Hotel Online Special Report
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Microtel Inn & Suites Named Top Brand in Development Pipeline by Lodging Econometrics
 
 ATLANTA, Dec. 1, 1998 � U.S. Franchise Systems� (Nasdaq: USFS) Microtel Inn & Suites has been ranked the top hotel brand in the U.S. by numbers of projects and rooms in the development pipeline in the latest Development Outlook report of Lodging Econometrics, the research division of National Hotel Realty, Portsmouth, N.H., which monitors hotel real estate development.  With 13,565 rooms in permitting, Microtel far outpaced all others, with second place going to Marriott with 9,317 rooms.  Microtel was also ranked among the top 10 brands by number of rooms under construction, and in its budget segment, Microtel placed number one. 

U.S. Franchise Systems� Hawthorn Suites brand also received high marks.  Hawthorn was ranked among the top 10 by number of rooms in permitting, ringing in at sixth place with a total of 3,227 rooms.  When ranked by market segment, Hawthorn Suites had the most number of hotels recently opened or in development in the extended-stay/upper tier and the second most number of rooms to Residence Inns.

In an article in the November 1998 issue of Lodging magazine which reported on the survey, Patrick H. Ford, president of Lodging Econometrics, noted, �In viewing the Development Outlook, the prominence of U.S. Franchise Systems is interesting.  Both the Microtel and Hawthorn Suite brands started development late in the cycle.  Today, thanks to a very successful franchise sales team, Microtel has quietly accumulated the highest number of projects in the development pipeline nationally.  The brand soon will reach critical mass, a notable accomplishment in such a short time.�

Further focusing on the Company�s growth, the trade publication, Hotel & Motel Management, recently cited U.S. Franchise Systems as the 24th largest hotel company in the U.S. (up from number 51 last year).  PricewaterhouseCoopers Lodging Research Network also named Microtel the number two performing economy brand with a RevPAR growth of 8.3 percent in the second quarter of 1998 over the same period last year. 

Atlanta-based U.S. Franchise Systems was formed in 1995 by Mike Leven, a 38-year veteran of the lodging industry, and Neal Aronson, former principal of a leading New York investment firm. USFS� three brands include Microtel Inn & Suites, the all-newly constructed, interior corridor, budget/economy hotels; Hawthorn Suites, an upper-end extended-stay all suite brand; and Best Inns & Suites, a mid-level economy brand.  USFS also offers hotel management services to its franchisees. 

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Contact:
U.S. FRANCHISE SYSTEMS, INC.: 
Barbara Wiener 
Vice President, 
Corporate Communications 
(404) 235-7400 
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Also See: Top 100 Hotel Companies: Is Bigger Better? / M.A. Baumann H&MM / Oct 1998 

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