are seeing, to your point earlier about the increase in franchise agreements, we are seeing that more on the conversion side, and they're moving through the pipeline really quickly. The pipeline is not always representative at any point in time of the velocity and the unit growth potential.

Speaker #5: So really, if you focus where we've been focused on is our US conversion pipeline, it's up 24% year over year. And 6% sequentially since March the 31st of this year.

Speaker #5: So we are seeing to your point earlier about the increase in franchise agreements, we are seeing that more on the conversion side. And they're moving through the pipeline really quickly.

Speaker #5: So the pipeline is not always representative at any point in time of the velocity and the unit growth potential.

Speaker #7: Great. Thanks for all the color, guys.

Brandt Montour: Great. Thanks for all the color, guys.

Speaker #2: Thank you.

Dom Dragicevich: Thank you.

Dom Dragisich: Thank you.

Speaker #1: There are no further questions at this time. I will now turn the call back to Dom Dragosic for closing remarks.

Operator 3: There are no further questions at this time. I will now turn the call back to Dom Dragicevich for closing remarks.

Operator: There are no further questions at this time. I will now turn the call back to Dom Dragicevich for closing remarks.

Speaker #2: Thank you, operator. And thanks, everyone, for joining us this morning. We're looking forward to meeting with you again in November when we report our third quarter results.

Dom Dragicevich: Thank you, operator, and thanks everyone for joining us this morning. We're looking forward to meeting with you again in November when we report our Q3 results. In the meantime, we both hope you have a great rest of your summer.

Dom Dragisich: Thank you, operator, and thanks everyone for joining us this morning. We're looking forward to meeting with you again in November when we report our Q3 results. In the meantime, we both hope you have a great rest of your summer.

Speaker #2: But in the meantime, we both hope you have a great rest of your summer.

Speaker #1: This concludes today's call. Thank you for attending. You may now disconnect.

Operator 3: This concludes today's call. Thank you for attending. You may now disconnect. This event has now concluded. Thank you for joining Choice Hotels International, Inc. Q2 2026 earnings call. The line will disconnect automatically.

Operator: This concludes today's call. Thank you for attending. You may now disconnect. This event has now concluded. Thank you for joining Choice Hotels International, Inc. Q2 2026 earnings call. The line will disconnect automatically.

Speaker #6: This event has now concluded. Access the choice hotel's international incorporated IR. This event has now concluded. Thank you for joining Choice Hotel's international incorporated Q2 2026 earnings call.

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