Choice Hotels International, Inc. (NYSE:CHH) - franchisor of the Comfort Inn, Comfort Suites, Quality, Sleep Inn, Clarion, MainStay Suites, Econo Lodge and Rodeway Inn hotel brand names has received a Workplace Excellence Award and “Excellent Place to Work” designation from the Maryland Work&#126 Life Alliance, a private, public, nonprofit coalition that focuses on work-life benefits and practices.

Choice Hotels received the Workplace Excellence Award at a breakfast held today at the University of Maryland Inn and Conference Center in College Park, Md. Judith McHale, president and COO of Discovery Communications, Inc., presented the awards to Choice Hotels and other Maryland-based employer award recipients, and Montgomery County Executive Douglas Duncan provided special recognition during the ceremony to Montgomery County employers.

“This award is certainly an honor, but more importantly it serves as confirmation that Choice Hotels is moving in the right direction,” said Tom Mirgon, Choice Hotels` senior vice president of human resources and administration. “As an employer, our objectives are to institute policies and practices that will help our employees to reach their personal goals, become a meaningful contributor to the communities that we operate in and to generate positive financial growth as a company.”

“By participating in the Workplace Excellence Awards program, Maryland businesses are acknowledging that work-life is a strategic imperative, even more so after 9/ll. When employees feel supported by their employer, morale and productivity increases and the bottom line is positively affected,” said Lindsay P. Conn, executive director of the Maryland Work&#126 Life Alliance. “Employers find that incorporating work-life initiatives into their organizations is a valuable talent recruitment and retention tool, and overall quality-of-life benefit.”

The “Excellent Place to Work” Designation is a seal of quality that the Maryland Work&#126 Life Alliance is attempting to spread as a recognized standard. Employers receiving the award meet stringent standards in the areas of management practices (pay, compensation, turnover rate, diversity plan, etc.), workplace culture (work-life mission, employee training, employee resources to balance professional and personal responsibilities, etc.) and work-life benefits and practices (child and elder care support, parental and volunteer leave, pretax spending accounts, scholarships, flextime, job sharing, tuition reimbursement, employee awards, etc.). Company policy and practices are reviewed by a panel of professors from the University of Maryland, Johns Hopkins University and George Washington University and graduate students in business organization and human resources.

The Maryland Work&#126 Life Alliance, an expansion of the Montgomery Work&#126 Life Alliance was founded to support the State of Maryland`s objective to become a state of choice for quality of life and work by creating “Excellent Places to Work.” Through the implementation of work-life strategies, employers together with their employees will create healthy work environments that support workers to achieve their goals both in the workplace, at home and in their communities. For more information visit the National Work&#126 Life alliance web site at www.worklifealliance.org.

Choice Hotels International, Inc. (NYSE:CHH) franchises more than 5,000 hotels open and under development worldwide under the Comfort Inn, Comfort Suites, Quality, Sleep Inn, Clarion, MainStay Suites, Econo Lodge and Rodeway Inn brands in 46 countries. For more information on Choice Hotels, visit the company`s Internet site at www.choicehotels.com.

Choice Hotels, Choice Hotels International, Comfort Inn, Comfort Suites, Quality, Sleep Inn, Clarion, MainStay Suites, Econo Lodge and Rodeway Inn are proprietary trademarks and service marks of Choice Hotels International.

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