| PARSIPPANY, N.J. (February 16, 2000) � Wingate
Inns International, Inc. has named Keith J. Pierce as its new president
and CEO, replacing John Paul Nichols, who was promoted to executive vice
president of sales and marketing for the Hotel Division of Cendant Corporation.
Pierce rejoins Wingate Inns after serving as vice president of marketing
for Ramada Franchise Systems, Inc. for the past two years.
As president and CEO, Pierce will oversee all brand operations including
property openings, design and development, franchise services, quality
assurance, training, development financing and marketing. �I�m very
excited to once again work with Wingate Inns as I was part of the initial
brand launch team,� says Pierce, who was the Wingate Inns vice president
of marketing from 1995 to 1998. �I look forward to building upon
Wingate�s aggressive growth strategy, as well as its technology enabling
marketing initiatives.�
During his tenure with Ramada, Pierce orchestrated a rejuvenation strategy
to strengthen the Ramada brand in the mid-market hotel segment. Notably,
Pierce re-focused the brand's competitive point of difference and more
than doubled the chain's national and regional media spending, the largest
advertising investment in the chain's history. Pierce also launched
Ramada's exciting new loyalty program, Club Ramada, which posted record-breaking
increases in membership and lured high-profile partnerships with top-name
retailers.
Other highlights include the crafting of an unprecedented $30 million
strategic growth plan for the Ramada chain that offers generous development
advance funds to secure luxury hotels in important center-city locations,
convert high-profile properties in secondary locations, and offer qualifying
existing Ramada licensees an interest free renovation loan. This
strategic plan also encompassed the launch of a new construction Ramada
Inn and Ramada Inn & Suites prototype and a strategic partnership with
the Bennigan's restaurant chain.
Prior to Ramada, Pierce served as the vice president of marketing for
Wingate Inns. He assisted with the creation of all the systems necessary
to support the new hotel brand, including overseeing the development of
a central reservations system, designing operating standards policies and
procedures, and launching a comprehensive sales, marketing and public relations
strategy.
Launching new brands, however, is not unfamiliar to Pierce. From
1986 to 1990 Pierce played a key role in the rollout of another hotel chain,
Hawthorn Suite Hotels, an extended-stay, mid-market product. Pierce
joined HFS Incorporated in 1990 as the corporate director of marketing
for Ramada Franchise Systems, Inc. and was responsible for creating and
orchestrating the introduction of the Ramada Limited product.
Wingate
Inn® Hotel Brand Named
Top Mid-priced Chain by SmartMoney
Magazine
| PARSIPPANY, N.J. (February 16, 2000) � The Wingate Inn® hotel brand
is continuing to make its mark on consumers after only four years of existence
as it was named the top mid-priced hotel chain for in-room comfort by SmartMoney
Magazine. The honor was bestowed upon the chain in its February issue
�Go Guide,� which was the result of the magazine�s first ever comprehensive
business travel survey.
�Being recognized by business travelers throughout the country, and
by the staff of SmartMoney Magazine, is an outstanding achievement for
Wingate Inns,� says Keith J. Pierce, recently elected president and CEO
of Wingate Inns International, Inc. �It verifies that the brand is
meeting the needs of business travelers through its host of enabling technology
in-room amenities, exceptional customer service and numerous other guest
friendly features.�
An excerpt from the �In-Room Comfort� section of the article reads:
�Among midprice hotels, Wingate Inns, a new� chain designed exclusively
for business travelers, runs rings around the competition, with superior
business amenities that include not only the usual stuff but also Internet
access through the TV, a separate line for free high-speed Internet access
and a 900 MHz cordless phone.�
 Janis
Jarosz, vice president of marketing for Wingate Inns International, Inc.,
adds, �Since the brand�s inception, Wingate Inns has heralded technology
as one of its competitive advantages. The chain firmly believes that
the amenity package it offers is not necessarily �high-tech,� but rather
�my-tech� focused. That is, the majority of our clientele are business
travelers who are used to, and require, a certain level of technology-based
amenities. The brand�s array of technological amenities enables guests
to increase productivity and save time. Basically, it�s not technology
for technology�s sake, it�s technology for the guest�s sake.�
All franchised Wingate Inn hotels feature high-speed Internet access
connections in every guestroom, as well as in the meeting rooms and boardrooms.
Guests with a standard Ethernet card and RJ45 connector can enjoy free
access to the Internet from guestrooms at speeds up to 50 times faster
than conventional 56K modems. Meeting room and boardroom high-speed
Internet is rentable on a half-day and full day basis.
The hotels also feature standard amenities such as express, automated
check-in and check-out, as well as in-room 900 MHz cordless phones and
two-line desk phones with dataport, speaker, conference call and voice
mail capabilities. Wingate Inn hotels also offer meeting rooms, 24-hour
access to a business center with free usage of fax, printing and copying
equipment, and wireless phones that can be checked out from the front desk
and used anywhere within the hotel for both incoming and outgoing calls.
Although focused on providing efficient working conditions for the business
traveler, Wingate Inn hotels also provide amenities for leisure travelers
such as an in-room entertainment system featuring pay-per-view movies and
Nintendo 64 games. They can also benefit from larger-than-average
guestrooms (12' x 28�), an expanded continental breakfast, a whirlpool,
exercise facilities, free accommodations for children 18 and under accompanied
by adults, the Wingate Inn 100% guest satisfaction guarantee and in-room
safes, coffee makers, hair dryers and ironing boards with irons. |
Wingate Inns International, Inc. is an all-new construction hotel chain
that opened its first franchised hotel in July 1996. Its focused
service, upper mid-market franchised hotels feature sophisticated, consumer-based
technology and comfortable, oversized rooms that were created in response
to business travelers� needs. All Wingate Inn hotels are independently
owned and operated under franchise agreements. |
