�While all of the Embassy Suites Hotels continually provide excellent service and product and are committed to exceeding our guests� expectations on a consistent basis, we are delighted to recognize the 15 hotels that have achieved outstanding performance among their peers for the year 2000,� said Mark Snyder, senior vice president-brand management for Embassy Suites Hotels.

�These top-performing Embassy Suites Hotels serve as outstanding examples for all of our hotels.�

The top-performing Embassy Suites Hotels were:

1. Palm Beach Gardens-PGA Blvd. (Fla.)
2. Portland-Downtown (Ore.)
3. Dallas-DFW International Airport at Outdoor World (Texas)
4. Austin-Arboretum (Texas)
5. Dallas-Near the Galleria (Texas)
6. Houston-Near the Galleria (Texas)
7. Charleston (W.Va.)
8. Raleigh-Durham (N.C.)
9. San Juan Hotel & Casino-International Airport (Puerto Rico)
10. Greenville Golf Resort and Conference Center (S.C.)
11. Napa Valley (Calif.)
12. Omaha-Downtown/Old Market (Neb.)
13. Los Angeles-Downey (Calif.)
14. Orlando-Airport (Fla.)
15. Lompoc-Central Coast (Calif.)

Two key areas graded for the Balanced Scorecard rating system within Embassy Suites Hotels are quality assurance and customer satisfaction ratings.

Quality Assurance

To assess quality assurance at each Embassy Suites Hotel, the internal Quality Assurance Team for the Embassy Suites Hotels� brand evaluates each property throughout the year on one announced and one unannounced visit. Every area of the hotel is graded, including guest rooms, public areas, �back-of-the-house� kitchens and parking lots.

The overall score for each property�s Balanced Scorecard measurement is derived from an average of the property�s ratings for the year. These ratings are: Outstanding (100), Acceptable (50) and Unacceptable (0). (For example, if a property received �Acceptable� once and �Outstanding� once, that property�s average score would be 75 for the year.)

Customer Satisfaction

Customer satisfaction scores are derived from a Guest Satisfaction Rating System (GSRS) in the form of surveys that are sent out to customers from an outside survey company. The company randomly selects past Embassy Suites Hotel customers shortly after their stays. The past guests are asked to rate various aspects of their experience at that hotel, from reservations to checkout, breakfast to dinner, and overall service and product.

Background

Embassy Suites Hotels, in 1983, was the first all-suite upscale hotel brand to enter the industry and today has more than 150 hotels. Each Embassy Suites Hotel offers spacious, two-room suites that include a separate living area with a sofa bed, private bedroom and bath, televisions in each room, a wet bar, refrigerator, microwave oven, and work desk with amenities like high-speed Internet access at many hotels and voice mail.

In addition, all Embassy Suites Hotels offer a complimentary, cooked-to-order breakfast each morning and a two-hour nightly manager�s reception, popular with both business and leisure travelers. Other standard amenities include an indoor swimming pool, a health club and an on-site restaurant.

Embassy Suites Hotels is part of Hilton Hotels Corp.