Franchisee Jay Bhoja opened a new four-story Wingate Inn hotel at 1201 Avenue H in Omaha, NE-Carter Lake, Iowa, one quarter mile from Epply Airport in Omaha, NE. The 102-room franchised property, situated directly on the Nebraska and Iowa borders, features free guestroom high-speed Internet access connections.

‘‘We’re excited about the opportunity to help expand this new upper mid-market hotel chain into the Omaha area,’’ says franchisee Jay Bhoja, who also owns Wingate Inn hotels in West Des Moines & Des Moines, Iowa. ‘‘Located one-half mile from downtown Omaha, the rapidly growing Epply Airport area is also situated near several corporate centers and large business, including General Mills, Southern Pacific Railroad and Mutual of Omaha Insurance. We hope to achieve rapid occupancy growth with this much corporate business in the area.’’

John Paul Nichols, president and CEO of Wingate Inns International, Inc., adds,’‘This area is exactly the type of market we had in mind when we developed the Wingate Inn hotel concept. I believe that both business and leisure travelers will appreciate its high-tech amenities, top-notch service and incredible value. The hotel’s all-inclusive pricing package is well-advanced from other upper mid-market hotel chains, making it an excellent value for all types of travelers.’’

As part of the Wingate Inn chain, this new Wingate Inn hotel will feature high speed Internet access connections in every guestroom, as well as in its meeting room and boardroom. Guests with a standard Ethernet card and RJ45 connector will be able to 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 access will be rentable on a half-day and full day basis.

The hotel also features standard amenities such as express, automated check-in and checkout, as well as in-room 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 the 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. In addition to the standard Wingate Inn amenities, the Wingate Inn hotel in Omaha-Carter Lake will also feature an indoor pool, four Jacuzzi suites with fireplaces, and three extended stay suites.

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. In addition, the brand is averaging one new hotel opening per week. All Wingate Inn hotels are independently owned and operated under franchise agreements. Reservations can be made by calling Wingate Inns’ toll-free reservation center at 1.800.228.1000. For more information on Wingate Inn hotels, visit the company’s website at www.wingateinns.com. Wingate Inns International Inc. is a subsidiary of Cendant Corporation (NYSE:CD).

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