Choice Hotels Deploys Clarabridge Text Mining Solution To Enhance Guest and Franchisee Satisfaction Rates

Clarabridge to put real-time customer intelligence in the hands of hotel
managers, franchise owners
RESTON, Va.--(Business Wire)--
Clarabridge, the leading provider of text analytics software used by many
Fortune 1000 companies to improve customer experience management (CEM), today
announced Choice Hotels International, Inc. (NYSE: CHH) has initiated the
deployment of the Clarabridge Content Mining Platform to enhance guest
satisfaction rates and increase efficiency for its franchisees.

The Customer Relations group for Choice Hotels Customer Care and Reservations
(CC&R) Department collects and processes close to one million text-based
customer comments annually from hotel guests providing commentary in guest
relations case notes, emails, guest satisfaction surveys and other channels. The
insight is used proactively by franchisees to make property improvements on a
timely basis, by customer relations teams in coaching underperforming
properties, and by marketing teams to understand the effectiveness of
advertising and promotional campaigns, partner programs and overall brand
health.

"Previously, we attempted to analyze this data manually, but despite our best
efforts, we struggled with the manpower needed to analyze such data," said Mark
Weiner, vice president of customer care and reservations at Choice Hotels
International. "Clarabridge allows us to aggregate data across multiple internal
and external customer listening posts within minutes so we can more fully
understand what our customers say about individual properties, improve their
likelihood to recommend, and provide better reporting analysis and service to
our franchisees."

In March, Choice Hotels conducted a pilot program in which its customer
relations team used Clarabridge to analyze positive and negative guest comments
from satisfaction surveys and other sources. The goal of the project was to
provide faster and more accurate root-cause analysis reporting to internal
executives and franchise owners, reduce the amount of manual cleansing of the
data and identify emerging customer trends buried in its own manual system of
analysis.

Under its previous system, it would take Choice Hotels customer relations team
15 minutes to read just five comments. With the use of Clarabridge, Choice
Hotels is able to analyze thousands of comments about an individual property
from the past 18 months and create an action plan to improve that same property
all within just 30 minutes. In addition, hotel operators, brand operations, and
marketing and support departments all have access to the reports, giving
managers the ability to make decisions based on their individual departments.
The company also found that Clarabridge lowered the average handle time of the
data and reduced the number of internal calls from franchisees and customers.

"For global companies such as Choice Hotels, keeping a close eye on guest
satisfaction rates for each and every property is absolutely key, particularly
in this competitive economy," said Sid Banerjee, chief executive officer at
Clarabridge. "Having in-depth customer analytics at one`s fingertips and being
able to communicate that information in a timely manner gives companies the
ability to fix problems immediately before they fester and maximize those areas
that make customers the most happy."

Today, over 50,000 business users at many of the world`s largest companies are
using Clarabridge`s text mining software to stay competitive by improving
products and services, reducing churn and improving their customer`s overall
experience. Clarabridge`s clients include AOL, Capital One, Choice Hotels, Cisco
Systems, Inc., Expedia, Gap, Inc.,Gaylord Entertainment,H&R Block,Intuit, Inc.,
Lowe`s Companies,Marriott International, Oracle,Sage
Software,Walmart,andWalgreens, among others.

About Clarabridge

Clarabridge is the leading provider of text mining software for customer
experience management. The Clarabridge Content Mining Platform provides Global
1000 enterprises an analytical view of text-based verbatims found in voice of
the customer feedback channels such as call center notes, qualitative survey
feedback, Web 2.0 content, online forums, reviews, social media sites, and
customer warranty forms. As a result, businesses can improve marketing,
product/service management and customer service delivery. Clarabridge is
privately held with headquarters in Reston, Virginia. For more information,
visit www.clarabridge.com.

About Choice Hotels

As of June 30, 2009, Choice Hotels International, Inc. franchised more than
5,900 hotels, representing more than 479,000 rooms, in the United States and
more than 30 other countries and territories. On September 22, 2009, the company
announced it had opened its 6,000(th) franchised property. As of June 30, 2009,
more than 800 hotels are under construction, awaiting conversion or approved for
development in the United States, representing more than 64,000 rooms, and an
additional 110 hotels, representing approximately 8,700 rooms, are under
construction, awaiting conversion or approved for development in more than 15
other countries and territories. The company's Comfort Inn, Comfort Suites,
Quality, Sleep Inn, Clarion, Cambria Suites, MainStay Suites, Suburban Extended
Stay Hotel, Econo Lodge and Rodeway Inn brands serve guests worldwide. In
addition, via its Ascend Collection membership program, travelers in the United
States and the Caribbean have upscale lodging options at historic, boutique and
unique hotels.

Additional corporate information may be found on the Choice Hotels Web site,
which may be accessed at www.choicehotels.com.

Choice Hotels, Choice Hotels International, Comfort Inn, Comfort Suites,
Quality, Sleep Inn, Clarion, Cambria Suites, MainStay Suites, Suburban Extended
Stay Hotel, Econo Lodge, Rodeway Inn and Ascend Collection are proprietary
trademarks and service marks of Choice Hotels International, Inc.

All rights reserved.

For Clarabridge, contact:
Laurie Bowser-Sever
Interprose PR for Clarabridge
Phone: 919-469-7102
Email: lbsever (at) interprosepr (dot) com
or
For Choice Hotels, contact:
Rocco Loverro
Media Relations Specialist
Phone: 301-592-6719
Email: rocco_loverro@choicehotels.com

Copyright Business Wire 2009