The ESG Onion: Choice Hotels CEO’s Early Exit

ROCKVILLE, MD–Choice Hotels International (NYSE:CHH) CEO Pat Pacious decided abruptly today to go home about two hours early. He packed up his things, shut off his light, and left without saying goodbye. “I was tired, I guess.” Pat said. “I don’t know. I guess I really wasn’t feeling it. It’s not that I was depressed or anything, I just had to get out of there, you know?”

Choice Hotels Chief Development Officer David Pepper said, “Look, we all deserve some time off but I question the optics of leaving early before a 3-day weekend. He could have put in a few more hours.”

Chief Information Officer Brian Kirkland added, “There’s a rumor going on that he left early because it was his week to load and run the dishwasher before the weekend. I’m not saying that’s true, but I’m not saying that’s not true either. The harsh reality is that we’ll probably never know why our CEO left a few hours early. I would say it was to beat the traffic but who says things like ‘beat the traffic’ anymore?”

Earlier this week, Choice Hotels welcomed a new property to its portfolio with the opening of the Cambria Hotel Austin Airport, the first of two hotels to open in Austin with the Cambria Hotel Austin Downtown Rainey Street expected to open in the summer of 2023.

Mr. Pacious also said, “Would I leave early again with everything I know now? I might. I just might.”