Choice Hotels are all independently owned and operated. Pricing decisions are made by the hotel (or a company that owns a group of hotels). Therefore, saying Choice is clueless isn't accurate.
As a former Revenue Manager, I'll say that there are many different factors that are considered when pricing hotel rooms. Unless you are on the inside and/or are an expert on a specific market, it's extremely difficult to accurately judge a hotel's success based solely on public rates.
I'll even go a step further and say it's virtually impossible to come up with an accurate analysis related to business travel based on the rates of a single night during a week when many business travelers are not working.