Concord Hospitality Bullish on Hotel Industry as Company Nears 14,000 Rooms; $355 Million Development Pipeline Committed for 2012

 RALEIGH, N.C., Feb. 16, 2012—Concord Hospitality Enterprises, one of the nation’s top-ranked hotel developer/owner/operators, today announced that the company has committed $355 million  in active  development on 15 hotels in 2012 and expects to reach the 14,000 room threshold as a third-party operator and owner. 

The development activity is expected to add approximately 3,500 construction jobs and more than 1,000 new hotel jobs to local economies.   In addition, the company said it will continue to expand its third-party management portfolio, focusing primarily on the full-service sector and premium-branded select-service hotels.

 “Last year we opened or broke ground on five new properties and assumed management of seven, which was a robust year considering the stagnant economy,” said Mark Laport, (top right photo) president and CEO.

 “For 2012, we expect to more than double our development pipeline.  Operationally, we will focus on adding more premium brand select-service and full-service hotels to our third -party managed portfolio, such as the DoubleTree in Albuquerque and Sheraton in Oklahoma City which we were selected to manage late in 2011.”  

 Multi-brand Strategy

Concord, which historically has focused primarily on the Marriott brand family, is significantly expanding to include the top-tier brands, Hyatt, Hilton, Starwood and upscale Choice flags.

Laport cited several Cambria Suites and Hyatt House projects currently in Concord’s development pipeline, as well as the recent agreement to develop a 250 room full service Marriott hotel in Sugar Loaf in Atlanta as current examples of a more diversified portfolio mix.

North American Growth Strategy

“Last year, we expanded our portfolio geographically by adding hotels in major gateway cities such as Washington D.C. and New York City,” Laport added.

“In 2011, we have become much more geographically diverse and are looking to add hotels in an ever increasing number of states as well as developing in new markets near our existing hotels such as a yet-to-be-branded hotel in Jersey City, N.J., which will expand our presence in Metro NY.

“To the south, we have a mixed-use development hotel near the University of Tennessee in Knoxville and have just broken ground on a Hyatt-branded hotel near our headquarters in the city of Raleigh, and our highly successful Renaissance North Hills Hotel (middle left photo).  We also remain quite active in the Cleveland and Pittsburgh markets, where Concord has a significant stake. 

For more information, visit www.concordhotels.com.

Contact:  Lauralee Dobbins, Chris Daly,  (703) 435-6293

 Chris Daly

President

Daly Gray, Inc.

Ph: 703-435-6293

Cell: 703-864-5553