As featured in “Post & Courier”
Megan Fernandes, Post & Courier, 20 December, 2025
RREAF Holdings’ Brad Busby is featured in the Charleston Post & Courier, sharing insights on the strategic repositioning of the now DoubleTree by Hilton in Charleston, NC, alongside a broader story including SNL-backed guest programming.
Strategic swap
What was built as a 126-room Cambria Choice Hotel in 2019 at 84 Ripley Point Drive is now a DoubleTree by Hilton.
The switch was a “strategic repositioning,” according to Brad Busby, who is part of the Texas-based ownership group RREAF Holdings.
Busby said the Charleston hotel had everything going for it — a prime location near the peninsula, a new building and no shortage of potential guests. But when the Cambria lifestyle brand wasn’t performing as well as hoped, the decision was made to shift gears.
Raines Hospitality of Florence was tapped to manage the property, while the ownership group changed to brand that it felt would appeal to its biggest client pool — business travelers.
“In a market as developed as Charleston, having the right brand affiliation and flag affiliation is incredibly important,” Busby said. “Cambria just wasn’t the right fit.”
Aside from swapping out the flag, the conversion was relatively minor, he said, noting that the hotel will generally look the same. The onsite food and beverage options have been elevated and now include a restaurant, lobby bar and market.
Busby said the “financial benefits far outweighed the financial costs” of severing the Cambria contract.
“We felt we had a great hotel, but just weren’t getting in front of enough people,” Busby said. “It’s hard to beat Hilton’s distribution channel, and since the switch, we saw an immediate jump in performance.”
We appreciate and thank the Post & Courier, especially Megan Fernandes, for covering RREAF’s strategic repositioning of the DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel in Charleston. To access the full article on the Post & Courier, please click here.
