Steve Joyce believes Choice Hotels is perfectly positioned to take advantage of the upturn. The lack of available credit has halted most new construction, meaning growth will have to come by way of conversion—which is “right in our wheelhouse,” he says. On the consumer side, value is king, which also fits the franchising company’s wheelhouse of mid- to lower-level brands. And on top of that, Joyce again reiterated his desire to add an upscale brand, or two.

“We’re going to be successful, the question is how much,” Joyce said during a media briefing last week at the company’s annual conference in Las Vegas at Mandalay Bay. “All the brands are headed in the right direction. We’re the only company that has a brand that meets every stage of the life cycle of a hotel and does it well, providing value. That puts us in the unique position for the next two to three years when all the action will be conversions and that’s where we live. You’ll hear all these other guys who never talk about conversion all of a sudden saying we love conversions, but they don’t. That is our power alley and we’ll get more than our fair share.”

Joyce told more than 5,000 attendees during a general session that the company was tested in 2009, but that it survived and even persevered. He said Choice did not cut services and support like its competition, instead enhancing the company’s offerings. He said RevPAR index grew by 20 basis points, the largest rise since 2006, and by 180 points for the Comfort Inn brand. “Value is the key driver of traveler demand,” he said. “We’re going to take advantage of that mindset.” Choice added two million members to its Choice Privileges loyalty program last year and the goal for 2010 is 2.5 million.

When asked at the media roundtable whether he’d like to add another brand, Joyce responded with “absolutely.” The long-time Marriott exec has made no secret of his passion for upscale hotels and upscale extended-stay offerings like Residence Inn.

“We really play in the moderate tier and below and we would like to play in the other half too,” Joyce said. “Cambria Suites is the first step, but we believe a full-service brand in the four-star category we could position as value oriented would be a very interesting addition to our portfolio and would help add to our strong leisure orientation by bringing in more business customers.”

Joyce didn’t stop there: “I absolutely believe there’s a lot of room left for us to move in a couple directions. Fullservice is one and I spent a long time with Residence Inn and I really like that upscale extended-stay space.” He said any new brands would be a challenge—look no further than Cambria Suites—in an environment with almost no new construction. Could Choice use its balance sheet to acquire a brand rather than develop one? “Absolutely,” Joyce again answered, adding that he didn’t wish ill on anyone, but he’d be happy to pick up a distressed portfolio if someone was in trouble.

Cambria Suites, the upscale limited-service brand Choice introduced five years ago, continues to receive rave reviews from consumers, but the brand has only 21 properties open. During a brand session, Cambria Suites Vice President of Franchise Development Brad LeBlanc told current franchisees the company is buying distressed sites—and already has in New Jersey, Boston and Los Angeles—to flip to franchisees at cost when financing becomes available. Joyce said a company-developed hotel could even be a possibility, with the same intention, to help keep Cambria’s momentum going.

Joyce said Choice could also revive joint venture and mezzanine loan programs it had introduced in 2008 “before the world changed” to incent developers, especially those willing to build multiple properties. “You’re going to see more capital behind that effort to keep it going until we see markets and financing come back,” he said.

The other news from the conference was the introduction of Sleep Inn’s new “simply stylish” look. The almost-400-property chain will be renovated to conform over the next seven years and a new prototype was introduced for new construction. Joyce said the “remarkably consistent “ offering will better address consumers’ tastes and be positioned more in the lower end of the moderate tier to become one of Choice’s “power brands.”

The other question Joyce faced from both the media and franchisees was over last year’s standoff with online travel agents, specifically Expedia. “We believe the success of hotels is directly related to hotels being able to control their inventory and price,” he said. Mary Beth Knight, Choice’s senior vice president of ecommerce and global distribution, told attendees the key to growing ADR was “by not playing the rate reduction game and by keeping discounts a small part of your revenue pie and by standing united.”