The sale of Ramada
International Hotels & Resorts by Marriott International Inc. to Cendant
Corporation’s Hotel Group has been completed, the companies announced
today. Both companies said the financial impact of the transaction was not
material.

Ramada International is primarily a franchised brand of 204 open hotels
representing 27,728 rooms under the Ramada(R) Plaza, Ramada Hotels, Ramada
Resorts and Ramada Encore brands in the United Kingdom, continental Europe
including Scandinavia, the Middle East, Africa, the Asia-Pacific region,
Australia, Mexico and Central America.

Steven A. Rudnitsky, Cendant Hotel Group chairman and chief executive
officer, said, “This transaction substantially advances our strategic plan
to expand aggressively outside the United States while we focus on the
growth and improved performance of our domestic system.”

The transaction completes the acquisition of all Ramada worldwide
trademark rights by Cendant Hotel Group Inc., which earlier this year
acquired the trademark rights for the Ramada brand in the United States,
where it franchises 809 Ramada properties representing 93,037 rooms. The
transaction also conveys Ramada trademark rights in Canada, where Cendant
franchises 72 properties representing 7,640 rooms.

In connection with the acquisition, Cendant Hotel Group announced the
appointment of Reas M. Kondraschow as senior vice president and managing
director, international, responsible for development of the Ramada
International, Days Inn(R), Howard Johnson(R) and Super 8(R) and
Wingate(R) brands outside of the United States, Canada, Caribbean and
Mexico.

Kondraschow formerly served Marriott International as senior vice
president and managing director of Ramada International Hotels & Resorts
in Bethesda, Md., a position he held since April 1998. In that role, he
was responsible for managing the business, including operations, finance,
development, marketing, sales, reservations, design and construction.
Kondraschow also held positions of increasing responsibility at Holiday
Inn USA, Bass Hotels and Resorts and Burger King Corp.

With approximately 90,000 employees, New York City-based Cendant
Corporation is primarily a provider of travel and residential real estate
services to businesses and consumers in more than 100 countries. Cendant’s
Hotel Group, based in Parsippany, N.J., is the world’s largest lodging
franchisor with 6,331 hotels representing 507,603 rooms on five continents
under the Super 8(R), Days Inn(R), Ramada(R), Travelodge(R), Howard
Johnson(R), Knights Inn(R), Wingate Inn(R) and AmeriHost Inn(R) brands.
Cendant’s franchised hotels sell nearly one out of every five economy and
midpriced room-nights in the United States, and Cendant franchises 10.4
percent of the entire U.S. hotel room supply, according to Smith Travel
Research and Cendant financial data. All hotels are individually owned and
operated under franchise agreements with Cendant subsidiaries.
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