CHOICE HOTELS

'Choice Hotels International' () is a hospitality holding corporation which owns several hotel brands and is based in Silver Spring in Montgomery County, Maryland.

Contents

History

Competitors

Corporate Innovation

Hotel brands

Defunct brands

External links

Footnotes

History

The company was started in 1939 as Quality Courts United, a referral chain consisting of about seven motel owners. Later, the motel chain operated simply under the name Quality Motels (1969-71) and Quality Inns (since 1972). Quality Courts United accepted franchise hotels without strict norms or guidelines from the company. This is different from Holiday Inn which from their early beginnings implemented numerous mandatory standards and guidelines (e.g. room size and amenities) at every one of their locations. Also, Quality Inn accepted franchisees with existing hotels.
During its early years, Quality Courts' operations were entirely in areas of the U.S. east of the Mississipi River and portions of Canada. From 1946 to 1964, Quality had a marketing partnership with Best Western, whose properties were located mostly west of the Mississippi River, and thus not in direct competition with Quality. While this partnership made sense geographically, it did not go over well in the long run, and was abandoned in 1964 as Best Western expanded into the Eastern U.S. with its Best Eastern operation (which was replaced by a nationwide Best Western operation in 1967). Quality Courts began its efforts toward national coverage in 1966 when it opened a motel in St. Louis, Missouri and two in Texas at Houston and Arlington.
The company became Quality International as the company switched to franchising in 1972. A few years later, the franchising well on its way, about 300 hotels were independently owned and only about 38 were still company-owned.
In 1982, Quality Inns pioneered segmentation in the lodging industry by introducing Comfort Inns and Quality Royale. Comfort Inn competes with chains such as Baymont and Fairfield by Marriott; Quality Royale was meant to compete with upper midpriced chains like Red Lion and Four Points by Sheraton. Comfort Inn experienced impressive growth in the 1980s and 1990s. Quality Royale was converted to Clarion in 1987 and all suite divisions, Comfort Suites and Quality Suites were introduced, the first mid-market all-suite chains.
In 1988 the company introduced Sleep Inn, a revolutionary economy brand utilizing a consistent interior corridor design prototype and all-new construction, designed by Rob Spurr. The company bought Friendship Inns, Rodeway Inn, and Econo Lodge in the early 1990s, while changing the corporate name to Choice Hotels International. Friendship Inns would later be absorbed into the Rodeway and Econo Lodge chains.
In the late 1990s the company would introduce the extended-stay Mainstay Suites brand and the Choice Privileges frequent guest loyalty program.
In 1992, Choice Hotels became the largest franchise hotel chain in the world.
A new extension to the Clarion brand is the Clarion Collection, which consists of historic and boutique-style hotels that are service-oriented and designed to be luxurious and affordable at the same time.
In January 2005, Choice Hotels introduced a new upscale, all-suite hotel designed in contemporary style called Cambria Suites. The first Cambria Suites opened in Boise, Idaho on April 17, 2007. Approximately 20 Cambria Suites hotels are planned, with locations such as Bloomington, Minnesota and Savannah, Georgia scheduled to open in 2007.
In September 2005, Choice Hotels acquired the Suburban Extended-Stay Hotel chain, which consists of 67 extended-stay hotels.^[1]
In August 2007, Comfort Suites Brand was sold to Wyndham Hotels & Resorts for an estimated profit of 1.3 billion dollars. Wyndham plans to compete with upscale mid-segment hotels such as Hyatt Place, Courtyard By Marriott, and Cambria Suites.

Competitors

★ Best Western

★ Accor Hotels

★ Intercontinental Hotels Group

★ Marriot International

★ Hilton Hotels Corporation

Corporate Innovation

Choice Hotels has led the industry with many innovations, being the first to:

★ Offer total wall-to-wall carpeting in all hotels (1952)

★ Offer in room telephones and 24 hour desk service (1954)

★ Guarantee Reservations (1963)

★ Offer 24 hour, toll-free reservations (1970)

★ Offer non-smoking rooms in every hotel (1984)

★ Offer internet reservation services (1995)

Hotel brands

★ Comfort Inn/Comfort Hotel/Comfort Inn by Journey's End (formerly Journey's End Motel)

★ Comfort Suites

★ Comfort Condos

★ Quality Inn/Quality Suites/Quality Hotels

★ Clarion Hotels/Clarion Collection

★ Sleep Inn/Sleep Inn and Suites

★ Rodeway Inn

★ Econo Lodge

★ Mainstay Suites

★ Suburban Extended Stay Hotel

★ Cambria Suites

Defunct brands

★ Friendship Inns - merged into Econo Lodge and Rodeway Inn brands

★ Quality Royale/Quality Courts - merged into Clarion and Quality Inns

External links

★ Choice Hotels International

★ Choice Hotels Canada

★ Choice Hotels in France

★ Choice Hotels in Germany

★ Choice Hotels in Italy

★ Choice Hotels Ireland

★ Choice Hotels Australasia

★ Choice Hotels UK

★ Choice Hotels Europe

★ Choice Hotels Scandinavia

Footnotes

1.
Choice Hotels Acquires Suburban Franchise Systems