Choice Hotels Receives CIO 100 Award
Game-Changing Global Reservation System and Distribution Platform choiceEDGE Recognized for Innovation
ROCKVILLE, Md., May 1, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Choice Hotels International, Inc. (NYSE: CHH) has been selected as a CIO 100 Awards winner for its proprietary, cloud-based global reservation system (GRS) and distribution platform – choiceEDGE. In April, Choice and choiceEDGE were also honored by Hospitality Technology as a Hotel Visionary Award winner.
Introduced in 2018 as the industry's first new GRS in over 30 years, choiceEDGE supports 7,000 Choice hotels worldwide, connecting more than 200 million people to Choice Hotels' 570,000 hotel rooms, and handling more than $9 billion in transactions annually.
The annual CIO 100 Awards celebrate organizations that use technology in innovative ways to deliver business value and create competitive advantages by optimizing business processes, enabling growth or improving relationships with customers.
choiceEDGE features:
- Faster-to-market new products, features, and third-party connectivity. Cloud-based scalability, stability, and performance delivered through a "reservation-as-a-service" model.
- State-of-the-art connectivity with online travel agents, global distribution systems, and property management systems, enabling rapid onboarding of hotels and instant value delivery.
- Capability to add selling disparate inventory types, including hotel rooms, meeting rooms, vacation rentals, and package offerings – or any space for any duration.
"The size and scope of choiceEDGE's impact continues to deliver on the promise and earn accolades from prestigious technology industry publications. Choice Hotels is one of the few lodging companies to be named to the CIO 100 this decade, which makes this award even more notable," said Brian Kirkland, chief technology officer, Choice Hotels. "The hospitality industry is ripe for digital innovation. While other companies have tried and failed to create similar systems, we successfully built choiceEDGE in-house. The result is one of the industry's most advanced GRS and distribution platforms, customized to meet the needs of our hotel owners and guests for today and tomorrow."
"Across the business landscape, companies everywhere recognize the vital role that an innovative, value-driven approach to information technology plays in their success," said Maryfran Johnson, IDG's Executive Director of CIO Programs. "This year's CIO 100 winning companies are inspiring examples of how IT leadership, business collaboration and digital transformation will drive future growth."
Choice has been an industry leader in innovation over the course of its 80-year history. It was the first hotel company to offer online booking, roll out a global iPhone application, and launch a soft brand in the Ascend Hotel Collection. More recently, Choice introduced the Openings Portal, a sophisticated project management tool that lets Choice owners track every step of the opening process – from franchise agreement to the first check-in.
In addition, Choice pursues strategic relationships with best-in-class technology companies. It's in the process of migrating over 1,000 applications to Amazon Web Services, which will enhance its systems' performance, scalability and reliability, and position Choice for even more innovation in the future. Choice also was the first hotel company to work with Google to launch voice-enabled booking, in addition to Book on Google, a tool that lowers owner commission rates and helps increase bookings.
About Choice Hotels
Choice Hotels International, Inc. (NYSE: CHH) is one of the largest and most successful lodging franchisors in the world. With more than 7,000 hotels, representing nearly 570,000 rooms, in over 40 countries and territories as of December 31, 2018, the Choice® family of hotel brands provides business and leisure travelers with a range of high-quality lodging options from limited service to full-service hotels in the upscale, midscale, extended-stay and economy segments. The award-winning Choice Privileges® loyalty program offers members benefits ranging from everyday rewards to exceptional experiences. For more information, visit www.choicehotels.com.
About CIO
CIO focuses on attracting the highest concentration of enterprise CIOs and business technology executives with unparalleled peer insight and expertise on business strategy, innovation, and leadership. As organizations grow with digital transformation, CIO provides its readers with key insights on career development, including certifications, hiring practices and skills development. The award-winning CIO portfolio — CIO.com, CIO Events, CIO Strategic Marketing Services, CIO Forum on LinkedIn, CIO Executive Council and CIO primary research — provides business technology leaders with analysis and insight on information technology trends and a keen understanding of IT's role in achieving business goals. CIO is published by IDG Communications, Inc. Company information is available at www.idg.com.
About the CIO 100 Awards
The annual CIO 100 Awards celebrate 100 organizations and the teams within them that are using IT in innovative ways to deliver business value, whether by creating competitive advantage, optimizing business processes, enabling growth or improving relationships with customers. The award is an acknowledged mark of enterprise excellence. Recipients of this year's CIO 100 Award were selected through a three-step process. First, companies filled out an online application form detailing an innovative IT and business initiative. Next, a team of external judges (many of them former CIOs) reviewed the applications in depth, looking for leading-edge IT practices and measurable results. Finally, CIO editors reviewed the judges' recommendations and selected the final 100.
© 2019 Choice Hotels International, Inc. All rights reserved.
SOURCE Choice Hotels International, Inc.
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