Choice Hotels International Selects LRA Worldwide to Provide a Quality Assurance Program for Its Domestic Hotels

SILVER SPRING, Md., Nov. 13 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Choice Hotels International, Inc. today announced that the company has selected LRA Worldwide, Inc. to provide a quality assurance program at all of its 4,100-plus domestic franchised hotel properties beginning in early April 2007. LRA Worldwide has extensive experience in the hospitality industry and possesses a demonstrated strength and consistent approach for designing and conducting quality assurance programs.

LRA has a customer-centric approach to quality assurance and brand assurance, which includes employing only full-time professional consultants, all of whom have operations experience within the hotel industry. Its consultants are known for their professionalism, knowledge of the brands they support and their brand standards, and their strong hospitality backgrounds. LRA has a strong working knowledge of Choice and its brands as it currently provides quality assurance reviews for the 250-plus properties in the Choice Hotels Canada system and over 40 properties in Europe.

"After a comprehensive analysis process, we selected LRA Worldwide as our partner in this initiative due to the firm's 20-year track record of providing world-class quality and brand assurance programs for the hospitality industry," said Alexandra Jaritz, vice president, property level performance, Choice Hotels. "Outsourcing the quality assurance process will instill confidence in our franchisees that the process is an objective, consistent one across all brands and properties. Utilizing LRA for quality assurance will also enable our field-based operations personnel to focus their efforts entirely on optimizing property-level brand performance, boosting hotel revenue, and driving more guests to each property."

"Choice's leadership conducted a very thorough discovery process, and we are gratified that their research pointed to LRA as the best strategic partner for this initiative," said Ted Fisch, director of business development for LRA Worldwide. "It is a testament to our team of professional hospitality consultants and their ability to not only administer world-class quality assurance programs for our clients, but to also help them strengthen their brands."

About Choice Hotels

Choice Hotels International franchises more than 5,200 hotels, representing more than 430,000 rooms, in the United States and more than 40 countries and territories. As of June 30, 2006, 687 hotels are under development in the United States, representing 53,765 rooms, and an additional 65 hotels, representing 5,993 rooms, are under development in more than 20 countries and territories. The company's Cambria Suites, Comfort Inn, Comfort Suites, Quality, Clarion, Sleep Inn, Econo Lodge, Rodeway Inn, MainStay Suites and Suburban Extended Stay Hotel brands serve guests worldwide. Additional corporate information may be found on the Choice Hotels Internet site, which may be accessed at choicehotels.com.

About LRA Worldwide

LRA Worldwide, Inc. is a leading consulting company that specializes in Customer Experience Management (CEM). LRA helps companies and brands design and deliver the optimal customer experience across all key touch points using an integrated suite of services including Quality Assurance & Mystery Shopping, Customer Experience Strategy Design, Standards Development & Content Management, Organizational Development & Training and Customer and Employee Research. LRA specializes in "operationalizing the brand" -- turning brand promise and customer strategy into operational reality. In addition to its work in hospitality, LRA serves clients in the sports, entertainment, healthcare, financial services, travel and retail industries as well. For more information, visit the company's Web site at LRAworldwide.com.

Cambria Suites, Comfort Inn, Comfort Suites, Quality, Clarion, Sleep Inn, MainStay Suites, Suburban Extended Stay Hotel, Econo Lodge, and Rodeway Inn are proprietary trademarks and service marks of Choice Hotels International, Inc.