Patrick Pacious is out at Choice Hotels International, the company best known for brands like Comfort and the Americas division of Radisson.
The hotel company's representatives announced Tuesday that Pacious will step down as president and CEO after a nearly 21-year tenure and leading the company since 2017. Dominic Dragisich, currently serving as chief growth and strategy officer, has been named Interim CEO. Pacious will remain on as an advisor through August 31 to smooth the handoff while the board conducts a full search. The Choice announcement indicated both internal and external candidates are both in play.
"Together, we have built a higher-quality portfolio of hotels, a more accretive, diverse pipeline, and a capital-light model that enables the Company to capture significant opportunities ahead," Pacious said in a statement. "Having laid the foundation for a customer-centric, AI-enabled business, in alignment with our long-term strategic plan, now is the right time for a new leader to guide Choice Hotels into its next phase of growth."
As part of the former CEO's departure, Pacious is entitled to 200% of his base pay (nearly $1.3 million, according to the company's annual report released earlier this year), continued "Stay at Choice" benefits of up to $40,000 through the end of this year and up to $25,000 annually through the end of 2037, and up to $50,000 in legal fees pertaining to his company exit — among other severance benefits listed in a filing Wednesday with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
The exit caps a more than two-decade run at Choice for Pacious. During his time, the company's brand portfolio doubled from 11 to 22 flags, WoodSpring Suites and the Americas division of Radisson Hotels came into the fold, and the company built out a direct franchising international platform that gave it genuine global footing.
But the ledger isn't all wins.
Pacious's most audacious swing — a hostile takeover bid for Wyndham Hotels & Resorts in late 2023 — ended five months later in an embarrassing retreat after Wyndham's board and shareholders repeatedly rebuffed Choice's advances. The takeover attempt was a push to create a budget hotel giant to better compete against the likes of Marriott and Hilton, which at the time were beginning to enter the more economically priced hotel brand space. But the episode raised questions about strategic discipline at a moment when the company was already digesting the Radisson Americas acquisition.
On a recent earnings call, company leaders faced criticism around the lack of transparency around the company's current market share, with one analyst noting, "when it goes up, we hear the good number and then when it goes down, we don't get a number." Both Choice and Wyndham have faced increased competition — and franchisee temptation to convert — with new "premium economy" and "lower midscale" brands like Hilton's Spark and Marriott's City Express, respectively.
Dragisich, who served as the company's CFO from 2017 to 2023 before moving into brand and strategy roles, is a known quantity to the board. Stewart Bainum Jr., chairman of the Choice Hotels board, credited Pacious with building "a more resilient and diversified company."
But whoever becomes the permanent replacement will certainly be expected to promote more transparency and drive more growth on an increasingly competitive playing field.
This is a breaking story and will be updated.