| A History of InnovationWe have a remarkable history in the hotel industry. We have consistently used our expertise to develop ways to innovate our methods, our systems, our service and our brands.
| 1940s
1950s
1960s
1970s
1980s
1990s
2000s
| 1940s | 1940|
First to inspect member properties for standards.
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1941|
First to provide travel directories.
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| 1950s | 1952|
First to mandate wall-to-wall carpet.
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1954|
First to offer 24-hour desk service, telephones in rooms and swimming pools.
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| 1960s | 1963|
First to guarantee reservations.
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The Quality referral system offered the industry's first prepaid telephone reservations.
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| 1970s | 1970|
First to offer toll-free reservations. We introduced the innovative 24-hour, 800-number reservation system.
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| 1980s | 1981|
Opened a new property every other day.
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First to segment in the lodging industry with the introduction of two new lodging products - Quality Royale and Comfort Inn. First company to successfully franchise in the economy and mid-priced categories.
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1983|
First to develop a global marketing/reservations system.
Developed a marketing and reservation system that linked reservations centers in US, Canada, Mexico, UK, Belgium, Holland, Italy, Germany and Japan with airline reservations systems and travel agents to create one global marketing network.
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1984|
First to offer non-smoking rooms in every hotel.
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1988|
Developed Sleep Inn, a major industry breakthrough. It was the first hotel engineered from the ground up to reduce labor costs.
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| 1990s | 1990|
The company name became Choice Hotels International to better reflect our growing number of brands and locations.
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1993|
First to offer formal, written impact-protection policy.
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First to offer "senior-friendly" rooms. Rodeway Inn began offering "senior" rooms with brighter lighting, grab bars in showers, lever handles on doors and large buttons on phones and alarm clocks.
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1995|
First to provide "real-time" access to reservation system via web.
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Launched the company's Internet site. More than 72,000 pages were accessed during that month and 40,000 hits were recorded in first two weeks alone.
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1996|
Became a publicly traded company.
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Launched MainStay Suites, the first mid-market, extended-stay lodging product developed and franchised by a major chain.
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Introduced the Automated Travel Management (ATM®) system, the first commission system that expedites travel agent payments, provides tracking and instant answers for inquiries.
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Developed the industry's first geographically based system to identify points of interest near its hotels. Known as geo-coding, this allows reservations agents to easily choose the closest Choice hotel to a specific destination.
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1997|
Introduced the industry's first Internet site devoted to travel agents.
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Launched the first training and certification program in hotel franchising for hotel employees.
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1999|
First in the hospitality industry to launch a company owned, online procurement system - ChoiceBuys.com. It enables franchisees to order goods directly from endorsed vendors.
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| 2000s | 2000|
On October 19, Choice Hotels became the first to offer wireless reservations via handheld computers.
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2001|
In wake of the September 11 terrorist attacks on the U.S., Choice Hotels launches, "Thanks for Traveling," an industry-wide campaign to help America get back on the road.
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The Quality Inn Larson celebrates its 60th anniversary in the Choice Hotels family and becomes the first Quality Inn to display the brand's new image.
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Choice Hotels implements "last room availability" synchronizing the hotels' room inventory with Choice Hotels central reservations system.
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2002|
New prototypes for Econo Lodge brand hotels, a first-ever "Inn & Suites" option for the brand as well as a non-traditional use of color, space and materials that sets a new standard in economy lodging.
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2003|
Launched Best Choice E-Rate Guarantee that guarantees consumers the best on-line rates via choicehotels.com.
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2004|
A Multi-Cultural Franchising Seminar was held at the company's Silver
Spring headquarters to educate potential franchisees on the steps
required to become a successful hotel owner.
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| The World's Greatest Sales Blitz, an initiative designed to
thank the travel agent community for its continuous support of the
lodging industry took place around the world in November. |
| Choice Hotels de Mexico, a newly formed subsidiary of the
company was launched in Mexico and began a direct franchising effort
to introduce the Choice Hotels brands to hotel owners and developers
in the country. |
| The Women's Business Alliance was officially launched at Choice
Hotels 50th Annual Convention. |
2005| Cambria Suites, an upscale, select-service all-suites hotel brand designed to maximize return on investment for developers was launched. |
| "Click to Chat," a communications tool designed to give visitors to choicehotels.com the ability to engage in online conversations directly with Choice Hotels customer service representatives was introduced. |
| The first Sleep Inn in Central America opened in the heart of San Jose. |
| Choice's agreement with The Ticket Reserve gave dedicated fans access to secure standard-rate hotel rooms, as well as face-value game tickets, as they watch their favorite teams compete in some of the largest sporting events. |
| The company celebrated the opening of its 5000th franchised hotel, a Comfort Suites brand hotel in Lake Geneva, WI. |
| The acquisition of Suburban Franchise Holding Company, Inc., and its subsidiary, Suburban Franchise Systems, Inc. made Choice the largest franchisor in the economy extended-stay lodging segment with nearly 9,000 rooms online. |
| Groundbreaking ceremonies for the first Cambria Suites located in Boise, Idaho were held. |
| For the second consecutive year, Choice was named a "Great Place to Work" by Washingtonian magazine, the monthly magazine of the nation's capital. |
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