Choice To Revamp Three Brands; Eyes New Flag

NEW ORLEANS— Choice Hotels International is reimaging three of its brands while examining the possibility of launching a new flag whose room rates and development costs would run higher than those of Clarion, currently its most upscale product. That’s the word from the franchisor’s 46th Annual Conference, held here, last month, where licensees of Choice’s seven brands gathered for educational seminars and updates on what the franchise company has in mind for 2001. Scheduled for image changes are the Comfort Suites, Quality and Sleep Inn brands which would not only receive fresh new signage, but new pushes into the marketplace as well. The changes being proposed for the brands have come about after conferring informally with 15 Choice franchisees, said Choice President/CEO Charles Ledsinger. A roll-out plan for the brand changes is expected in April 30-May 2, when Choice holds its next annual conference at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. (The spring date also reflects a change for Choice, which typically has held its annual show in November.) The Sleep Inns & Suites brand will undergo the most tangible change with plans to raise ADR levels to $65— $10 above the ADR the brand is presently getting. New signage as well as a new development model will be set in order to make the product more attractive to developers. Comfort Suites is also slated for new signage. Wayne Wielgus, Choice’s new senior vp/marketing, said that the Comfort Inn brand may also now change signage after licensees questioned the effect of changing one but not the other would have on consumer perception. “There is a real upside to the Comfort Suites brand,” noted Wielgus. Quality, meanwhile, has launched a “Quality Beginnings” midmarket breakfast concept that will be mandatory for all properties entering the system this January. The buffet product reflects an alliance with Kraft foods, which means brands such as Oscar Meyer bacon and sausage, Philadelphia cream cheese and Maxwell House coffee will be served. Training, cabinetry and amenities like uniforms and equipment come in a turnkey package. Wielgus said that Choice is taking an overall look at the Quality brand in order to lure developers back to the 60-year-old flag. “We are taking a tired old brand and repositioning it,” explained Wielgus. Changes for the brand will be introduced to franchisees at town hall meetings in the coming months with roll-out plans scheduled to be ready by the spring conference. Choice has even introduced a new prototype for its budget-level Econo Lodge. “We were missing a new exciting product in that segment,” said Ledsinger. Design elements, which include a tower and a mansard copper penny roof, were created to enhance curb appeal to draw more walk-in traffic. The lobby features an angular entrance and a 180-degree view of the outside pool area. Room count is just over 60 rooms; four units can be built as suites. “We should be able to grow Econo Lodge,” said Ledsinger, who said that inspection scores for the brand are also being raised. As for introducing an eighth brand that sits in a higher tier from most of Choice’s flags, Ledsinger said “We have been looking at that space.” Ledsinger described the new product as not necessarily sitting in a higher tier than Clarion, but as presenting it as an option to Clarion. “It would be a little different product; Clarion is full service, [while]this probably wouldn’t be a full-service product,” he noted. The new brand would, however, sit at a price point that “would be the highest of what we have, from both the cost to build and the room rate,” said Ledsinger. “It wouldn’t be a luxury product.” The desire to offer a product that is different from Choice’s existing products stems from the fact that the franchisor has lost developers that have wanted to move up a tier from other Choice brands, but who did not want to go with the Clarion flag. Those developers have moved over to competing brands, like Courtyard by Marriott, h