ROCKVILLE, MD—Choice Hotels International, Inc. has hired New York native Andrea Fasano as the brand’s first Choice Hotels Ultimate People Person. According to the company, the role was created to celebrate the relaunch of the Choice Hotels brand and embody its mission of bringing people together through travel and establishing meaningful in-person connections.
As the Choice Hotels Ultimate People Person, which is a paid position, Fasano will spend July and August traveling around the U.S. to attend Choice Hotels’ events, festivals and local attractions all in an effort to connect with the community. She will chronicle her journey and share the stories of thousands of people through Choice Hotels’ social media channels. She will experience the various Choice Hotels brands along the way such as Comfort Inn, Comfort Suites, Quality, Sleep Inn, Cambria Hotels & Suites, Clarion and the Ascend Hotel Collection membership program.
“We are extremely excited to welcome Andrea to the Choice Hotels family for the summer,” says Anne Smith, VP of brand strategy at Choice Hotels. “She is a true representation of what we had in mind for the Ultimate People Person role and the new Choice Hotels brand personality. She is a fun-loving, driven, natural people person and an enthusiastic traveler. We are looking forward to following Andrea’s journey and being part of the meaningful connections she makes with the people she encounters across cities, cultures and communities.”
Selecting the Choice Hotels Ultimate People Person was a coast-to-coast endeavor which entailed weighing every applicant’s flair for making friends online and in-person, according to the brand. The process started in May with a national call-to-action for candidates who are social media savvy, love to travel, have an interest in the hospitality business and, most importantly, have an inviting and outgoing personality. Within weeks, hundreds of entrants submitted resumes, social media posts and reasons explaining why they were the right person for the role.
Once the field narrowed to three, the finalists were flown to the Choice Hotels corporate headquarters here to meet with executives as well as complete a series of tasks designed to put their social butterfly and social media skills to the test.
“Traveling as the Choice Hotels Ultimate People Person is the opportunity of a lifetime. I am so excited to live out of my suitcase in Choice hotels for the next couple of months and share my adventures with friends across the country, old and new,” said Fasano. “I’ll chronicle it all online—the hotels, the food, the people, the places—so everyone can come along for the ride.”
Her trip itinerary includes Philadelphia (July 9-11); New York (July 13-15); Washington, DC (July 16-18); Kissimmee, FL (July 27-July 29); Chicago (July 30- Aug. 1); Las Vegas (Aug. 10-13); and Los Angeles (Aug. 14-16).