LAS VEGAS — During its 64th-annual convention, Choice Hotels International, Inc. unveiled a new logo for its Comfort brand. The unveiling marks a milestone for the brand, which has undergone a renaissance over the last seven years.
“This redesigned logo serves as a beacon for the new Comfort. It’s more than a change of symbol, it’s a symbol of change,” said Anne Smith, vice president, Brand Management and Design, Choice Hotels. “From new lobbies to upgraded guest rooms, Comfort hotels are being renovated across the country to deliver a more consistent, up-to-date guest experience. Together with our owners, we will have invested $2.5 billion in the Comfort brand by the end of 2019.”
The new logo also represents an important shift for the brand across its locations, unifying the Comfort Inn, Comfort Inn & Suites and Comfort Suites brands as one brand family. The company expects all U.S. Comfort properties will have completed renovations under its “Move to Modern” initiative and updated their signage by the end of 2020.
At a media roundtable, Smith noted that Choice Hotels Canada will be implementing its own timeline and strategy regarding the Comfort brand’s updated design and signage. “We’ve been having a lot of conversations with our Canadian team and they’re really excited to start getting on the same page,” she added.
“The evolution of the Comfort brand that’s been happening in both [the U.S. and Canada] has been focused on strategies to transform that brand and take it to a higher level. In Canada, we’ve have over $100-million invested into our existing hotels over the last three-to-four years…plus more new-build development with Comfort than we’ve had in the history of the company. The combination of those two things is really helping to move that brand higher,” Brian Leon, managing director, Choice Hotels Canada told Hotelier during the convention.
In regard to when the new logo and signage will appear in Canada, Leon noted that Choice Hotels Canada will likely align fairly closely with the timelines established in the U.S. “With all of the capital that we’ve had go into the Comfort brand over the last while and the number of them that are new-build, so many of our hotels are already in a good spot [to qualify for the signage], so it should be a pretty easy transition.”
