Patrick Pacious has stepped down from his role as president and CEO of Choice Hotels International.
Choice's board of directors has appointed Dominic Dragisich, chief growth and strategy officer, as the company's interim CEO. It will conduct a "comprehensive search" for a permanent replacement and will consider both internal and external candidates, according to a company news release.
Pacious served in the role since 2017 and has been with Choice for nearly 21 years. He will serve as an adviser to the company through Aug. 31 to support the transition of the position.
"Leading Choice Hotels has been the greatest privilege of my career," Pacious said in the release. "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."
During his tenure as president and CEO, Choice grew from 11 to 22 brands, including the acquisitions of the WoodSpring Suites and Radisson Hotels Americas brands. Pacious led Choice's efforts of a hostile takeover bid of Wyndham Hotels & Resorts in 2023 before abandoning the proposal in early 2024.
Dragisich has been with Choice since 2017, serving as the company's chief financial officer for the bulk of that time. This will be his first CEO role, albeit in an interim position for the time being.
"I am honored to step into the role of interim CEO and look forward to building on the company's strong foundation," he said.
C. Patrick Scholes, managing director of lodging and leisure equity research at Truist Securities, said in a note to investors that Dragisich and Choice's Chief Financial Officer Scott Oaksmith told analysts that Pacious' departure was "amicable." Scholes also noted that Dragisich is viewed as the top candidate to fill the permanent CEO position.
"Certainly the most recent earnings call ... the results disappointed, and there was a little bit of friction on the earnings call. In that regard, one might have initially thought that [Pacious' departure] might have had to do with stock underperformance and the recent earnings that were light," Scholes said in an interview with CoStar News. "I had a conversation with the management team, and they cleared up some initial misconceptions as to those two being related — it just sounded like this had been in the works for some time, it wasn't related to earnings or anything."
Choice posted decreases in revenue per available room, average daily rate and occupancy in the first quarter of 2026 compared to the same period a year ago, with executives pointing to a tough comparison to a 2025 first quarter boosted by hurricane-related travel. Choice left its full-year 2026 revenue per available room outlook unchanged.
According to the company's latest earnings report, Choice's global portfolio has 7,588 hotels with 658,348 rooms across 22 brands.