Edgar Filing: CHOICE HOTELS INTERNATIONAL INC /DE

Form 10-K

UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

WASHINGTON, DC 20549

FORM 10-K

(Mark One)

ANNUAL REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934

For the year ended December 31, 2007

TRANSITION REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934

For the transition period from to

Commission file number 001-13393

CHOICE HOTELS INTERNATIONAL, INC.

(Exact Name of Registrant as Specified in Its Charter)


DELAWARE		52-1209792
(State or Other Jurisdiction of Incorporation or Organization)		(I.R.S. Employer Identification No.)

10750 Columbia Pike, Silver Spring, Maryland		20901
(Address of Principal Executive Offices)		(Zip Code)

Registrant’s telephone number, including area code (301) 592-5000

Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act:


Title of Each Class		Name of Each Exchange on Which Registered
Common Stock, Par Value $0.01 per share		New York Stock Exchange

Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(g) of the Act: None

Indicate by check mark if the registrant is a well-known seasoned issuer, as defined in Rule 405 of the Securities Act. Yes x No ¨

Indicate by check mark if the registrant is not required to file reports pursuant to Section 13 or Section 15(d) of the Act. Yes ¨ No x

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant: (1) has filed all reports required to be filed by Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to file such reports), and (2) has been subject to such filing requirements for the past 90 days. Yes x No ¨

Indicate by check mark if disclosure of delinquent filers pursuant to Item 405 of Regulation S-K is not contained herein, and will not be contained, to the best of registrant’s knowledge, in definitive proxy or information statements incorporated by reference in Part III of this Form 10-K or any amendment to this Form 10-K. ¨

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer or a smaller reporting company. See definitions of “large accelerated filer, accelerated filer and smaller reporting company” in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act (Check one):


Large accelerated filer x	Accelerated filer ¨	Smaller reporting company ¨	Non-accelerated filer ¨
			(Do not check if a smaller reporting company)

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a shell company (as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Act). Yes ¨ No x

The aggregate market value of common stock of Choice Hotels International, Inc. held by non-affiliates was $1,349,819,886 as of June 30, 2007 based upon a closing price of $39.52 per share.

The number of shares outstanding of Choice Hotels International, Inc.’s common stock at February 15, 2008 was 62,187,995.

DOCUMENTS INCORPORATED BY REFERENCE.

Certain portions of our definitive proxy statement, to be filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission pursuant to Regulation 14A in connection with the Annual Meeting of Shareholders to be held on April 30, 2008, are incorporated by reference under Part III.

CHOICE HOTELS INTERNATIONAL, INC.

Form 10-K

Table of Contents


			Page No.
Part I
	Item 1.	Business.	1
	Item 1A.	Risk Factors.	19
	Item 1B.	Unresolved Staff Comments.	25
	Item 2.	Properties.	25
	Item 3.	Legal Proceedings.	25
	Item 4.	Submission of Matters to a Vote of Security Holders.	25

Part II
	Item 5.	Market for Registrant’s Common Equity, Related Stockholder Matters and Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities.	28
	Item 6.	Selected Financial Data.	29
	Item 7.	Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operation.	29
	Item 7A.	Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures About Market Risk.	52
	Item 8.	Financial Statements and Supplementary Data.	53
	Item 9.	Changes in and Disagreements with Accountants on Accounting and Financial Disclosure.	101
	Item 9A.	Controls and Procedures.	101
	Item 9B.	Other Information.	101

Part III
	Item 10.	Directors and Executive Officers and Corporate Governance.	102
	Item 11.	Executive Compensation.	102
	Item 12.	Security Ownership of Certain Beneficial Owners and Management and Related Stockholder Matters.	102
	Item 13.	Certain Relationships and Related Transactions and Director Independence.	103
	Item 14.	Principal Accounting Fees and Services.	103

Part IV
	Item 15.	Exhibits and Financial Statement Schedules.	103
		SIGNATURE	106

PART I

Throughout this report, we refer to Choice Hotels International, Inc., together with its subsidiaries as “we”, “us” or “the Company”.

Forward-Looking Statements

Certain matters discussed in this report constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of the federal securities law. Generally, our use of words such as “expect,” “estimate,” “believe,” “anticipate,” “will,” “forecast,” “plan,” project,” “assume” or similar words of futurity identify statements that are forward-looking and that we intend to be included within the Safe Harbor protections provided by Section 27A of the Securities Act and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Such forward-looking statements are based on management’s current beliefs, assumptions and expectations regarding future events, which in turn are based on information currently available to management. Such statements may relate to projections for the Company’s revenue, earnings and other financial and operational measures, Company debt levels, payment of stock dividends, and future operations. We caution you not to place undue reliance on any forward-looking statements, which are made as of the date of this report. Forward-looking statements do not guarantee future performance and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors.

Several factors could cause actual results, performance or achievements of the Company to differ materially from those expressed in or contemplated by the forward-looking statements. Such risks include, but are not limited to, changes to general, domestic and foreign economic conditions; operating risks common in the lodging and franchising industries; changes to the desirability of our brands as viewed by hotel operators and customers; changes to the terms or termination of our contracts with franchisees; our ability to keep pace with improvements in technology utilized for reservations systems and other operating systems; fluctuations in the supply and demand for hotels rooms; and our ability to manage effectively our indebtedness. These and other risk factors are discussed in detail in Item 1A “Risk Factors” of this report. We undertake no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

WHERE YOU CAN FIND MORE INFORMATION

We file annual, quarterly and special reports, proxy statements and other information with the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”). Our SEC filings are available to the public over the internet at the SEC’s web site at http://www.sec.gov. Our SEC filings are also available free of charge on our website at http://www.choicehotels.com as soon as reasonably practicable following the time that they are filed with or furnished to the SEC. You may also read and copy any document we file with the SEC at its public reference room located at 100 F Street, NE Washington DC 20549. Please call the SEC at 1-800-SEC-0330 for further information on its public reference room.

Item 1. Business.

Reference is made to the consolidated financial statements included in Item 8 of this annual report on Form 10-K for the financial information required to be included herein.

Overview

Choice Hotels International, Inc. and subsidiaries is one of the largest hotel franchisors in the world with 5,570 hotels open and 1,093 hotels under development as of December 31, 2007, representing 452,027 rooms open and 87,982 rooms under development in 49 states, the District of Columbia and 39 countries and territories outside the United States. Choice franchises lodging properties under the following proprietary brand names: Comfort Inn^®, Comfort Suites^®, Quality^®, Clarion^®, Sleep Inn^®, Econo Lodge^®, Rodeway Inn^®, MainStay Suites^®, Suburban Extended Stay Hotel^®, Cambria Suites^® and Flag Hotels^® (collectively, the “Choice brands”). We operate in a single reportable segment encompassing our franchising business.

The Company conducts its international franchise operations through a combination of direct franchising and master franchising relationships which allow the use of our brands by third parties in foreign countries. The Company has made equity investments in certain non-domestic lodging franchise companies that conduct franchise operations for the Company’s brands under master franchising relationships. As a result of our use of master franchising relationships and international market conditions, total revenues from international franchising operations comprised only 7% and 6% of our total revenues in 2007 and 2006, respectively while representing approximately 20% and 22% of our franchise system hotels open at December 31, 2007 and 2006, respectively.

Our direct lodging property real estate exposure is limited to three company-owned MainStay Suites hotels.

Our capital allocation decisions, including capital structure and uses of capital, are intended to maximize our return on invested capital and create value for our shareholders. We believe our strong and predictable cash flows create a strong financial position that provides us a competitive advantage. Currently, our business does not require significant capital to operate and grow. Therefore, we can maintain a capital structure that generates high financial returns and use our excess cash flow to increase returns to our shareholders. Historically, we have returned value to our shareholders in two primary ways: share repurchases and dividends. In 1998, we instituted a share repurchase program which has generated substantial value for our shareholders. Through December 31, 2007, we have repurchased 38.6 million shares (including 33.0 million prior to the two-for-one stock split effected in October 2005) of common stock at a total cost of $895.9 million since the program’s inception. Considering the effect of the two-for-one stock split, the Company has repurchased 71.5 million shares at an average price of $12.52 per share. Our cash flows from operations support our ability to complete the repurchase of approximately 3.2 million shares remaining as of December 31, 2007 under the current authorization of our board of directors. Subject to market and other conditions and upon completion of the current authorization, our board of directors will evaluate the propriety of additional share repurchases. In 2007, we paid cash dividends totaling approximately $40.1 million and we presently expect to continue to pay dividends in the future. Based on our present dividend rate and outstanding share count, aggregate annual dividends for 2008 would be approximately $42.0 million.

The principal factors that affect the Company’s results are: the number and relative mix of franchised hotel rooms; growth in the number of hotel rooms under franchise; occupancy and room rates achieved by the hotels under franchise; the effective royalty rate achieved; and our ability to manage costs. The number of rooms at franchised properties and occupancy and room rates at those properties significantly affect the Company’s results because our fees are based upon room revenues at franchised hotels. The key industry standard for measuring hotel-operating performance is revenue per available room (“RevPAR”), which is calculated by multiplying the percentage of occupied rooms by the average daily room rate realized. Our variable overhead costs associated with franchise system growth have historically been less than incremental royalty fees generated from new franchises. Accordingly, we expect that continued growth of our franchise business will enable us to realize benefits from the operating leverage in place and improve operating results.

The Lodging Industry⁽¹⁾

Companies participating in the lodging industry primarily do so through a combination of one or more of the three primary lodging industry activities: ownership, franchising and management. A company’s relative reliance on each of these activities determines which drivers most influence its profitability.

•

Ownership requires a substantial capital commitment and involves the most risk but offers high returns due to the owner’s ability to influence margins by driving RevPAR and managing operating expenses. The ownership model has a high fixed-cost structure that results in a high degree of financial leverage. As a result, profits escalate rapidly in a lodging up-cycle but erode quickly in a downturn as costs rarely fall as fast as revenue. Profits from an ownership model increase at a greater rate from RevPAR growth attributable to average daily rate (“ADR”) growth, than from occupancy gains since there are more incremental costs associated with higher guest volumes compared to higher pricing.

•

Franchisors license their brands to a hotel owner, giving the hotel the right to use the brand name, logo, operating practices, and reservations systems in exchange for a fee and an agreement to operate the hotel in accordance with the brand standards. Under a typical franchise agreement, the hotel pays the franchisor an initial fee, a percentage-of-revenue royalty fee and a marketing/reservation reimbursement. A franchisor’s revenues are dependent on the number of rooms in its system and the top-line performance of those hotels. Earnings drivers include RevPAR increases, unit growth and effective royalty rate improvement. Franchisors enjoy significant operating leverage in their business model since it costs little to add a new hotel franchise to an existing system. Franchisors normally benefit from higher industry supply growth, because the benefits of unit growth usually outweigh lower RevPAR resulting from excess supply. As a result, franchisors benefit from both RevPAR growth and supply increases which aids in reducing the impact of lodging industry economic cycles.

•

Management companies operate hotels for owners that do not have the expertise and/or the desire to self-manage. These companies collect management fees predominately based on revenues earned and/or profits generated. Similar to franchising activities, the key drivers of revenue based management fees are RevPAR and unit growth and similar to ownership activities, profit based fees are driven by improved hotel margins and RevPAR growth.

The lodging industry has historically experienced economic cycles reflected in positive and negative operating performance for various periods of time.

Positive cycles are characterized as periods of sustained occupancy growth. These cycles usually continue until the economy sustains a prolonged downturn, excess supply conditions exist or some external factor occurs such as war, terrorism or natural resource shortages. Recovery in the industry usually begins with an increase in occupancy followed by hoteliers increasing their room rates. As demand begins to exceed room supply, occupancies and rates continue to improve. These pressures result in increased hotel development.

The hotel industry posted positive and consistent RevPAR growth from the mid-1990’s until 2000 as the industry was able to increase its ADR at a pace faster than the increase in the Consumer Price Index (“CPI”), a common measure of inflation published by the US Department of Labor. However, due to the economic recession, which began to affect the lodging industry during 2001, coupled with the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, industry profits and RevPAR declined between 2001 and 2003. Nonetheless, the industry remained profitable through this period.

In 2004, the resumption of economic growth increased lodging demand and occupancy rates. This coupled with the relatively slow growth in hotel supply, allowed hotels to aggressively raise room rates during 2004 and

⁽¹⁾

Certain industry statistics included in this section, such as the number of hotel rooms, number of affiliated and non-affiliated rooms, US Lodging Industry Trends From 1997 – 2007, etc. were obtained from Smith Travel Research.

each year thereafter. Occupancy rates continued to increase until 2007 when they declined slightly from 63.4% in 2006 to 63.2% as the number of rooms entering the system increased by the largest number since 2001.

Hotel room supply growth is cyclical as hotel construction responds to interest rates, construction and material supply conditions, capital availability and industry fundamentals. Historically, the industry added hotel rooms to its inventory through new construction due largely to a favorable lending environment that encouraged hotel development. This resulted in an over supply of rooms which, coupled with the decrease in industry performance between 2001 and 2003, led to reduced hotel development since that time.

During 2006, year-over-year new hotel construction increased for the first time since 1999 with 73,308 rooms added to the industry and again in 2007 with an additional 94,541 rooms. However, the volume of new room additions still lags the pre-2001 economic recession levels.

The following chart demonstrates these trends:

US Lodging Industry Trends — 1997 - 2007


Year	Occupancy Rates		Average Daily Room Rates (ADR)		Increase in ADR Versus Prior Year		Increase in CPI Versus Prior Year		Revenue Per Available Room (RevPAR)		Profits (in billions)		New Rooms Added (Gross)
1997	64.5	%	$	75.16	6.1	%	1.9	%	$	48.50	$	17.0	128,000
1998	64.0	%	$	78.62	4.6	%	2.3	%	$	50.29	$	22.0	143,000
1999	63.3	%	$	81.27	3.4	%	2.7	%	$	51.44	$	23.0	143,148
2000	63.5	%	$	85.24	4.9	%	3.4	%	$	54.13	$	24.0	121,476
2001	60.1	%	$	84.85	-0.5	%	2.9	%	$	50.99	$	16.7	101,279
2002	59.2	%	$	83.15	-2.0	%	1.6	%	$	49.22	$	16.1	86,366
2003	59.1	%	$	83.19	0.1	%	2.3	%	$	49.20	$	15.0	65,876
2004	61.3	%	$	86.41	3.9	%	2.7	%	$	52.93	$	17.0	55,245
2005	63.1	%	$	90.84	5.1	%	3.4	%	$	57.34	$	21.0	65,900
2006	63.4	%	$	97.31	7.1	%	3.2	%	$	61.69	$	26.3	73,308
2007	63.2	%	$	103.64	6.5	%	2.8	%	$	65.50	$	26.9	94,541

As a franchisor, we are well positioned in any stage of the lodging cycle. We benefit from both the RevPAR gains typically experienced in the early stage of recovery, as our revenues are based on our franchisees’ gross room revenues, and the supply growth normally occurring in the later stages as we increase our portfolio size.

During lodging cycle downturns, we benefit from the conversion of independent and other hotel chain affiliates into our system in an effort to improve their performance.

Hotels are broadly segmented into two categories: full-service and limited service. Full-service hotels generally offer food and beverage (F&B) facilities and/or meeting facilities. Limited-service hotels, usually offer only rooms, although some offer modest F&B facilities such as breakfast buffets and/or small meeting rooms. Full-service hotels are generally larger, command higher room rates, and generate higher profits, although overall operating margins are normally lower because F&B is a lower-margin business.

The lodging industry can be further divided into chain scale segments or groupings of generally competitive brands as follows:


Chain Scale	Brand Examples	Room Count	% of Total		Avg. Hotel Room Size
Luxury	Four Seasons, Ritz Carlton	80,514	1.8	%	310
Upper Upscale	Marriott, Hilton, Sheraton	555,408	12.2	%	380
Upscale	Hilton Garden Inn, Courtyard, Residence Inn	427,696	9.4	%	151
Midscale w/ F&B	Quality, Clarion, Holiday Inn, Best Western, Ramada	519,500	11.5	%	116

Sub-Total Full Service		1,583,118	34.9	%	176

Midscale w/o F&B	Comfort, La Quinta, Baymont Inn, Hampton Inn	723,567	15.9	%	87
Economy	Econo Lodge, Days Inn, Super 8, Red Roof Inn	752,893	16.6	%	77

Sub-Total Limited Service		1,476,460	32.5	%	82

Independents		1,480,632	32.6	%	66

Total All Hotels		4,540,210	100	%	92

Source: Smith Travel Research (December 2007)

According to Smith Travel Research, Choice branded system-wide market share as of December 31, 2007 in the United States has increased 133 basis points to 7.8% of total industry rooms since 2002. The total number of domestic hotel rooms has increased at an annual rate of less than 1% per annum during these same 5 years.

Independent operators of hotels not owned or managed by major lodging companies have increasingly joined national hotel franchise chains as a means of remaining competitive with hotels owned by or affiliated with national lodging companies. Over the past 17 years, the industry has seen a significant movement of hotels from independent to chain affiliation, with affiliated hotels increasing from 46% of the market in 1990 to 67% of the market in 2007. Because a significant portion of the costs of owning and operating a hotel are generally fixed, increases in revenues generated by affiliation with a franchise lodging chain can improve a hotel’s financial performance.

The large franchise lodging chains, including us, generally provide a number of services to hotel operators to improve the financial performance of their properties including central reservation systems, marketing and advertising programs, direct sales programs, training and education programs, property systems revenue enhancement services and relationships with vendors to streamline purchasing processes and make lower cost products available. We believe that national franchise chains with a large number of hotels enjoy greater brand awareness among potential guests than those with fewer hotels, and that greater brand awareness can increase the desirability of a hotel to its potential guests.

We believe that hotel operators choose lodging franchisors based primarily on the perceived value and quality of each franchisor’s brand and its services, and the extent to which affiliation with that franchisor may increase the hotel operator profitability.

Choice’s Franchising Business

Choice operates primarily as a hotel franchisor offering 10 brands. Our Clarion and Quality brands compete primarily in the full service midscale with food and beverage segment; our Comfort Inn, Comfort Suites, and Sleep Inn brands compete primarily in the limited service midscale without food & beverage segment; MainStay Suites and Suburban Extended Stay Hotel compete primarily in the extended stay segment and our Econo Lodge and Rodeway Inn brands compete primarily in the economy segment. As a result of our acquisition of Suburban Franchise Holding Company, Inc., the Suburban Extended Stay Hotel brand was added to our portfolio on

September 28, 2005. In January 2005, we introduced a new brand, Cambria Suites, which competes in the upscale segment. This newly created brand opened its first hotel during 2007.

Economics of Franchising Business. The fee and cost structure of our business provides opportunities for us to improve operating results by increasing the number of franchised hotel rooms, improving RevPAR performance and increasing the effective royalty rates of our franchise contracts. As a hotel franchisor, we derive our revenue primarily from various franchise fees. Our franchise fees consist primarily of an initial fee and ongoing royalty, marketing and reservation fees that are typically based on a percentage of the franchised hotel’s gross room revenues. The initial fee and on-going royalty portion of the franchise fees are intended to cover our operating expenses, such as expenses incurred in business development, quality assurance, administrative support and other franchise services and to provide us with operating profits. The marketing and reservation fees are used exclusively for the expenses associated with marketing and media advertising and providing such franchise services as the central reservation system.

Our fee stream depends on the number of rooms in our system, the gross room revenues generated by our franchisees and effective royalty rates under our franchise contracts. We enjoy significant operating leverage since the variable operating costs associated with our franchise system growth have historically been less than incremental royalty fees generated from new franchisees. Our business is well positioned in the lodging industry since we benefit from both RevPAR growth and new hotel construction.

Our various brand offerings position us well within the lodging industry. Our Cambria Suites, Comfort Inn, Comfort Suites, Sleep Inn, Suburban Extended Stay Hotel and MainStay Suites are primarily new build brands which offer hotel developers an array of choices in the upscale, midscale and extended stay segments during periods of supply growth, while our Clarion, Quality, Econo Lodge and Rodeway Inn brands offer conversion opportunities to independent operators and non-Choice affiliated hotels who desire to affiliate with our brands and take advantage of the services we have to offer.

Strategy. Our mission is a commitment to franchisee profitability by providing our franchisees with hotel franchises that strive to generate the highest return on investment of any hotel franchise. Our business strategy is to create franchise system growth by leveraging Choice’s large and well-known hotel brands, franchise sales capabilities, effective marketing and reservation delivery efforts, RevPAR enhancing services and technology, and financial strength created by our significant free cash flow. We believe our brands’ growth will be driven by our ability to create a compelling return on investment for franchisees. Our strategic objective is to improve our franchisee’s profitability by providing services, which increase business delivery, reduce hotel operating and development costs, and/or improve guest satisfaction. Specific elements of our strategy include: building strong brands, delivering exceptional services, reaching more consumers and leveraging size, scale and distribution that reduce costs for hotel owners.

Building Strong Brands. Each of our brands has particular attributes and strengths, including awareness with both consumers and developers. Our strategy is to utilize the strengths of each brand for room growth, RevPAR gains and royalty rate improvement that create revenue growth. We believe brand consistency, quality and guest satisfaction are critical in improving brand performance and building strong brands.

We have multiple brands that are positioned to meet the needs of many types of guests, and can be developed at various price points and applied to both new and existing hotels. This flexibility ensures that we have brands suitable for creating room growth in various types of markets, with various types of customers, and during both industry contraction and growth cycles. During times of lower industry supply growth and tighter capital markets, we can target conversions of existing non-Choice affiliated hotels seeking the awareness and proven performance provided by our brands. During periods of strong industry supply growth, we expect a greater portion of our room growth to come from our new construction brands. We believe that a large number of markets can still support our hotel brands, and that the growth potential for our brands, as well as new brands we may yet introduce, remains strong.

We believe each of our brands appeals to targeted hotel owners and guests because of unique brand standards, service levels and pricing.

Delivering Exceptional Services. We provide a combination of services and technological products to help our franchisees improve performance. We have 66 field services staff members located nationwide that help franchisees improve RevPAR performance and guest satisfaction. In addition, we provide our franchisees with technology products designed to improve property level performance. These services and products promote revenue gains for franchisees and translate into both higher royalties for the Company and improved returns for owners, leading to further room growth by making our brands attractive to franchisees. We develop our services based on customer needs and focus on activities that generate high return on investment for our customers.

Reaching More Consumers. We believe hotel owners value the large volume of guests we deliver through corporate and brand marketing, reservation systems, key account sales, and the Company’s principal loyalty program, Choice Privileges^®. Our strategy is to maximize the effectiveness of these activities in delivering both leisure and business travelers to Choice-branded hotels.

The Company will continue to increase awareness of its brands through its multi-branded national marketing campaign which features re-imaged signs, our “We’ll See You There” tagline and our loyalty program promotions. This campaign is intended to generate the most compelling message in the midscale and economy segments and utilize our significant size to create even greater awareness for our brands. Local and regional co-op marketing campaigns will continue to leverage the national marketing programs to drive business to our properties at a local level. We expect our efforts at marketing directly to guests will continue to be enhanced through the use of our customer relationship management technology. Our continued focus on overall brand quality coupled with our marketing initiatives is designed to stimulate room demand for our franchised hotels through improved guest awareness and satisfaction.

Our central reservations system is a critical technology used to deliver guests to our franchisees through multiple channels, including our call centers and proprietary websites, and global distribution systems (e.g., SABRE, Amadeus, and internet distribution sites). We believe our well-known brands, combined with our relationships with many internet distribution web sites benefits our franchisees, by facilitating increased rate and reservations delivery, and reducing costs and operational complexity.

Leveraging Size, Scale and Distribution. We continually focus on identifying methods for utilizing the significant number of hotels in our system to reduce costs and increase returns for our franchisees. For example, we create relationships with vendors to: (i) make low-cost products available to our franchisees; (ii) streamline the purchasing process; and (iii) maintain brand standards and consistency. We plan to expand this business and identify new methods for decreasing hotel-operating costs by increasing penetration internally and enhancing our existing vendor relationships and/or creating new vendor relationships. We believe our efforts to leverage the Company’s size, scale and distribution benefit the Company by enhancing brand quality and consistency, improving our franchisees returns and satisfaction, and creating brand solutions revenues.

Franchise System

Our franchises operate domestically under one of ten Choice brand names: Comfort Inn, Comfort Suites, Cambria Suites, Quality, Clarion, Sleep Inn, Econo Lodge, Rodeway Inn, MainStay Suites and Suburban Extended Stay Hotel. The following table presents key statistics related to our domestic franchise system over the five years ended December 31, 2007.

COMBINED DOMESTIC FRANCHISE SYSTEM


	As of and For the Year Ended December 31,
	2003			2004			2005			2006			2007
Number of properties, end of period		3,636			3,834			4,048			4,211			4,445
Number of rooms, end of period		294,268			309,586			329,353			339,441			354,139
Royalty fees ($000)	$	141,150		$	155,915		$	175,588		$	194,333		$	212,519
Average royalty rate		4.01	%		4.04	%		4.08	%		4.09	%		4.14	%
Average occupancy percentage^(1),(3)		54.7	%		56.6	%		57.6	%		58.4	%		57.9	%
Average daily room rate (ADR)^(1),(3)	$	62.53		$	63.56		$	66.24		$	68.71		$	72.07
Revenue per available room (RevPAR)^(1),(2),(3)	$	34.21		$	35.95		$	38.15		$	40.13		$	41.75

⁽¹⁾

Suburban Extended Stay Hotel was acquired on September 28, 2005. Statistics for average occupancy percentage, ADR and RevPAR for the year ended December 31, 2005 and prior years have been excluded since comparable pre-acquisition data is not available.

⁽²⁾

The Company calculates RevPAR based on information reported to the Company on a timely basis by franchisees.

⁽³⁾

Amounts for 2007 exclude results from Cambria Suites properties opening during the year.

Brand Positioning

Our brands offer consumers and developers a wide range of choices from economy hotels to lower upscale, full service properties. Our domestic brands are as follows:

Cambria Suites: Cambria Suites is an upscale select service hotel chain with an upscale image and distinctive styling. Cambria offers well-appointed suites that emulate the “best of a modern home.” In-room amenities include luxury bedding, stereo with CD player, cordless phone and mini-refrigerator with microwave. Principal competitor brands include Marriott Courtyard and Hilton Garden Inn. The Cambria Suites brand was launched in January 2005 and the first properties opened during 2007.

Comfort Inn: Comfort Inn hotels operate in the mid-scale without food and beverage category. One of the original brands in the limited service category, Comfort has built a reputation for consistent high-value accommodations for both business and leisure travelers. Principal competitor brands include Holiday Inn Express, Fairfield Inn and Country Inn & Suites.

Comfort Suites: Comfort Suites hotels operate in the upper portion of the mid-scale without food and beverage category. Established in 1986 as an extension of the highly regarded Comfort Inn brand, Comfort Suites feature oversized, comfortable rooms at mid-priced rates. The brand competes with Hampton Inn, Holiday Inn Express, Fairfield Inn and Country Inn & Suites.

Sleep Inn: Sleep Inn is a new construction brand that operates in the mid-scale without food & beverage category. Sleep delivers one of the most consistent product offerings in the category, which targets both business and leisure travelers. Sleep competes with Baymont, Amerihost, La Quinta and Fairfield Inn.

Quality: Quality Inn hotels offer efficient and personable service and clean accommodations in the mid-scale category. Amenities and services typically include complimentary continental breakfast, “Quality Sleeper” by Serta mattresses, swimming pools and/or exercise rooms, free USA today or Wall Street Journal newspaper and meeting or event space. Principal competitor brands include Best Western, Ramada, Howard Johnson and Holiday Inn.

Clarion: Clarion hotels are full-service hotels competing in the mid-scale hotel category. The brand offers upscale lodging at an affordable price. Providing a full spectrum of superior facilities and amenities, which include restaurant, conference or banquet facilities, 24-hour business center, swimming pool or exercise room, guest laundry, room service and bell service. Principal competitor brands include Sheraton Four Points, Holiday Inn Select, Radisson and Doubletree.

MainStay Suites: MainStay Suites hotels compete in the mid-scale extended stay category. Complete with a residential feel and value-added amenities, the MainStay brand is designed as a more practical lodging option for guests whose stays are longer than a few nights. Typically, longer hotel stays involve relocation, training, or temporary job assignments. All MainStay guests suites feature fully equipped kitchens with a two-burner range, dishes, utensils, dishwasher, sink with disposal, microwave, and full size refrigerator. All suites include a sleeper sofa, comfortable work area with ergonomic chair and large walk-in closets. MainStay competes directly with Studio Plus, TownePlace Suites, Sierra Suites, and Candlewood Suites.

Suburban Extended Stay Hotel: Suburban Extended Stay Hotel suites are built with today’s value-conscious extended stay guest in mind. All suites provide full kitchens, internet connections, and access to on-site laundry facilities. Suburban’s “just what you need” philosophy matches attractive weekly pricing with weekly housekeeping to provide extended stay guests with the all-suite accommodations they want without the cost of services they do not need. Principal competitor brands include Intown Suites and Sun Suites.

Econo Lodge: Econo Lodge is a leading economy category chain, which offers clean, attractive lodging for value-oriented travelers. Breakfast by Econo Lodge, free local calls, and free premium channels are just some of the amenities that position Econo Lodge as a great value in the economy category. Principal competitor brands are Days Inn, Super 8, Motel 6, and Travelodge.

Rodeway Inn: Rodeway Inn is a leading budget category chain, which offers clean, affordable lodging for savings-oriented travelers. With Always Fresh…Rodeway^® breakfast and a free newspaper, Rodeway is well positioned to offer savings for the budget-minded traveler. Principal competitor brands are Best Value Inn, Knights Inn and Budget Host.

The following table presents key statistics related to the domestic system for our brands over the five years ended December 31, 2007.


	As of and For the Year Ended December 31,
	2003			2004			2005			2006			2007
COMFORT DOMESTIC SYSTEM
Number of properties, end of period		1,783			1,821			1,839			1,848			1,915
Number of rooms, end of period		140,416			143,007			143,849			144,853			149,400
Royalty fees ($000)	$	85,998		$	94,801		$	106,603		$	116,832		$	126,906
Average occupancy percentage		58.8	%		60.9	%		62.7	%		63.9	%		63.7	%
Average daily room rate (ADR)	$	65.92		$	67.34		$	70.85		$	75.46		$	79.68
RevPAR	$	38.79		$	41.04		$	44.40		$	48.25		$	50.76
QUALITY DOMESTIC SYSTEM
Number of properties, end of period		508			576			660			736			828
Number of rooms, end of period		52,766			58,785			66,316			72,054			79,276
Royalty fees ($000)	$	20,221		$	22,821		$	25,855		$	29,220		$	34,310
Average occupancy percentage		51.6	%		54.1	%		54.6	%		55.3	%		54.2	%
Average daily room rate (ADR)	$	64.19		$	63.62		$	64.86		$	66.89		$	70.30
RevPAR	$	33.14		$	34.41		$	35.41		$	37.01		$	38.09
CLARION DOMESTIC SYSTEM
Number of properties, end of period		138			158			153			162			167
Number of rooms, end of period		20,737			23,652			23,554			23,945			23,319
Royalty fees ($000)	$	7,534		$	8,375		$	9,385		$	9,531		$	10,388
Average occupancy percentage		49.2	%		51.1	%		52.5	%		51.2	%		51.7	%
Average daily room rate (ADR)	$	72.27		$	72.37		$	74.62		$	78.98		$	80.86
RevPAR	$	35.55		$	36.97		$	39.15		$	40.41		$	41.79
SLEEP DOMESTIC SYSTEM
Number of properties, end of period		309			311			319			327			346
Number of rooms, end of period		23,678			23,766			24,205			24,575			25,728
Royalty fees ($000)	$	10,856		$	12,387		$	13,862		$	15,384		$	16,605
Average occupancy percentage		57.5	%		59.5	%		61.0	%		62.4	%		62.5	%
Average daily room rate (ADR)	$	58.01		$	59.50		$	62.52		$	66.44		$	69.67
RevPAR	$	33.33		$	35.42		$	38.16		$	41.43		$	43.52
MAINSTAY DOMESTIC SYSTEM
Number of properties, end of period		26			27			27			29			30
Number of rooms, end of period		2,063			2,150			2,047			2,183			2,258
Royalty fees ($000)	$	980		$	1,163		$	1,375		$	1,459		$	1,603
Average occupancy percentage		62.9	%		62.2	%		65.7	%		69.4	%		68.5	%
Average daily room rate (ADR)	$	61.50		$	61.09		$	64.76		$	67.26		$	70.04
RevPAR	$	38.70		$	37.97		$	42.54		$	46.66		$	47.98
ECONO LODGE DOMESTIC SYSTEM
Number of properties, end of period		734			781			805			816			825
Number of rooms, end of period		45,420			48,301			49,763			49,679			50,403
Royalty fees ($000)	$	13,644		$	14,255		$	15,509		$	16,467		$	17,266
Average occupancy percentage		47.5	%		48.2	%		48.2	%		47.7	%		48.0	%
Average daily room rate (ADR)	$	47.88		$	48.92		$	50.95		$	53.09		$	54.40
RevPAR	$	22.76		$	23.57		$	24.56		$	25.31		$	26.10
RODEWAY DOMESTIC SYSTEM
Number of properties, end of period		138			160			180			233			276
Number of rooms, end of period		9,188			9,925			11,051			14,168			16,523
Royalty fees ($000)	$	1,917		$	2,114		$	2,256		$	2,467		$	2,865
Average occupancy percentage		44.8	%		48.7	%		46.7	%		45.8	%		47.6	%
Average daily room rate (ADR)	$	49.84		$	52.33		$	49.91		$	51.66		$	53.24
RevPAR	$	22.32		$	25.49		$	23.31		$	23.66		$	25.32
SUBURBAN DOMESTIC SYSTEM
Number of properties, end of period		—			—			65			60			54
Number of rooms, end of period		—			—			8,568			7,984			6,773
Royalty fees ($000)		—			—		$	743	⁽²⁾	$	2,973		$	2,535
Average occupancy percentage		—			—			—	⁽¹⁾		72.4	%		67.3	%
Average daily room rate (ADR)		—			—			—	⁽¹⁾	$	38.30		$	40.13
RevPAR		—			—			—	⁽¹⁾	$	27.73		$	27.01

⁽¹⁾

Statistics for average occupancy percentage, ADR and RevPAR for the year ended December 31, 2005 and prior years have been excluded since comparable pre-acquisition data is not available.

⁽²⁾

Royalty fees include results of Suburban operations from September 28, 2005 through December 31, 2005.

International Franchise Operations

In some territories outside the United States hotel franchising is less prevalent, and many markets are served primarily by independent operators. We believe that chain affiliation will increase in certain international markets as local economies grow and hotel owners seek the economies of centralized reservations systems and marketing programs.

As of December 31, 2007, we had 1,125 franchise hotels open and operating in over 30 countries and territories outside of the United States. The following chart summarizes our franchise system outside of the United States.

COMBINED INTERNATIONAL FRANCHISE SYSTEM⁽¹⁾


	As of and For the Year Ended December 31,
	2003		2004		2005		2006		2007
Number of properties, end of period		1,174		1,143		1,162		1,165		1,125
Number of rooms, end of period		94,350		94,220		97,703		97,944		97,888
Royalty fees ($000)	$	9,237	$	10,071	$	10,971	$	16,183	$	22,234

⁽¹⁾

Reporting of operating statistics (e.g. average occupancy percentage and average daily room rate) of international franchisees is not required by all master franchise contracts, thus these statistics and RevPAR are not presented for international franchisees.

Scandinavia. We conduct our operations in Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland and Lithuania through our relationship with Choice Hotels Scandinavia (“CHS”). As of December 31, 2007, CHS had 149 open properties. The master franchise agreement with CHS expires in November 2014, but may be terminated in November 2009 by either CHS or Choice.

Continental Europe. During the fourth quarter of 2006, the Company acquired from The Real Hotel Company PLC (“RHC”), formerly known as C.H.E. Group PLC the franchising operations conducted by RHC in the European countries of Austria, Germany, Italy, the Czech Republic, Switzerland, France, Belgium, Portugal and Spain and simultaneously the master franchise agreement between Choice and RHC covering these countries was terminated and we began direct franchising operations in these countries. At December 31, 2007, the Company had 185 properties open and operating in continental Europe.

Ireland. In August 2007, the Company entered into a ten year master franchising agreement with Ireland-based Cordelle Enterprises, doing business as Choice Hotels Ireland, for the right to license and develop our Clarion, Quality and Comfort brands in Ireland. Prior to acquiring the master franchising rights directly from the Company, Choice Hotels Ireland operated the Company’s brands under an area representative agreement with RHC, which previously held the master franchise rights in Ireland. As of December 31, 2007, Choice Hotels Ireland had 21 open properties.

United Kingdom. At December 31, 2007, the master franchise agreement with RHC remained in place with respect to operations in the United Kingdom. In December 2007, the Company announced that it had reached a definitive agreement with RHC to transfer United Kingdom franchising operations to the Company on

January 31, 2008. On that date, the master franchise agreement was terminated and the existing franchise agreements were assigned to the Company. At December 31, 2007, RHC had 86 properties open and operating in the United Kingdom.

Canada. We conduct our operations in Canada through Choice Hotels Canada, Inc. (“CHC”) a joint venture owned 50% by us and 50% by InnVest Real Estate Investment Trust. CHC is one of the largest lodging organizations in Canada with 273 franchised properties open and operating as of December 31, 2007.

Australasia. The Company conducts direct franchising operations in Australia, Singapore, New Zealand and Papua New Guinea through a wholly owned subsidiary, Choice Hotels Australasia Pty. Ltd. (“CHA”). As of December 31, 2007, CHA had 260 franchised properties open under the Choice brands and 1 franchised hotel under the Flag brand in New Zealand. CHA is in the process of converting the remaining Flag branded franchise to one of the Company’s other brands and expects to complete this conversion during 2008.

Mexico. During 2004, we established a wholly owned subsidiary Choice Hotels Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V. (“CHM”) to begin direct franchising operations in Mexico. CHM is focused on establishing Clarion, Quality and Comfort brands through conversions of high quality unbranded hotels in Mexico. At December 31, 2007, CHM had 17 properties open and operating.

Other International Relationships. We have various master franchise and area representative arrangements in place with local hotel management and franchising companies doing business in China, South America, India, Central America and Japan. In addition, the Company has direct franchise relationships with properties in Malaysia and Lebanon.

The following table summarizes Choice’s non-domestic franchise system as of December 31, 2007:


	Comfort	Quality	Clarion	Sleep	Econo Lodge	Rodeway	Flag	Total
Australia	150	63	11	—	—	—	—	224
Belgium	1	—	—	—	—	—	—	1
Czech Republic	1	1	1	—	—	—	—	3
France	75	26	2	—	—	—	—	103
Germany	20	19	3	—	—	—	—	42
Italy	4	7	5	—	—	—	—	16
Lebanon	—	1	—	—	—	—	—	1
Malaysia	—	2	—	—	—	—	—	2
Mexico	7	10	—	—	—	—	—	17
New Zealand	9	15	5	—	—	—	1	30
Papua New Guinea	1	4	—	—	—	—	—	5
Portugal	5	3	1	—	—	—	—	9
Singapore	—	1	1	—	—	—	—	2
Spain	2	1	1	—	—	—	—	4
Switzerland	4	3	—	—	—	—	—	7

Direct Franchise Agreements	279	156	30	—	—	—	1	466

Brazil	21	20	2	5	—	—	—	48
Canada*	144	64	12	2	45	6	—	273
China	2	—	—	—	—	—	—	2
Costa Rica	—	1	1	1	—	—	—	3
Denmark	6	4	6	—	—	—	—	16
Dominican Republic	—	1	1	—	—	—	—	2
El Salvador	4	1	—	—	—	—	—	5
Finland	1	1	1	—	—	—	—	3


	Comfort	Quality	Clarion	Sleep	Econo Lodge	Rodeway	Flag	Total
Guatemala	—	—	1	—	—	—	—	1
Honduras	—	—	2	—	—	—	—	2
India*	10	14	1	—	—	—	—	25
Ireland	5	8	8	—	—	—	—	21
Japan	33	2	—	7	—	—	—	42
Lithuania	—	1	—	—	—	—	—	1
Norway	8	38	23	—	—	—	—	69
Sweden	9	27	24	—	—	—	—	60
United Kingdom	30	44	3	9	—	—	—	86

Master Franchise Agreements	273	226	85	24	45	6	—	659

Total Number of Properties	552	382	115	24	45	6	1	1,125

The Company has made equity investments in these master franchisors.

The following table presents key worldwide system size statistics as of and for the year ended December 31, 2007.


	Open and Operational		Under Development		Additions	Repositionings		Terminations
	Hotels	Rooms	Hotels	Rooms	Additions	Repositionings		Terminations
Comfort	2,467	188,596	491	35,877	176	(20	)	(128	)
Quality	1,210	118,386	120	10,667	134	16		(68	)
Clarion	282	37,867	48	6,912	35	2		(27	)
Sleep Inn	370	28,176	143	10,048	31	—		(9	)
MainStay Suites	30	2,258	53	4,759	2	—		(1	)
Econo Lodge	870	52,693	54	3,414	55	(2	)	(43	)
Rodeway Inn	282	16,800	71	3,924	68	4		(28	)
Suburban	54	6,773	48	4,238	6	—		(12	)
Cambria Suites	4	459	65	8,143	4	—		—
Flag Hotels	1	19	—	—	—	—		(1	)

Totals	5,570	452,027	1,093	87,982	511	—		(317	)

Franchise Sales

Brand growth is important to our business model. We have identified key market areas, for certain brands, for hotel development based on supply/demand relationships and our strategic objectives. Development opportunities are typically offered to: (i) existing franchisees; (ii) developers of hotels; (iii) owners of independent hotels and motels; (iv) owners of hotels affiliated with other franchisors’ brands; and, (v) contractors who construct any of the foregoing.

The franchise sales organization is structured in three brand specific divisions with both sales managers and franchise sales directors responsible for specific brands. These divisions consist of Cambria Suites, extended stay market brands (MainStay Suites and Suburban Extended Stay Hotels) and midscale and economy brands (Comfort, Quality, Clarion, Sleep, Econo Lodge and Rodeway). Each division employs both sales managers as well as franchise sales directors. Sales managers have geographic oversight over all of the brands in their division to ensure each prospective hotel is placed in the appropriate brand, facilitate teamwork and information sharing amongst the sales directors and provide better service to our top developers. Our franchise sales directors operate in brand specific selling teams to leverage their brand expertise to enhance product consistency and deal flow. The structure of this organization supports the Company’s efforts to leverage its core strengths in order to take advantage of opportunities for further growth and integrate our brands and strategies to allow our brand teams to

focus on understanding, anticipating and meeting the unique needs of key customer segments. Franchise sales efforts emphasize the benefits of affiliating with one of our brands, our commitment to improving hotel profitability, our television, radio and print brand advertising campaigns, our central reservation system, our training and support systems (including our proprietary property management systems) and our history of growth and profitability.

During 2007, Choice received 1,267 applications for new franchise agreements (not including relicensings of existing agreements) compared to 1,137 in 2006. These applications resulted in the execution of 770 new domestic franchise agreements in 2007, compared to 720 in 2006. An application received does not always result in an executed franchise agreement during the year received or at all due to various factors, such as financing and agreement on contractual terms. Our objective is to continue to grow our portfolio by continuing to sell our existing brands, creating extensions of our existing brands and introducing new brands within the various lodging chain segments.

Because retention of existing franchisees is important to our growth strategy, we have a formal impact policy. This policy offers existing franchisees protection from the opening of a same-brand property within a specified distance, depending upon the market in which the property is located.

Franchise Agreements

Our standard domestic franchise agreement, excluding contracts for Suburban Extended Stay Hotel (“Suburban”), grants a franchisee the right to non-exclusive use of our franchise system in the operation of a single hotel at a specified location, typically for a period of 20 years, with certain rights to each of the franchisor and franchisee to terminate the franchise agreement before the twentieth year. Suburban franchise agreements acquired through the Company’s acquisition of Suburban Franchise Holding, Inc. contain 10-year terms.

The Company may also enter into master development agreements with developers that grant limited exclusive development rights in geographical areas and preferential franchise agreement terms for one-time, non-refundable fees. These agreements typically grant developers exclusivity in various markets and favorable franchise agreement terms provided that they adhere to an agreed upon development schedule.

Either party to our standard domestic franchise agreement can terminate the agreement prior to the conclusion of the agreement’s term under certain circumstances, such as upon designated anniversaries of the agreement. Early termination options give us flexibility in eliminating or re-branding properties, if they become weak performers for reasons other than contractual failure by the franchisee. We also have the right to terminate a franchise agreement if a franchisee fails to bring the property into compliance with contractual or quality standards within specified periods of time. The franchise agreements also typically contain liquidated damage provisions resulting from a franchisee’s termination of the franchise agreement outside the designated anniversaries. Master franchise agreements typically contain provisions permitting us to terminate the agreement for failure to meet a specified development schedule.

When the responsibility for development is transferred to an international master franchisee, that party has the responsibility to sell to local franchisees our brands and the master franchisee generally must manage the delivery of necessary services (such as training, quality assurance, reservations and marketing) to support the franchised hotels in the master franchise area. The master franchisee collects the fees paid by the local franchisee and remits an agreed share to us. Master franchise agreements generally have a term of at least 10 years. We have only entered into master franchise agreements with respect to franchised hotels outside the United States.

Since 2005, we have increased our efforts to enforce quality and contractual standards as well as eliminate weak performers. However, in 2007 and 2006, we retained 96% and 95% of franchisees, respectively, which were in our domestic system in the previous year.

Franchise agreements are individually negotiated and vary among the different Choice brands and franchises, but generally are competitive with the industry average within their market group. Franchise fees usually have four components: an initial, one-time affiliation fee; a royalty fee; a marketing fee; and a reservation fee. Proceeds from the marketing fee and reservation fee are used exclusively to fund the Company’s marketing and reservation activities that support all of the Choice brands.

Our standard franchise fees are as follows:

QUOTED FEES BY BRAND AS OF DECEMBER 31, 2007


			On-Going Fees as a Percentage of Franchisee’s Gross Room Revenues
Brand	Initial Fee Per Room/Minimum		Royalty Fees		Marketing Fees		Reservation Fees		Combined Marketing and Reservation Fees
Cambria Suites	$	500/$60,000	5.00	%	2.10	%	1.75	%	—
Comfort Inn	$	500/$50,000	5.65	%	2.10	%	1.75	%	—
Comfort Suites	$	500/$50,000	5.65	%	2.10	%	1.75	%	—
Quality Inn	$	300/$35,000	4.65	%	2.10	%	1.75	%	—
Quality Suites	$	300/$50,000	4.65	%	2.10	%	1.75	%	—
Clarion	$	300/$40,000	4.25	%	2.00	%	1.25	%	—
Sleep Inn	$	300/$40,000	4.65	%	2.10	%	1.75	%	—
MainStay Suites	$	300/$30,000	5.00	%	—		—		2.50	%
Econo Lodge	$	250/$25,000	4.50	%	—		—		3.50	%
Rodeway Inn		⁽¹⁾	⁽²⁾		⁽³⁾		⁽³⁾		—
Suburban	$	225/$30,000	5.00	%	—		—		2.50	%

⁽¹⁾

Initial fee of $7,500 for properties with up to 85 rooms. Additional $90 per room fee for each room over 85 rooms.

⁽²⁾

Royalty rate is $15.00 per room per month with $1.00 per room escalations on each of the 2^nd, 3^rd, 4^th and 5^th anniversaries of the franchise agreement.

⁽³⁾

Marketing and reservation fees are $8.00 and $5.00 per room per month, respectively.

Franchise Operations

Our operations are designed to improve RevPAR and lower operating and development costs for our franchisees, as these are the measures of performance that most directly impact franchisee profitability. We believe that by helping our franchisees to become more profitable we will enhance our ability to both retain our existing franchisees and attract new franchisees. The key aspects of our franchise operations are:

Central Reservation System (“CRS”). On average, approximately one-third of the gross room revenue booked at franchised properties is reserved through our central reservation system, which consists of our toll-free telephone reservation system, our proprietary internet site, interfaces with global distribution systems, and other internet reservations sites. Our reservation system consists of a computer reservation system, three reservation centers in North America and several international reservation centers. Reservation agents trained on the reservation system can match each caller with a Choice-branded hotel meeting the caller’s needs. Our CRS provides a data link to our franchised properties as well as to airline reservation systems such as Amadeus, Galileo, SABRE and Worldspan that facilitate the reservation process for travel agents. We also offer our rooms for sale on our own proprietary internet site (www.choicehotels.com) as well as those of other travel companies.

We continue to implement our integrated reservation strategy to improve reservations delivery, reduce franchisee costs and improve franchisee satisfaction by enhancing our website, choicehotels.com, and selectively distributing our inventory with third parties that can drive additional business to the Company and its brands. We have established agreements with key third party travel intermediaries to gain additional distribution points.

These agreements typically offer our brands preferred placement on these third party sites at reduced transaction fees. We also continue to educate our individual franchisees about the unfavorable impact to their business of contracting with sites with which we do not have preferred agreements. We currently have agreements with many but not all major online third party sites.

Property Management Systems. Our proprietary property and yield management systems, Profit Manager by Choice Hotels and ChoiceADVANTAGE, are designed to help franchisees maximize profitability and compete more effectively by managing their rooms inventory, rates and reservations. These systems synchronize each hotel’s inventory with our system, giving our reservation sales agents last room sell capabilities at every hotel. These systems include a revenue management feature that calculates and suggests optimum rates based on each hotel’s past performance and projected occupancy. These tools are critical to business delivery and yield improvement as they facilitate the franchisee’s ability to effectively manage their hotel operations, determine appropriate rates, drive occupancy and participate in our marketing programs. The Profit Manager system is used primarily by our domestic non-economy brand franchises and ChoiceADVANTAGE is utilized primarily by our economy brand franchises. The Company is currently in the process of migrating all franchised hotels from the Profit Manager system to the web-based hotel property management system, ChoiceADVANTAGE. As a pure web-based solution, the ChoiceAdvantage system allows franchisees greater flexibility in hardware choices and reduces each hotel’s investment in on-site computer equipment resulting in a lower total cost of ownership for property management systems. This process is expected to be completed over the next several years.

Brand Name Marketing and Advertising. Our marketing and advertising programs are designed to heighten consumer awareness and preference for our brands as offering the greatest value and convenience in the midscale and economy categories. Marketing and advertising efforts include national television, internet and radio advertising, print advertising in consumer and trade media and promotional events, including joint marketing promotions with vendors and corporate partners.

Numerous marketing and sales programs are conducted which target specific groups, including business travelers, senior citizens, automobile club members, families, government and military employees, and meeting planners. Other marketing efforts include domestic and international trade show programs, publication of group and tour rate directories, direct-mail programs, electronic direct marketing e-mail programs, centralized commissions for travel agents, fly-drive programs in conjunction with major airlines, and an annual publication of a travel and vacation directory.

Since 1998, we have operated a loyalty program called Choice Privileges, which includes all of our mid-scale brands (Comfort, Clarion, Quality, Sleep, MainStay Suites and Suburban Extended Stay Hotel) to attract and retain travelers by rewarding frequent stays with points towards free hotel stays and other rewards. As of December 31, 2007, the program had approximately 6.3 million members. In 2001, we launched a similar loyalty program called EA$Y CHOICE^® for our Econo Lodge and Rodeway Inn brands. The EA$Y CHOICE program is a stamp redemption program and has no membership requirement to participate. Choice Privileges and EA$Y CHOICE participants can earn points/stamps redeemable for free stays in Choice brand properties. The Company also offers guests the ability to earn airline miles for qualifying stays redeemable for flights with various airline partners as well as redeem points for gift certificates at participating retailers such as Wal-Mart. These programs allow us to conduct lower cost, more targeted marketing campaigns to our consumers. During 2007, the Company announced that effective January 1, 2008 the Choice Privileges program will begin to include the Econo Lodge and Rodeway brands. Beginning January 1, 2008, EA$Y CHOICE stamps will no longer be distributed and members will have until March 31, 2008 to redeem their stamps or convert them into Choice Privileges points.

Marketing and advertising programs are directed by our marketing department, which utilizes the services of independent advertising agencies. We also employ home-based sales personnel geographically located across the United States using personal sales calls, telemarketing and other techniques to target specific customer groups, such as potential corporate clients in areas where our franchised hotels are located, the motor coach market, and meeting planners. All sales personnel sell business for all of our brands.

Our field based brand performance consultants work with franchisees to maximize RevPAR. These coordinators advise franchisees on topics such as marketing their hotels, improving quality and maximizing the benefits offered by the Choice reservations system.

Quality Assurance Programs. Consistent quality standards are critical to the success of a hotel franchise. We have established quality standards for all of our franchised brands that cover housekeeping, maintenance, brand identification and minimum service offerings. We inspect properties for compliance with our quality standards when application is made for admission to the franchise system. The compliance of existing franchisees with quality standards is monitored through scheduled and unannounced quality assurance reviews conducted periodically at each property. Properties that fail to maintain a minimum score are reinspected on a more frequent basis until deficiencies are cured, or until such properties are terminated. To encourage compliance with quality standards, various brand-specific incentives and awards are used to reward franchisees that maintain consistent quality standards. We identify franchisees whose properties operate below minimum quality standards and assist them in complying with brand specifications. Franchisees who fail to improve on identified quality matters may be subject to consequences ranging from written warnings to termination of the franchisee’s franchise agreement.

Training. We maintain a training department that conducts mandatory training programs for all franchisees and their employees. Regularly scheduled regional and national training meetings are also conducted for both property-level staff and managers. Training programs teach franchisees how to best use the Choice reservation system and marketing programs and fundamental hotel operations such as housekeeping, maintenance and inventory yield management.

Training is conducted by a variety of methods, including group instruction seminars and video programs. We have also developed an interactive computer-based training system that will train hotel employees at their own pace.

Opening Services. We maintain an opening services department with field based employees who ensure that incoming hotels meet or exceed brand standards and to ensure that each incoming hotel opens successfully. We also maintain a design and construction department to assist franchisees in refurbishing, renovating, or constructing their properties prior to or after joining the system. Department personnel assist franchisees in meeting our brand specifications by providing technical expertise and cost-savings suggestions.

Competition

Competition among franchise lodging chains is intense in attracting potential franchisees to the system, retaining existing franchisees and in generating reservations for franchisees. Franchise contracts are typically long-term in nature, but most allow the hotel owner to opt-out of the agreement at mutually agreed upon anniversary dates.

We believe that hotel operators choose lodging franchisors based primarily on the value and quality of each franchisor’s brand and services and the extent to which affiliation with that franchisor may increase the franchisee’s reservations and profits. We also believe that hotel operators select a franchisor in part based on the franchisor’s reputation among other franchisees and the success of its existing franchisees.

Since our franchise system revenues are based on franchisees’ gross room revenues, our prospects for growth are largely dependent upon the ability of our franchisees to compete in the lodging market, our ability to convert competitor franchises and independent hotels to our brands and the ability of existing and potential franchisees to obtain financing to construct new hotels.

The ability of a hotel to compete may be affected by a number of factors, including the location and quality of the property, the number and quality of competing lodging facilities nearby, its affiliation with a recognized name brand and general regional and local economic conditions. The effect of local economic conditions on our

results is substantially reduced by the geographic diversity of our franchised properties, which are located in 49 states, the District of Columbia and 39 countries and territories outside the United States, as well as our range of products and room rates.

We believe that our focus on core business strategies, combined with our financial strength and size, scale and distribution will enable us to remain competitive.

Service Marks and Other Intellectual Property

The service marks Choice Hotels International, Comfort Inn, Comfort Suites, Quality, Clarion, Sleep Inn, Econo Lodge, Rodeway Inn, MainStay Suites, Cambria Suites, Suburban Extended Stay Hotel, Choice Privileges, Easy Choice and related marks and logos are material to our business. We, directly and through our franchisees, actively use these marks. All of the material marks are registered with the United States Patent and Trademark Office. In addition, we have registered certain of our marks with the appropriate governmental agencies in over 100 countries where we are doing business or anticipate doing business in the foreseeable future. We seek to protect our brands and marks throughout the world, although the strength of legal protection available varies from country to country. Depending on the jurisdiction, trademarks and other registered marks are valid as long as they are in use and/or their registrations are properly maintained and they have not been found to have become generic.

Seasonality

The hotel industry is seasonal in nature. For most hotels, demand is lower in December through March than during the remainder of the year. Our principal source of revenues is franchise fees based on the gross room revenues of our franchised properties. The Company’s franchise fee revenues and operating income reflect the industry’s seasonality and historically have been lower in the first quarter than in the second, third or fourth quarters.

Regulation

The Federal Trade Commission (the “FTC”), various states and certain other foreign jurisdictions (including Australia, France, Germany, Canada, and Mexico) regulate the sale of franchises. The FTC requires franchisors to make extensive disclosure to prospective franchisees but does not require registration. A number of states in which our franchises operate require registration or disclosure in connection with franchise offers and sales. In addition, several states have “franchise relationship laws” or “business opportunity laws” that limit the ability of the franchisor to terminate franchise agreements or to withhold consent to the renewal or transfer of these agreements. While our franchising operations have not been materially adversely affected by such regulations, we cannot predict the effect of future regulation or legislation.

Our franchisees are responsible for compliance with all laws and government regulations applicable to the hotels they own or operate. The lodging industry is subject to numerous federal, state and local government regulations, including those relating to the preparation and sale of food and beverage (such as health and liquor license laws), building and zoning requirements and laws governing employee relations, including minimum wage requirements, overtime, working conditions and work permit requirements.

Impact of Inflation and Other External Factors

Franchise fees can be impacted by external factors including, in particular, the supply of hotel rooms within the lodging industry relative to the demand for rooms by travelers and inflation.

We expect to benefit in the form of increased franchise fees from future growth in consumer demand for hotel rooms as well as in the supply of hotel rooms, which do not result in excess lodging industry capacity. However, a prolonged decline in demand for hotel rooms would negatively impact our business.

Although we believe that increases in the rate of inflation will generally result in comparable increases in hotel room rates, severe inflation could contribute to a slowing of the national economy. Such a slowdown could result in reduced travel by both business and leisure travelers, potentially resulting in less demand for hotel rooms, which could result in a reduction in room rates and fewer room reservations, negatively impacting our revenues. A weak economy could also reduce demand for new hotels, negatively impacting the franchise fees received by us.

Among other unpredictable external factors, which may negatively impact us, are wars, acts of terrorism, airline strikes, gasoline shortages, severe weather and the risks described below under the Item 1A. Risk Factors.

Employees

We employed domestically approximately 1,816 people as of February 15, 2008. None of our employees are represented by unions or covered by collective bargaining agreements. We consider our relations with our employees to be good.

It em 1A. Risk Factors.

Choice Hotels International, Inc. and its subsidiaries are subject to various risks, which could have a negative effect on the Company and its financial condition. These risks could cause actual operating results to differ from those expressed in certain “forward looking statements” contained in this Form 10-K as well as in other Company communications. Before you invest in our securities you should carefully consider these risk factors together with all other information included in our publicly filed documents.

We are subject to the operating risks common in the lodging and franchising industries.

A significant portion of our revenue is derived from fees based on room revenues at hotels franchised under our brands. As such, our business is subject, directly or through our franchisees, to the following risks common in the lodging and franchising industry, among others:

•

changes in the number of hotels operating under franchised brands;

•

changes in the relative mix of franchised hotels in the various lodging industry price categories;

•

changes in occupancy and room rates achieved by hotels;

•

desirability of hotel geographic location;

•

changes in general and local economic and market conditions, which can adversely affect the level of business and leisure travel, and therefore the demand for lodging and related services;

•

increases in costs due to inflation may not be able to be totally offset by increases in room rates;

•

over-building in one or more sectors of the hotel industry and/or in one or more geographic regions, could lead to excess supply compared to demand, and to decreases in hotel occupancy and/or room rates;

•

changes in travel patterns;

•

changes in governmental regulations that influence or determine wages, prices or construction costs;

•

other unpredictable external factors, such as acts of God, war, terrorist attacks, epidemics, airline strikes, transportation and fuel price increases and severe weather, may reduce business and leisure travel;

•

increases in the cost of human capital, energy, healthcare, insurance and other operating expenses resulting in lower operating margins;

•

the financial condition of franchisees and travel related companies;

•

franchisors’ ability to develop and maintain positive relations with current and potential franchisees; and

•

changes in exchange rates or sustained recessionary periods in the U.S. (affecting domestic travel) and internationally could also unfavorably impact future results.

We are subject to risks relating to acts of God, terrorist activity, epidemics and war.

Our financial and operating performance may be adversely affected by acts of God, such as natural disasters and/or epidemics, terrorist activities and acts of war affecting locations where we have a high concentration of franchisees and areas of the world from which our franchisees draw a large number of guests. Some types of losses, such as from terrorism and acts of war may be either uninsurable or too expensive to justify insuring against. Should an uninsured loss or a loss in excess of insured limits occur, our results of operations and financial condition may be adversely affected.

We may not grow our franchise system or we may lose business by failing to compete effectively.

Our operational and growth prospects depend on the strength and desirability of our brands. We believe that hotel operators choose lodging franchisors based primarily on the value and quality of each franchisor’s brand and services, the extent to which affiliation with that franchisor may increase the hotel operator’s reservations and profits, and the franchise fees charged. Demographic, economic or other changes in markets may adversely affect the desirability of our brands and, correspondingly, the number of hotels franchised under the Choice brands.

We compete with other lodging companies for franchisees. As a result, the terms of new franchise agreements may not be as favorable as our current franchise agreements. This competition may reduce or change fee structures, or make greater use of financial incentives such as loans and guarantees to acquire franchisees. This may potentially cause us to respond by charging lower fees or increasing our use of financial incentives, which may impact our margins. New competition may emerge using different business models with a lesser reliance on franchise fees. In addition, an excess supply of hotel rooms may discourage potential franchisees from constructing new hotels, thereby limiting a source of growth of the franchise fees received by us.

We may not achieve our objectives for growth in the number of franchised hotels.

The number of properties and rooms franchised under our brands significantly affects our results. There can be no assurance that we will be successful in achieving our objectives with respect to growing the number of franchised hotels in our system or that we will be able to attract qualified franchisees. The growth in the number of franchised hotels is subject to numerous risks, many of which are beyond the control of our franchisees or us. Among other risks, the following factors affect our ability to achieve growth in the number of franchised hotels:

•

the ability of our franchisees to open and operate additional hotels profitably. Factors affecting the opening of new hotels, or the conversion of existing hotels to a Choice brand, include, among others:

•

the availability of hotel management, staff and other personnel;

•

the cost and availability of suitable hotel locations;

•

the availability and cost of capital to allow hotel owners and developers to fund investments;

•

cost effective and timely construction of hotels (which construction can be delayed due to, among other reasons, labor and materials availability, labor disputes, local zoning and licensing matters, and weather conditions); and

•

securing required governmental permits.

•

our ability to continue to enhance our reservation, operational and service delivery systems to support additional franchisees in a timely, cost-effective manner;

•

our formal impact policy, which offers franchisees protection from the opening of a same-brand property within a specified distance, may adversely impact our growth potential;

•

the effectiveness and efficiency of our development organization;

•

our failure to introduce new brands that gain market acceptance, may adversely impact our unit growth potential;

•

our dependence on our independent franchisees’ skills and access to financial resources necessary to open the desired number of hotels; and

•

our ability to attract and retain qualified domestic and international franchisees.

Contract terms for new hotel franchises may be less favorable.

The terms of the franchise agreements for new or conversion hotels are influenced by contract terms offered by our competitors at the time these agreements are entered into. Accordingly, we cannot assure you that contracts for new hotel franchises entered into or renewed in the future will be on terms that are as favorable to us as those under our existing agreements.

Under certain circumstances our franchisees may terminate our franchise contracts.

We franchise hotels to third parties pursuant to franchise contracts. These contracts may be terminated, renegotiated or expire. These franchise contracts typically have an initial term of twenty years with provisions permitting the franchisee to terminate the agreements after five, ten or fifteen years under certain circumstances. While our contracts provide for liquidated damages related to franchisee terminations outside the contract provisions, these damage amounts are typically less than the fees we would have received if a licensee fulfilled its contractual terms. In addition, there can be no assurance that we will be able to replace terminated franchise contracts, or that the terms of renegotiated or new contracts will be as favorable as the terms that existed before such replacement or renegotiation.

Deterioration in the general financial condition of our franchisees may adversely affect our results.

Our operating results are impacted by the ability of our franchisees to generate revenues at properties they franchise from us. An extended period of occupancy or room rate declines may adversely affect the operating results and financial condition of our franchisees.

The hotel industry is highly competitive. Competition is based primarily on the level of service, quality of accommodations, convenience of locations and room rates. Our franchisees compete for guests with other hotel properties in their geographic markets. Some of their competitors may have substantially greater marketing and financial resources than our franchisees, and they may construct new facilities or improve their existing facilities, reduce their prices or expand and improve their marketing programs in ways that adversely affect our franchisees operating results and financial condition.

These factors, among others, could adversely affect the operating results and financial condition of our franchisees and result in declines in the number of franchised properties and/or franchise fees and other revenues derived from our franchising business. In addition, at times, the Company provides financial support to our franchisees via notes and guarantees. Factors that may adversely affect the operating results and financial condition of these franchisees may result in the Company incurring losses related to this financial support.

Increasing use of internet reservation channels may decrease loyalty to our brands or otherwise adversely affect us.

A growing percentage of hotel rooms are booked through internet travel intermediaries. If such bookings continue to increase, these intermediaries may be able to obtain higher commissions, reduced room rates or other

significant contract concessions from our franchisees or us. Moreover, some of these internet travel intermediaries are attempting to commoditize hotel rooms, by increasing the importance of price and general indicators of quality at the expense of brand identification. These intermediaries hope that consumers will eventually develop brand loyalties to their reservations systems rather than to our lodging brands. If this happens our business and profitability may be significantly harmed. We have established agreements with many key third party websites to limit transaction fees for hotels but we currently do not have agreements with several large internet travel intermediaries.

We are dependent upon our employees’ ability to manage our growth.

Our future success and our ability to manage future growth depend in large part upon the efforts and skills of our senior management and our ability to attract and retain key officers and other highly qualified personnel. Competition for such personnel is intense. There can be no assurance that we will continue to be successful in attracting and retaining qualified personnel. Accordingly, there can be no assurance that our senior management will be able to successfully execute and implement our growth and operating strategies.

We and our franchisees are reliant upon technology.

The lodging industry depends upon the use of sophisticated technology and systems including technology utilized for reservation systems, property management, procurement, operation of our customer loyalty programs and administrative systems. The operation of many of these systems is dependent upon third party data communication networks and software upgrades, maintenance and support. These technologies can be expected to require refinements and there is the risk that advanced new technologies will be introduced. There can be no assurance that as various systems and technologies become outdated or new technology is required we will be able to replace or introduce them as quickly as our competitors or within budgeted costs for such technology.

There can be no assurance that we will achieve the benefits that may have been anticipated from any new technology or system. Further, there can be no assurance that disruptions of the operation of these systems will not occur as a result of failures related to third party systems and support.

Our international operations are subject to special political and monetary risks.

We have franchised properties open and operating in 37 countries and territories outside of the United States. We also have investments in foreign hotel franchisors. International operations generally are subject to political and other risks that are not present in U.S. operations. In certain countries, these risks include the risk of war or civil unrest, expropriation and nationalization. In addition, the laws of some international jurisdictions do not adequately protect our intellectual property and restrict the repatriation of non-U.S. earnings. Various international jurisdictions also have laws limiting the right and ability of non-U.S. entities to pay dividends and remit earnings to affiliated companies unless specified conditions have been met. In addition, revenues from international jurisdictions typically are earned in local currencies, which subjects us to risks associated with currency fluctuations. Currency devaluations and unfavorable changes in international monetary and tax policies could have a material adverse effect on our profitability and financing plans, as could other changes in the international regulatory climate and international economic conditions.

We are subject to certain risks related to our indebtedness.

As a result of our debt obligations, we are subject to the following risks, among others:

•

the risk that cash flows from operations or available lines of credit will be insufficient to meet required payments of principal and interest when due;

•

the risk that (to the extent we maintain floating rate indebtedness) interest rates increase;

•

our leverage may adversely affect our ability to obtain additional financing for acquisitions, working capital, capital expenditures or other purposes, if required;

•

the availability and cost of capital may limit our ability to refinance our existing revolving debt obligations;

•

our existing debt agreements contain covenants that limit our ability to, among other things, borrow additional money, sell assets or engage in mergers. If we do not comply with these covenants, or do not repay our debt on time, we would be in default under our debt agreements. Unless any such default is waived by our lenders, the debt could become immediately payable and this would have a material adverse impact on us; and

•

the liquidity of the market for our publicly traded senior notes depends upon the number of holders of those securities, our performance, the market for similar securities, the interest of securities dealers in making a market in those securities and other factors.

While our senior debt is currently rated investment grade by both of the major rating agencies, there can be no assurance we will be able to maintain this rating. In the event of a downgrade in the rating of our senior debt, we would likely incur higher borrowing costs.

Anti-takeover provisions may prevent a change in control.

Our restated certificate of incorporation, the staggered terms of our board of directors and the Delaware General Corporation Law each contain provisions that could have the effect of making it more difficult for a party to acquire, and may discourage a party from attempting to acquire control of our Company without approval of our board of directors. These provisions could discourage tender offers or other bids for our common stock at a premium over market price.

The concentration of share ownership may influence the outcome of certain matters.

The concentration of share ownership by our directors and affiliates allows them to substantially influence the outcome of matters requiring shareholder approval. As a result, acting together, they may be able to control or substantially influence the outcome of matters requiring approval by our shareholders, including the elections of directors and approval of significant corporate transactions, such as equity compensation plans.

Forward-looking statements may prove inaccurate.

We have made forward-looking statements in our reports on Form 10-Q, Form 10-K and other communications that are subject to risks and uncertainties. You should note that many factors, some of which are discussed in such reports, could affect future financial results and could cause those results to differ materially from those expressed in our forward-looking statements contained in such reports.

Government regulation could impact our business.

The Federal Trade Commission (the “FTC”), various states and certain foreign jurisdictions where we market franchises regulate the sale of franchises. The FTC requires franchisors to make extensive disclosure to prospective franchisees but does not require registration. A number of states in which our franchisees operate require registration or disclosure in connection with franchise offers and sales. In addition, several states in which our franchisees operate have “franchise relationship laws” or “business opportunity laws” that limit the ability of the franchisor to terminate franchise agreements or to withhold consent to the renewal or transfer of these agreements. While our business has not been materially affected by such regulation, there can be no assurance that this will continue or that future regulation or legislation will not have such an effect.

Failure to comply with the Sarbanes-Oxley Act could impact our business.

There can be no assurance that the periodic evaluation of our internal controls required by the Sarbanes-Oxley Act will not result in the identification of significant control deficiencies or that our auditors will be able to attest to the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting. Failure to comply may have consequences on our business including, but not limited to, increased risks of financial statement misstatements, SEC sanctions and negative capital market reactions.

We are subject to certain risks related to litigation filed by or against us.

We cannot predict with certainty the cost of defense, the cost of prosecution or the ultimate outcome of litigation filed by or against us, including, remedies or damage awards. This litigation may include, but is not limited to, actions or negligence by franchisees outside of our control. We are not liable for the actions of our franchisees; however, there is no guarantee that we would be insulated from liability in all cases.

Disruption or malfunction in our information systems could adversely affect our business.

Our information technology system is vulnerable to damage or interruption from:

•

earthquakes, fires, floods and other natural disasters;

•

power losses, computer systems failures, internet and telecommunications or data network failures, operator negligence, improper operation by or supervision of employees, physical and electronic losses of data and similar events; and

•

computer viruses, penetration by individuals seeking to disrupt operations or misappropriate information and other breaches of security.

We rely on this system to perform functions critical to our ability to operate, including our central reservation systems. Accordingly, an extended interruption in the systems’ function could significantly curtail, directly and indirectly, our ability to conduct our business and generate revenue.

The weakening of our intellectual property could impact our business.

Our intellectual property is fundamental to our brands and our franchising business. We generate, maintain, license and enforce a substantial portfolio of trademarks and other intellectual property rights. We use our intellectual property rights to protect development activities, to protect our good name, to promote our brand name recognition, to enhance our competitiveness and to otherwise support our business goals and objectives. Our intellectual property rights, however, may be challenged, cancelled, invalidated or circumvented, or may fail to provide us with significant competitive advantages.

Failure to maintain the integrity of internal or customer data could result in faulty business decisions, damage of reputation and/or subject us to costs, fines or lawsuits.

Our business requires the collection and retention of large volumes of internal and customer data, including credit card numbers and other personally identifiable information of our customers as they are entered into, processed by, summarized by, and reported by our various information systems. We also maintain personally identifiable information about our employees. The integrity and protection of that customer, employee, and company data is critical to us. If that data is not accurate or complete we could make faulty decisions. Our customers also have a high expectation that we will adequately protect their personal information, and the regulatory environment surrounding information security and privacy is increasingly demanding, both in the U.S. and other international jurisdictions in which we operate. A significant theft, loss or fraudulent use of customer, employee or company data could adversely impact our reputation and could result in remedial and other expenses, fines and litigation.

Instability in the credit markets may impact the ability of our franchisees to expand or construct new locations.

One aspect of our growth strategy is the ability of our franchisees to expand or open new franchises and to operate those franchises on a profitable basis. Delays or failures in opening new locations could materially and adversely affect our planned growth. In recent months, the credit markets have experienced instability, resulting in declining real estate values, credit and liquidity concerns and increased loan default rates. Many lenders have subsequently reduced their willingness to make new loans and have tightened their credit requirements. Many of our franchisees depend on the availability of financing to expand existing locations or construct and open new hotels. If our franchisees experience difficulty in obtaining adequate financing for these purposes, our growth strategy and franchise revenues may be adversely affected.

Item 1B. Unre solved Staff Comments.

None.

Item 2. Pr operties.

Our principal executive offices are located at 10750 Columbia Pike, Silver Spring, MD 20901. The offices are leased from a third party. We own our reservation and property systems’ information technology office in Phoenix, AZ, and reservation centers in Minot, ND and Grand Junction, CO. We also lease office space in Phoenix, AZ, Bethesda, MD, Chevy Chase, MD, Australia, England, Canada, Germany, France and Mexico. Management believes that the Company’s existing properties are sufficient to meet its present needs and does not anticipate any difficulty in securing additional or alternative space, as needed, on terms acceptable to the Company.

We own three MainStay Suites hotels located in Brentwood, TN, Pittsburgh, PA and Greenville, SC.

Item 3. Legal Proceedings.

In April 2007, two federal securities law class actions were filed in the United States District Court for the District of Colorado on behalf of persons who purchased the Company’s stock between April 25, 2006, and July 26, 2006. These substantially-similar lawsuits assert claims pursuant to Sections 10(b) and 20(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, and Rule 10b-5 promulgated thereunder, against the Company, its current Vice Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, and its former Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. These claims are related to the Company’s July 25, 2006 announcement of its results of operations for the second quarter of 2006.

Since the initial filings, the Company has filed a motion to transfer the litigation from Colorado to the United States District Court for the District of Maryland. Additionally, one plaintiff has petitioned the Court to be named lead plaintiff in the dispute. At this time, the Company has not responded to the complaints filed and is not required to do so until after a lead plaintiff is appointed and a consolidated complaint is filed. The Company believes that the allegations contained within these class action lawsuits are without merit and intends to vigorously defend the litigation.

The Company’s management does not expect that the outcome of any of its currently ongoing legal proceedings individually or collectively, will have a material adverse effect on the Company’s financial condition, results of operations or cash flow.

Item 4. Sub mission of Matters to a Vote of Security Holders.

No matters were submitted to a vote of security holders during the fourth quarter of the year ended December 31, 2007.

EXECUTIVE OFFICERS OF CHOICE HOTELS INTERNATIONAL, INC.

The name, age, title, present principal occupation, business address and other material occupations, positions, offices and employment of each of the executive officers of the Company as of December 31, 2007 are set forth below. The business address of each executive officer is 10750 Columbia Pike, Silver Spring, Maryland 20901.


Name	Age	Position
Stewart Bainum, Jr.	61	Chairman of the Board of Directors
Charles A. Ledsinger, Jr.	58	Vice Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
David L. White	39	Senior Vice President , Chief Financial Officer & Treasurer
David E. Goldberg	40	Senior Vice President, Brand Solutions
Bruce N. Haase	47	Senior Vice President, Brand Operations & International
Thomas Mirgon	51	Senior Vice President, Human Resources and Administration
Janna Morrison	46	Senior Vice President, Community and Franchise Engagement
Scott E. Oaksmith	36	Controller
Patrick Pacious	41	Senior Vice President, Corporate Development and Strategy
David Pepper	40	Senior Vice President, Franchise Development & Emerging Brands
Gary Thomson	53	Senior Vice President, Chief Information Officer

Background of Executive Officers:

Stewart Bainum, Jr. Director from 1977 to 1996 and since 1997. Chairman of the Board of Choice Hotels from March 1987 to November 1996 and since October 1997; Chairman of the Board of Realty Investment Company, Inc. since December 2005; Chairman of the Board of Sunburst Hospitality Corporation since November 1996. He was a director of Manor Care, Inc. from September 1998 to September 2002, serving as Chairman from September 1998 until September 2001. From March 1987 to September 1998, he was Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Manor Care, Inc. He served as President of Manor Care of America, Inc. and Chief Executive Officer of ManorCare Health Services, Inc. from March 1987 to September 1998, and as Vice Chairman of Manor Care of America, Inc. from June 1982 to March 1987.

Charles A. Ledsinger, Jr. Vice Chairman, Chief Executive Officer and Director of the Company since September 2006. He was President, Chief Executive Officer and Director of the Company from August 1998 to September 2006. He was President and Chief Operating Officer of St. Joe Company from February 1998 to August 1998, Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of St. Joe Company from May 1997 to February 1998; Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Harrah’s Entertainment, Inc. from June 1995 to May 1997; and Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Promus Companies Incorporated from August 1990 to June 1995. He serves as a director of Darden Restaurants and FelCor Lodging Trust, Inc.

David L. White. Senior Vice President, Chief Financial Officer & Treasurer since December 2007. He was Chief Financial Officer & Treasurer from September 2006 to December 2007 and was Vice President, Finance & Controller of Choice from December 2002 to September 2006; Vice President, Financial/SEC Reporting from September 2002 to December 2002. He was Senior Manager, Ernst & Young, LLP from May 2002 to September 2002. He was employed by Arthur Andersen LLP as Senior Manager from May 1999 to May 2002, and manager from October 1998 to May 1999. He served as Assistant Controller for the energy marketing division of Statoil Energy, Inc. from May 1997 to September 1998.

David E. Goldberg. Senior Vice President, Brand Solutions since January 2007. He was Senior Vice President, Brand Value of Choice from December 2005 to January 2007 and was Senior Vice President, Corporate Strategy from January 2005 until December 2005. He was Vice President, Corporate and Brand Strategy and Treasurer from February 2004 until January 2005. He was Vice President, Strategy and Business Development from February 2002 to February 2004; Senior Director, Strategy and Business Development from January 2001 to February 2002; Director of Corporate Development from July 1999 to January 2001. He was Managing Associate with McManis Associates from January 1998 through July 1999 and a Consultant with Andersen Consulting from September 1994 through January 1998.

Bruce N. Haase. Senior Vice President, Brand Operations & International since July 2007. He was Senior Vice President and Division President, Select Market Brands from January 2007 to July 2007 and was Senior Vice President, International of the Company from October 2000 to January 2007. He was Vice President – Finance and Treasurer from April 2000 until October 2000. He was Vice President, Finance and Treasurer of The Ryland Group, Inc., in Columbia, Maryland, from August 1999 until March 2000 and Vice President and Treasurer from October 1995 until August 1999.

Thomas Mirgon. Senior Vice President, Human Resources and Administration since April 1998. He was Senior Vice President, Human Resources of the Company from March 1997 to April 1998 and of Choice’s predecessor company from March 1997 to October 1997; Vice President, Administration of Interim Services from August 1993 to February 1997; and employed by Taco Bell Corp. from January 1986 to August 1993, last serving as Senior Director, Field Human Resources from February 1992 to August 1993.

Janna Morrison. Senior Vice President, Community and Franchise Engagement since July 2007. She was Senior Vice President and Division President Mid-Market Brands from January 2007 to July 2007 and was Senior Vice President, Customer Care and Technology Services of Choice from December 2005 to January 2007. She was Senior Vice President, Franchise Services from November 2001 until December 2005. She was Vice President, Property Systems from 1998 to November 2001; Vice President, Revenue Management from 1995 to 1998.

Scott E. Oaksmith. Controller of the Company since September 2006. He was Assistant Controller of Choice from February 2004 to September 2006. He was Director, Marketing and Reservations, Finance from October 2002 until February 2004. Prior to joining the Company, he was employed by American Express Tax & Business Services, Inc. from January 1994 to October 2002, last serving as Senior Manager from October 2000 to October 2002.

Patrick Pacious. Senior Vice President, Corporate Development and Strategy since December 2007. He was Vice President, Corporate Development and Innovation from May 2006 to December 2007 and was Senior Director of Corporate Strategy from July 2005 to May 2006. Prior to joining the Company, he was employed by Bearingpoint Inc. as a Senior Manager from 2002 until 2005 and Arthur Andersen Business Consulting LLP as a Senior Manager from 1996 until 2002.

David Pepper. Senior Vice President, Franchise Development & Emerging Brands since July 2007. He was Senior Vice President and Division President Cambria Suites and Extended Stay Market Brands from January 2007 to July 2007 and was Senior Vice President, Franchise Growth and Performance of Choice from December 2005 until January 2007. He was Senior Vice President, Development of Choice from January 2005 until December 2005. He was Vice President, Franchise Sales from June 2002 until January 2005. He was Vice President, Franchise Sales with USFS in Atlanta, Georgia from 1996 through June 2002.

Gary Thomson. Senior Vice President, Chief Information Officer of Choice since August 2000. He was Vice President – Information Systems Technologies from November 1993 until August 2000.

PART II

Item 5. Market for Reg istrant’s Common Equity, Related Stockholder Matters and Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities.

The shares of the Company’s common stock are listed and traded on the New York Stock Exchange. The following table sets forth information on the high and low prices of the Company’s common stock and cash dividends declared per share for each quarterly period for the two most recently completed years.

QUARTERLY MARKET PRICE RANGE OF COMMON STOCK AND CASH DIVIDENDS DECLARED


	Market Price Per Share				Cash Dividends Declared Per Share
Quarters Ended	High		Low		Cash Dividends Declared Per Share
2006
March 31,	$	49.15	$	40.77	$	0.13
June 30,		61.38		44.90		0.13
September 30,		61.75		35.26		0.15
December 31,		47.57		39.50		0.15
2007
March 31,	$	44.43	$	35.02	$	0.15
June 30,		42.03		34.66		0.15
September 30,		43.95		33.72		0.17
December 31,		43.00		33.05		0.17

The Company currently maintains the payment of a quarterly dividend on its common shares outstanding, however, the declaration of future dividends are subject to the discretion of the board of directors. We expect that cash dividends will continue to be paid at a comparable or increased rate in the future, subject to future business performance.

As of February 15, 2008, there were 2,004 holders of record of the Company’s common stock.

ISSUER PURCHASES OF EQUITY SECURITIES

The following table sets forth purchases of Choice Hotels International, Inc. common stock made by the Company during the twelve months ended December 31, 2007.


Month Ending	Total Number of Shares Purchased	Average Price Paid per Share		Total Number of Shares Purchased as Part of Publicly Announced Plans or Programs^(1),(2)	Maximum Number of Shares that may yet be Purchased Under the Plans or Programs, End of Period
January 31, 2007	813	$	42.17	—	5,102,701
February 28, 2007	211,534		38.84	183,368	4,919,333
March 31, 2007	288,730		37.24	288,730	4,630,603
April 30, 2007	—		—	—	4,630,603
May 31, 2007	429,586		37.90	427,808	4,202,795
June 30, 2007	302,370		39.88	301,988	3,900,807
July 31, 2007	723,816		39.72	723,625	3,177,182
August 31, 2007	2,097,484		36.70	2,093,332	1,083,850
September 30, 2007	98,920		37.08	96,816	3,987,034	⁽³⁾
October 31, 2007	10,641		39.36	—	3,987,034
November 30, 2007	462,455		36.56	462,455	3,524,579
December 31, 2007	333,029		35.62	332,202	3,192,377

Total	4,959,378	$	37.49	4,910,324	3,192,377

⁽¹⁾

The Company’s share repurchase program was initially approved by the board of directors on June 25, 1998.

⁽²⁾

During the year ended December 31, 2007, the Company purchased 49,054 shares of common stock from employees to satisfy minimum tax-withholding requirements related to the vesting of restricted stock grants. These purchases were not part of the board repurchase authorization.

⁽³⁾

In September 2007, the Company’s board of directors authorized an increase under the Company’s existing stock repurchase program to acquire up to an additional three million shares of its outstanding common stock.

Item 6. Selec ted Financial Data.

Company results (in millions, except per share data)


	As of and for the year ended December 31,
	2003		2004		2005		2006		2007
Total Revenues	$	380.4	$	423.4	$	472.1	$	539.9	$	615.5
Net Income		71.9		74.3		87.6		112.8		111.3
Basic Earnings per Share⁽¹⁾		1.01		1.12		1.36		1.72		1.73
Diluted Earnings per Share⁽¹⁾		0.98		1.08		1.32		1.68		1.70
Total Assets		267.3		263.4		265.3		303.3		328.4
Long-Term Debt		246.7		328.7		274.1		172.5		272.4
Cash Dividends Declared Per Common Share⁽¹⁾		0.10		0.425		0.485		0.56		0.64

⁽¹⁾

Per share amounts have been retroactively adjusted for a two-for-one stock split effected in the form of a stock dividend distributed on October 21, 2005 to shareholders of record on October 7, 2005.

Matters that affect the comparability of our annual results are as follows:

•

Net income in 2003 included a $3.4 million ($0.05 per share) gain on the prepayment of a note receivable from Sunburst. As a result of this prepayment, interest income earned on this note receivable totaling approximately $4.5 million per annum will not be received in future years.

•

Net income in 2004 included a $0.7 million loss on extinguishment of debt related to the refinancing of the Company’s senior credit facility. In addition, results reflect a reduction of income tax expense related to the resolution of certain tax contingencies of approximately $1.2 million. Those items represent an increase in diluted EPS of $0.01, net.

•

Net income in 2005 included additional income tax expense of approximately $1.2 million related to the Company’s repatriation of foreign earnings pursuant to the American Jobs Creation Act and a reduction of income tax expense related to the resolution of certain tax contingencies of approximately $4.9 million. Those items represent an increase in diluted EPS of $0.06, net.

•

Net income in 2006 included a $0.3 million loss on extinguishment of debt related to the refinancing of the Company’s senior credit facility and a reduction of income tax expense related to the resolution of certain tax contingencies of approximately $12.8 million. In addition, the Company’s adoption of SFAS No. 123R reduced net income by approximately $0.3 million. Those items represent an increase in diluted EPS of $0.18, net.

•

Net income in 2007 included termination benefit expense totaling $3.7 million resulting from the termination of certain executive officers. This represented a decline in diluted EPS of $0.04.

Item 7. M anagement’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operation.

The following Management’s Discussion and Analysis (“MD&A”) is intended to help the reader understand Choice Hotels International, Inc. and subsidiaries. MD&A is provided as a supplement to – and should be read in conjunction with – our consolidated financial statements and the accompanying notes.

Overview

We are a hotel franchisor with franchise agreements representing 5,570 hotels open and 1,093 hotels under development as of December 31, 2007, with 452,027 rooms and 87,982 rooms, respectively, in 49 states, the District of Columbia and 39 countries and territories outside the United States. Our brand names include Comfort Inn, Comfort Suites, Quality, Clarion, Sleep Inn, Econo Lodge, Rodeway Inn, MainStay Suites, Suburban Extended Stay Hotel, Cambria Suites and Flag Hotels.

During 2006, the Company acquired 100% of the stock of Choice Hotels Franchise GmbH (“CHG”). CHG was a wholly owned subsidiary of one of the Company’s master franchisees, The Real Hotel Company PLC (“RHC”), formerly known as CHE Hotel Group PLC. Under the master franchise agreement with RHC, CHG franchised hotels under the Company’s brands in Austria, Germany, Italy, Czech Republic and portions of Switzerland. As a result of this acquisition, the master franchise agreement between the Company and RHC covering these countries terminated. The results of CHG have been consolidated with the Company since October 30, 2006.

During 2006, the Company acquired RHC’s assets, including franchise contracts, related to its franchising of hotels under the Company’s brands in France, Belgium, Portugal, Spain and portions of Switzerland. As a result of this acquisition, the master franchise agreement between the Company and RHC covering these countries terminated and the Company commenced direct franchising operations in these countries on November 30, 2006.

These transactions enable Choice to continue its strategy of more closely directing the growth of our franchise operations throughout continental Europe.

During 2005, the Company acquired 100% of the stock of Suburban Franchise Holding Company, Inc. (“Suburban”) and its wholly owned subsidiary, Suburban Franchise Systems, Inc. Suburban is the franchisor of Suburban Extended Stay Hotels operating in the economy extended stay segment primarily in the southeastern United States. The acquisition allowed the Company to enter, on an accelerated basis, the economy extended stay segment, a market in which it did not previously compete. The results of Suburban have been consolidated with the Company since September 28, 2005.

On September 14, 2005, the Company’s board of directors declared a two-for one stock split effected in the form of a stock dividend. The stock dividend was distributed on October 21, 2005 to shareholders of record on October 7, 2005. Share data and earnings per share data included in MD&A reflect the stock split, applied retroactively, to all periods presented.

Our Company generates revenues, income and cash flows primarily from initial and continuing royalty fees attributable to our franchise agreements. Revenues are also generated from brand solutions endorsed vendor arrangements, hotel operations and other sources. The hotel industry is seasonal in nature. For most hotels, demand is lower in December through March than during the remainder of the year. Our principal source of revenues is franchise fees based on the gross room revenues of our franchised properties. The Company’s franchise fee revenues and operating income reflect the industry’s seasonality and historically have been lower in the first quarter than in the second, third or fourth quarters.

With a focus on hotel franchising instead of ownership, we benefit from the economies of scale inherent in the franchising business. The fee and cost structure of our business provides opportunities to improve operating results by increasing the number of franchised hotel rooms and effective royalty rates of our franchise contracts resulting in increased initial fee revenue; ongoing royalty fees and brand solutions revenues. In addition, our operating results can also be improved through our company wide efforts related to improving property level performance. At December 31, 2007, the Company estimates that based on its current domestic portfolio of hotels under franchise that a 1% change in RevPAR or rooms under franchise would increase or decrease royalty revenues by $2.4 million and a 1 basis point change in the Company’s effective royalty rate would increase or decrease domestic royalties by $0.5 million. In addition to these revenues, we also collect marketing and reservation fees to support centralized marketing and reservation activities for the franchise system. As a lodging franchisor, Choice has relatively low capital expenditure requirements.

The principal factors that affect the Company’s results are: the number and relative mix of franchised hotel rooms; growth in the number of hotel rooms under franchise; occupancy and room rates achieved by the hotels under franchise; the effective royalty rate achieved; and our ability to manage costs. The number of rooms at franchised properties and occupancy and room rates at those properties significantly affect the Company’s results because our fees are based upon room revenues at franchised hotels. The key industry standard for measuring hotel-operating performance is revenue per available room (“RevPAR”), which is calculated by multiplying the percentage of occupied rooms by the average daily room rate realized. Our variable overhead costs associated with franchise system growth have historically been less than incremental royalty fees generated from new franchises. Accordingly, continued growth of our franchise business should enable us to realize benefits from the operating leverage in place and improve operating results.

We are contractually required by our franchise agreements to use the marketing and reservation fees we collect for system-wide marketing and reservation activities. These expenditures, which include advertising costs and costs to maintain our central reservations system, help to enhance awareness and increase consumer preference for our brands. Greater awareness and preference promotes long-term growth in business delivery to our franchisees, which ultimately increases franchise fees earned by the Company.

Our Company articulates its mission as a commitment to our customers’ profitability by providing our customers with hotel franchises that generate the highest return on investment of any hotel franchise. We have developed an operating system dedicated to our franchisees’ success that focuses on delivering guests to our franchised hotels and reducing costs for our hotel owners. We strive every day to continuously improve our franchise offerings to enhance our customers’ profitability and create the highest return on investment of any hotel franchise.

We believe that executing our strategic priorities creates value. Our Company focuses on two key value drivers:

Profitable Growth. Our success is dependent on improving the performance of our hotels, increasing our system size by selling additional hotel franchises and effective royalty rate improvement. We attempt to improve our franchisees’ revenues and overall profitability by providing a variety of products and services designed to increase business delivery to and/or reduce operating and development costs for our franchisees. These products and services include national marketing campaigns, a central reservation system, property and yield management systems, quality assurance standards and endorsed vendor relationships. We believe that healthy brands, which deliver a compelling return on investment for franchisees, will enable us to sell additional hotel franchises and raise royalty rates. We have established multiple brands that meet the needs of many types of guests, and can be developed at various price points and applied to both new and existing hotels. This ensures that we have brands suitable for creating growth in a variety of market conditions. Improving the performance of the hotels under franchise, growing the system through additional franchise sales and improving franchise agreement pricing while maintaining a disciplined cost structure are the keys to profitable growth.

Maximizing Financial Returns and Creating Value for Shareholders. Our capital allocation decisions, including capital structure and uses of capital, are intended to maximize our return on invested capital and create value for our shareholders. We believe our strong and predictable cash flows create a strong financial position that provides us a competitive advantage. Currently, our business does not require significant capital to operate and grow, therefore, we can maintain a capital structure that generates high financial returns and use our excess cash flow to increase returns to our shareholders. We have returned value to our shareholders in two primary ways: share repurchases and dividends. In 1998, we instituted a share repurchase program which has generated substantial value for our shareholders. Through December 31, 2007, we have repurchased 38.6 million shares (including 33.0 million prior to the two-for-one stock split effected in October 2005) of common stock at a total cost of $895.9 million since the program’s inception. Considering the effect of the two-for-one stock split, the Company has repurchased 71.5 million shares at an average price of $12.52 per share through December 31, 2007. In September 2007, the Company’s board of directors authorized an increase under the Company’s existing stock repurchase program to acquire up to an additional three million shares of its outstanding common stock. At December 31, 2007, the Company had 3.2 million shares remaining under the current authorization of the board of directors. The Company expects to continue to return value to its shareholders through a combination of dividends and share repurchases, subject to market and other conditions and upon completion of the current authorization our board of directors will evaluate the propriety of additional share repurchases. In 2007, we paid cash dividends totaling approximately $40.1 million and we presently expect to continue to pay dividends in the future. Based on our present dividend rate and outstanding share count, aggregate annual dividends for 2008 would be approximately $42.0 million.

We believe these value drivers, when properly implemented, will enhance our profitability, maximize our financial returns and continue to generate value for our shareholders. The ultimate measure of our success will be reflected in the items below.

Results of Operation: Royalty fees, operating income, net income and diluted earnings per share (“EPS”) represent key measurements of these value drivers. In 2007, royalty fees revenue totaled approximately $236.3 million, a 12% increase compared to 2006. Operating income totaled $185.2 million for the year ended December 31, 2007, an 11% increase from 2006. Net income for the year ended December 31, 2007 declined $1.5 million from 2006 to $111.3 million. However, diluted earnings per share were $1.70, a $0.02 improvement over 2006. Net income and EPS for 2006 included a reduction of income tax expense related to the resolution of provisions for certain income tax contingencies of approximately $12.8 million and a loss on extinguishment of debt of approximately $0.3 million ($0.2 million, net of the related tax effect) related to the refinancing of the Company’s senior credit facility. Those items represent diluted EPS of $0.19, net for the year ended December 31, 2006. These measurements will continue to be a key management focus in 2008 and beyond.

Refer to MD&A heading “Operations Review” for additional analysis of our results.

Liquidity and Capital Resources: Historically, the Company has generated significant cash flows from operations. In 2007 and 2006, net cash provided by operating activities was $146.1 million and $153.9 million, respectively. Since our business does not currently require significant reinvestment of capital, we utilize cash in ways that management believes provide the greatest returns to our shareholders which include share repurchases and dividends. We believe the Company’s cash flow from operations and available financing capacity are sufficient to meet the expected future operating, investing and financing needs of the business.

Refer to MD&A heading “Liquidity and Capital Resources” for additional analysis.

Operations Review

Comparison of 2007 Operating Results and 2006 Operating Results

The Company recorded net income of $111.3 million for the year ended December 31, 2007, a $1.5 million or 1% decline from the $112.8 million for the year ended December 31, 2006. The decrease in net income is

primarily attributable to the resolution of income tax contingencies totaling $12.8 million during 2006 resulting in an effective income tax rate of 27.4% in 2006 compared to 36.0% for 2007. The increase in the effective income tax rate was partially offset by an $18.6 million or 11% increase in operating income. Operating income increased as a result of a $31.8 million, or 12% increase in franchising revenues (total revenues excluding marketing and reservation revenues and hotel operations) partially offset by a $14.5 million or 17% increase in selling, general and administrative expense. The increase in selling, general and administration expenses was partially due to the commencement of direct franchising operations in continental Europe and termination benefit expenses incurred related to the termination of certain executive officers.

Summarized financial results for the years ended December 31, 2007 and 2006 are as follows:


	2007			2006
	(In thousands, except per share amounts)
REVENUES:
Royalty fees	$	236,346		$	211,645
Initial franchise and relicensing fees		33,389			29,629
Brand solutions		16,283			13,945
Marketing and reservation		316,827			273,267
Hotel operations		4,692			4,505
Other		7,957			6,912

Total revenues		615,494			539,903

OPERATING EXPENSES:
Selling, general and administrative		101,590			87,112
Depreciation and amortization		8,637			9,705
Marketing and reservation		316,827			273,267
Hotel operations		3,241			3,194

Total operating expenses		430,295			373,278

Operating income		185,199			166,625

OTHER INCOME AND EXPENSES:
Interest expense		14,293			14,098
Interest and other investment income		(1,750	)		(2,041	)
Equity in net income of affiliates		(1,230	)		(1,052	)
Loss on extinguishment of debt		—			342

Other income and expenses, net		11,313			11,347

Income before income taxes		173,886			155,278
Income taxes		62,585			42,491

Net income	$	111,301		$	112,787

Weighted average shares outstanding-diluted		65,331			67,050

Diluted earnings per share	$	1.70		$	1.68

Management analyzes its business based on franchising revenues, which is total revenues excluding marketing and reservation revenues and hotel operations, and franchise operating expenses that are reflected as selling, general and administrative expenses.

Franchising Revenues: Franchising revenues were $294.0 million for the year ended December 31, 2007 compared to $262.1 million for the year ended December 31, 2006. The growth in franchising revenues is primarily due to increases in royalty revenues and initial and relicensing fees, brand solutions and other revenues of approximately 12%, 13%, 17% and 15%, respectively.

Domestic royalty fees increased $18.6 million to $214.1 million from $195.5 million in 2006, an increase of 10%. The increase in royalties is attributable to a combination of factors including a 4.3% increase in the number of domestic franchised hotel rooms, a 4.0% increase in RevPAR and an increase in the effective royalty rate of the domestic hotel system to 4.14% from 4.09%. System-wide RevPAR increases resulted primarily from an average daily rate (“ADR”) increase of 4.9% from the prior year.

A summary of the Company’s domestic franchised hotels operating information for the years ending December 31 is as follows:


	2007						2006						Change
	Average Daily Rate		Occupancy		RevPAR		Average Daily Rate		Occupancy		RevPAR		Average Daily Rate		Occupancy	RevPAR
Comfort Inn	$	77.14	63.1	%	$	48.70	$	73.08	63.0	%	$	46.06	5.6	%	10 bps	5.7	%
Comfort Suites		87.23	65.5	%		57.11		82.93	67.0	%		55.59	5.2	%	(150) bps	2.7	%
Sleep		69.67	62.5	%		43.52		66.44	62.4	%		41.43	4.9	%	10 bps	5.0	%

Midscale without Food & Beverage		78.23	63.5	%		49.70		74.18	63.7	%		47.26	5.5	%	(20) bps	5.2	%

Quality		70.30	54.2	%		38.09		66.89	55.3	%		37.01	5.1	%	(110) bps	2.9	%
Clarion		80.86	51.7	%		41.79		78.98	51.2	%		40.41	2.4	%	50 bps	3.4	%

Midscale with Food & Beverage		72.74	53.6	%		38.97		69.76	54.3	%		37.87	4.3	%	(70) bps	2.9	%

Econo Lodge		54.40	48.0	%		26.10		53.09	47.7	%		25.31	2.5	%	30 bps	3.1	%
Rodeway		53.24	47.6	%		25.32		51.66	45.8	%		23.66	3.1	%	180 bps	7.0	%

Economy		54.14	47.9	%		25.93		52.83	47.3	%		24.99	2.5	%	60 bps	3.8	%

MainStay		70.04	68.5	%		47.98		67.26	69.4	%		46.66	4.1	%	(90) bps	2.8	%
Suburban		40.13	67.3	%		27.01		38.30	72.4	%		27.73	4.8	%	(510) bps	(2.6	)%

Extended Stay		47.10	67.6	%		31.83		43.81	71.8	%		31.46	7.5	%	(420) bps	1.2	%

Total	$	72.07	57.9	%	$	41.75	$	68.71	58.4	%	$	40.13	4.9	%	(50) bps	4.0	%

The number of domestic rooms on-line increased to 354,139 as of December 31, 2007 from 339,441 as of December 31, 2006, an increase of 4.3%. The total number of domestic hotels on-line grew 5.6% to 4,445 as of December 31, 2007 from 4,211 as of December 31, 2006. A summary of the domestic hotels and available rooms at December 31, 2007 and December 31, 2006 by brand is as follows:


	December 31, 2007		December 31, 2006		Variance
	Hotels	Rooms	Hotels	Rooms	Hotels		%		Rooms		%
Comfort Inn	1,434	112,042	1,415	110,877	19		1.3	%	1,165		1.1	%
Comfort Suites	481	37,358	433	33,976	48		11.1	%	3,382		10.0	%
Sleep	346	25,728	327	24,575	19		5.8	%	1,153		4.7	%

Midscale without Food & Beverage	2,261	175,128	2,175	169,428	86		4.0	%	5,700		3.4	%

Quality	828	79,276	736	72,054	92		12.5	%	7,222		10.0	%
Clarion	167	23,319	162	23,945	5		3.1	%	(626	)	(2.6	)%

Midscale with Food & Beverage	995	102,595	898	95,999	97		10.8	%	6,596		6.9	%

Econo Lodge	825	50,403	816	49,679	9		1.1	%	724		1.5	%
Rodeway	276	16,523	233	14,168	43		18.5	%	2,355		16.6	%

Economy	1,101	66,926	1,049	63,847	52		5.0	%	3,079		4.8	%

MainStay	30	2,258	29	2,183	1		3.4	%	75		3.4	%
Suburban	54	6,773	60	7,984	(6	)	(10.0	)%	(1,211	)	(15.2	)%

Extended Stay	84	9,031	89	10,167	(5	)	(5.6	)%	(1,136	)	(11.2	)%

Cambria Suites	4	459	—	—	4		NM		459		NM

Total Domestic Franchises	4,445	354,139	4,211	339,441	234		5.6	%	14,698		4.3	%

International available rooms declined to 97,888 as of December 31, 2007 from 97,944 as of December 31, 2006. The total number of international hotels on-line declined from 1,165 as of December 31, 2006 to 1,125 as of December 31, 2007.

As of December 31, 2007, the Company had 1,004 franchised hotels with 79,342 rooms under construction, awaiting conversion or approved for development in its domestic system as compared to 860 hotels and 66,238 rooms at December 31, 2006. The number of new construction franchised hotels in the Company’s domestic pipeline increased 21% to 728 at December 31, 2007 from 602 at December 31, 2006. The Company had an additional 89 franchised hotels with 8,640 rooms under development in its international system as of December 31, 2007 compared to 70 hotels and 6,317 rooms at December 31, 2006. While the Company’s hotel pipeline provides a strong platform for growth, a hotel in the pipeline does not always result in an open and operating hotel due to various factors.

A summary of the domestic franchised hotels under construction, awaiting conversion or approved for development at December 31, 2007 and December 31, 2006 by brand is as follows:


	December 31, 2007			December 31, 2006			Variance
	Conversion	New Construction	Total	Conversion	New Construction	Total	Conversion				New Construction				Total
	Conversion	New Construction	Total	Conversion	New Construction	Total	Units		%		Units		%		Units	%
Comfort Inn	54	135	189	56	124	180	(2	)	(4	)%	11		9	%	9	5	%
Comfort Suites	1	278	279	3	233	236	(2	)	(67	)%	45		19	%	43	18	%
Sleep	—	138	138	—	123	123	—		NM		15		12	%	15	12	%

Midscale without Food & Beverage	55	551	606	59	480	539	(4	)	(7	)%	71		15	%	67	12	%

Quality	71	15	86	76	10	86	(5	)	(7	)%	5		50	%	—	—
Clarion	30	7	37	11	4	15	19		173	%	3		75	%	22	147	%

Midscale with Food & Beverage	101	22	123	87	14	101	14		16	%	8		57	%	22	22	%

Econo Lodge	46	3	49	41	5	46	5		12	%	(2	)	(40	)%	3	7	%
Rodeway	68	3	71	66	3	69	2		3	%	—		—		2	3	%

Economy	114	6	120	107	8	115	7		7	%	(2	)	(25	)%	5	4	%

MainStay	2	46	48	—	33	33	2		NM		13		39	%	15	45	%
Suburban	4	40	44	5	24	29	(1	)	(20	)%	16		67	%	15	52	%

Extended Stay	6	86	92	5	57	62	1		20	%	29		51	%	30	48	%

Cambria Suites	—	63	63	—	43	43	—		NM		20		47	%	20	47	%

	276	728	1,004	258	602	860	18		7	%	126		21	%	144	17	%

Net domestic franchise additions during 2007 increased 71 units to 234 compared to 163 for the same period a year ago. Gross domestic franchise additions increased from 381 for 2006 to 435 for 2007. Net franchise terminations declined to 201 for 2007 from 218 in 2006. During 2007, the Company has continued to execute its strategy to replace franchised hotels that do not meet our brand standards or are underperforming in their market. As the competition gets stronger and more focused on limited service franchising, the Company will continue to focus on improving its system hotels and utilizing the domestic hotels under development as a strong platform for continued system growth.

International royalties increased $6.0 million or 37% from $16.2 million in 2006 to $22.2 million in 2007 primarily due to the commencement of direct franchising operations in continental Europe which contributed $3.3 million of additional royalties.

New domestic franchise agreements executed during 2007 totaled 770 representing 61,778 rooms compared to 720 agreements representing 57,365 rooms executed in the same period in 2006. During 2007, 327 of the executed agreements were for new construction hotel franchises, representing 26,029 rooms, compared to 288 contracts, representing 22,035 rooms for 2006. Conversion hotel franchise executed contracts totaled 443 representing 35,749 rooms for the year ended December 31, 2007 compared to 432 agreements representing 35,330 rooms for the year ended December 31, 2006. Domestic initial fee revenue, included in the initial franchise and relicensing fees caption above, generated from executed franchise agreements increased 17% to $21.0 million for 2007 from $17.9 million for 2006. The increased revenues primarily reflect an increase in executed agreements and higher average initial fees than the prior year.

A summary of executed domestic franchise agreements by brand for 2007 and 2006 is as follows:


	2007			2006			% Change
	New Construction	Conversion	Total	New Construction	Conversion	Total	New Construction		Conversion		Total
Comfort Inn	48	62	110	67	65	132	(28	)%	(5	)%	(17	)%
Comfort Suites	114	4	118	98	3	101	16	%	33	%	17	%
Sleep	71	1	72	58	1	59	22	%	0	%	22	%

Midscale without Food & Beverage	233	67	300	223	69	292	4	%	(3	)%	3	%

Quality	11	153	164	6	143	149	83	%	7	%	10	%
Clarion	6	42	48	2	26	28	200	%	62	%	71	%

Midscale with Food & Beverage	17	195	212	8	169	177	113	%	15	%	20	%

Econo Lodge	3	77	80	1	80	81	200	%	(4	)%	(1	)%
Rodeway	2	99	101	3	105	108	(33	)%	(6	)%	(6	)%

Economy	5	176	181	4	185	189	25	%	(5	)%	(4	)%

MainStay	22	2	24	9	1	10	144	%	100	%	140	%
Suburban	21	3	24	14	8	22	50	%	(63	)%	9	%

Extended Stay	43	5	48	23	9	32	87	%	(44	)%	50	%

Cambria Suites	29	—	29	30	—	30	(3	)%	NM		(3	)%

Total Domestic System	327	443	770	288	432	720	14	%	3	%	7	%

Relicensing fees are charged to the new property owner of a franchised property whenever an ownership change occurs and the property remains in the franchise system. During the year ended December 31, 2007, relicensings increased 7% to 403 from 378 in 2006. The increase in relicensing contracts resulted in an increase of fees of approximately 6% to $12.4 million for the year ended December 31, 2007 from $11.7 million for the same period of 2006.

Brand solutions revenue increased $2.3 million or 17% to $16.3 million primarily resulting from increased vendor sponsorships of our annual franchisee convention.

Other income increased $1.0 million to $8.0 million for the year ended December 31, 2007 primarily due to an increase in liquidated damage collections related to the early termination of franchise agreements.

Selling, General and Administrative Expenses: The cost to operate the franchising business is reflected in selling, general and administrative expenses. Selling, general and administrative (“SG&A”) expenses were $101.6 million for 2007, an increase of $14.5 million from the 2006 total of $87.1 million. As a percentage of revenues, excluding marketing and reservation fees and hotel operations, total SG&A expenses were 34.6% for 2007 compared to 33.2% for 2006. Expenses as a percentage of franchise revenues increased primarily due to an additional $3.3 million in expenses related to the commencement of direct franchising operations in continental Europe and $3.7 million in termination benefits related to the termination of certain executive officers.

Depreciation and Amortization: Expenses declined $1.1 million to $8.6 million for 2007 due to the 2006 acceleration of depreciation resulting from the renovation and replacement of furniture, fixtures and equipment at two of the Company-owned Mainstay Suites.

Marketing and Reservations: The Company’s franchise agreements require the payment of franchise fees, which include marketing and reservation fees. The fees, which are based on a percentage of the franchisees’ gross room revenues, are used exclusively by the Company for expenses associated with providing franchise services such as central reservation systems, national marketing and media advertising. The Company is contractually obligated to expend the marketing and reservation fees it collects from franchisees in accordance with the franchise agreements; as such, no income or loss to the Company is generated.

Total marketing and reservations revenues were $316.8 million and $273.3 million for 2007 and 2006, respectively. Depreciation and amortization attributable to marketing and reservation activities was $8.3 million and $7.9 million for the years ended December 31, 2007 and 2006, respectively. Interest expense attributable to reservation activities was $0.5 million and $0.9 million for 2007 and 2006, respectively. Marketing and reservation activities provided positive cash flow of $12.0 million and $19.0 million for the years ended December 31, 2007 and 2006, respectively. As of December 31, 2007 and 2006, the Company’s balance sheet includes a receivable of $6.8 million and $6.7 million, respectively resulting from cumulative marketing expenses incurred in excess of cumulative marketing fee revenues earned. These receivables are recorded as an asset in the financial statements as the Company has the contractual authority to require that the franchisees in the system at any given point repay the Company for any deficits related to marketing and reservations activities. The Company’s current franchisees are legally obligated to pay any assessment the Company imposes on its franchisees to obtain reimbursement of such deficit regardless of whether those constituents continue to generate gross room revenue. The Company has no present intention to accelerate repayment of the deficit from current franchisees. A payable has been recorded in the Company’s balance sheet within other long-term liabilities related to cumulative reservation fee revenues received in excess of reservation fee expenses incurred totaling $11.9 million and $8.4 million at December 31, 2007 and 2006, respectively. Cumulative reservation and marketing fees not expended are recorded as a payable in the financial statements and are carried over to the next fiscal year and expended in accordance with the franchise agreements.

Other Income and Expenses, Net: Other income and expenses, net, were $11.3 million for both 2007 and 2006. Interest expense increased slightly from $14.1 million for the year ended December 31, 2006 to $14.3 million due to higher average outstanding borrowings during the year. The Company’s weighted average interest rate declined from 6.6% as of December 31, 2006 to 6.0% as of December 31, 2007. Interest and other investment income declined from $2.0 million in 2006 to $1.8 million primarily due to a decline in the fair value of investments held in non-qualified employee benefit plans. Other income and expenses, net for the year ended December 31, 2006 include a loss on extinguishment of debt of $0.3 million attributable to the refinancing of our senior credit facility.

Income Taxes: The Company’s effective income tax provision rate was 36.0% for 2007, compared to an effective income tax provision rate of 27.4% for 2006. The effective income tax rate increased primarily due to the prior year resolution of provisions for income tax contingencies totaling approximately $12.8 million compared to $0.3 million during 2007. Depending upon the outcome of certain income tax contingencies up to an additional $1.6 million of additional tax benefits may be reflected in our 2008 results of operations from the resolution of tax contingency reserves.

Net income for 2007 decreased by 1% to $111.3 million, and diluted earnings per share increased 1% to $1.70 for 2007 from $1.68 reported for 2006.

Comparison of 2006 Operating Results and 2005 Operating Results

The Company recorded net income of $112.8 million for the year ended December 31, 2006, an increase of $25.2 million, or 29% from $87.6 million for the year ended December 31, 2005. The increase in net income for the year is primarily attributable to a $22.9 million improvement in operating income and a decline in the effective income tax rate from 33.0% to 27.4%. The effective income tax rate declined primarily due to the resolution of tax contingencies of approximately $12.8 million in 2006 compared to $4.9 million in 2005 as well as an additional $1.2 million of income tax expense in 2005 related to the Company’s repatriation of foreign earnings. Operating income increased as a result of a $32.1 million, or 14% increase in franchising revenues (total revenues excluding marketing and reservation revenues and hotel operations) primarily offset by an $8.9 million or 11% increase in selling, general and administrative expense.

Summarized financial results for the years ended December 31, 2006 and 2005 are as follows:


	2006			2005
	(In thousands, except per share amounts)
REVENUES:
Royalty fees	$	211,645		$	187,340
Initial franchise and relicensing fees		29,629			25,388
Brand solutions		13,945			13,382
Marketing and reservation		273,267			237,822
Hotel operations		4,505			4,293
Other		6,912			3,873

Total revenues		539,903			472,098

OPERATING EXPENSES:
Selling, general and administrative		87,112			78,250
Depreciation and amortization		9,705			9,051
Marketing and reservation		273,267			237,822
Hotel operations		3,194			3,225

Total operating expenses		373,278			328,348

Operating income		166,625			143,750

OTHER INCOME AND EXPENSES:
Interest expense		14,098			15,325
Interest and other investment income		(2,041	)		(1,094	)
Equity in net income of affiliates		(1,052	)		(803	)
Loss on extinguishment of debt		342			—
Other		—			(420	)

Other income and expenses, net		11,347			13,008

Income before income taxes		155,278			130,742
Income taxes		42,491			43,177

Net income	$	112,787		$	87,565

Weighted average shares outstanding-diluted		67,050			66,336

Diluted earnings per share	$	1.68		$	1.32

Franchising Revenues: Franchising revenues were $262.1 million for the year ended December 31, 2006 compared to $230.0 million for the year ended December 31, 2005. The growth in franchising revenues is primarily due to increases in royalty revenues and initial and relicensing fees and other revenues of approximately 13%, 17% and 78%, respectively.

Domestic royalty fees increased $19.1 million to $195.5 million from $176.4 million in 2005, an increase of 10.8%. Excluding the franchises obtained in the September 28, 2005 acquisition of Suburban, the increase in royalties is attributable to a combination of factors including a 3.3% increase in the number of domestic franchised hotel rooms, a 6.1% increase in RevPAR and an increase in the effective royalty rate of the domestic hotel system to 4.10% from 4.08%. System-wide RevPAR increases resulted primarily from an average daily rate (“ADR”) increase of 5.2% from the prior year. The acquisition of Suburban contributed approximately $3.0 million of royalty fees for the twelve months ending December 31, 2006 compared to $0.7 million for the year ended December 31, 2005.

A summary of the Company’s domestic franchised hotels operating information is as follows:


	2006						2005						Change
	Average Daily Rate		Occupancy		RevPAR		Average Daily Rate		Occupancy		RevPAR		Average Daily Rate		Occupancy	RevPAR
Comfort Inn	$	73.08	63.0	%	$	46.06	$	68.84	61.7	%	$	42.45	6.2	%	130 bps	8.5	%
Comfort Suites		82.93	67.0	%		55.59		77.51	66.3	%		51.36	7.0	%	70 bps	8.2	%
Sleep		66.44	62.4	%		41.43		62.52	61.0	%		38.16	6.3	%	140 bps	8.6	%

Midscale without Food & Beverage		74.18	63.7	%		47.26		69.68	62.4	%		43.51	6.5	%	130 bps	8.6	%

Quality		66.89	55.3	%		37.01		64.86	54.6	%		35.41	3.1	%	70 bps	4.5	%
Clarion		78.98	51.2	%		40.41		74.62	52.5	%		39.15	5.8	%	(130)bps	3.2	%

Midscale with Food & Beverage		69.76	54.3	%		37.87		67.41	54.0	%		36.41	3.5	%	30 bps	4.0	%

Econo Lodge		53.09	47.7	%		25.31		50.95	48.2	%		24.56	4.2	%	(50)bps	3.1	%
Rodeway		51.66	45.8	%		23.66		49.91	46.7	%		23.31	3.5	%	(90)bps	1.5	%

Economy		52.83	47.3	%		24.99		50.78	48.0	%		24.35	4.0	%	(70)bps	2.6	%

MainStay		67.26	69.4	%		46.66		64.76	65.7	%		42.54	3.9	%	370 bps	9.7	%

Total Domestic System*	$	69.71	58.0	%	$	40.46	$	66.24	57.6	%	$	38.15	5.2	%	40 bps	6.1	%

Amounts exclude Suburban activity from 2006 because full year comparable pre-acquisition data for 2005 is not available.

Including franchises acquired from Suburban, the number of domestic rooms on-line increased to 339,441 as of December 31, 2006 from 329,353 as of December 31, 2005, an increase of 3.1%. The total number of domestic hotels on-line grew 4.0% to 4,211 as of December 31, 2006 from 4,048 as of December 31, 2005.

A summary of the domestic hotels and available rooms at December 31, 2006 and December 31, 2005 by brand is as follows:


	December 31, 2006		December 31, 2005		Variance
	Hotels	Rooms	Hotels	Rooms	Hotels		%		Rooms		%
Comfort Inn	1,415	110,877	1,428	111,598	(13	)	(0.9	)%	(721	)	(0.6	)%
Comfort Suites	433	33,976	411	32,251	22		5.4	%	1,725		5.3	%
Sleep	327	24,575	319	24,205	8		2.5	%	370		1.5	%

Midscale without Food & Beverage	2,175	169,428	2,158	168,054	17		0.8	%	1,374		0.8	%

Quality	736	72,054	660	66,316	76		11.5	%	5,738		8.7	%
Clarion	162	23,945	153	23,554	9		5.9	%	391		1.7	%

Midscale with Food & Beverage	898	95,999	813	89,870	85		10.5	%	6,129		6.8	%

Econo Lodge	816	49,679	805	49,763	11		1.4	%	(84	)	(0.2	)%
Rodeway	233	14,168	180	11,051	53		29.4	%	3,117		28.2	%

Economy	1,049	63,847	985	60,814	64		6.5	%	3,033		5.0	%

MainStay	29	2,183	27	2,047	2		7.4	%	136		6.6	%
Suburban	60	7,984	65	8,568	(5	)	(7.7	)%	(584	)	(6.8	)%

Extended Stay	89	10,167	92	10,615	(3	)	(3.3	)%	(448	)	(4.2	)%

Total Domestic Franchises	4,211	339,441	4,048	329,353	163		4.0	%	10,088		3.1	%

International available rooms increased to 97,944 as of December 31, 2006 from 97,703 as of December 31, 2005, a 0.2% increase. The total number of international hotels on-line increased from 1,162 as of December 31, 2005 to 1,165 as of December 31, 2006.

As of December 31, 2006, the Company had 860 franchised hotels with 66,238 rooms under construction, awaiting conversion or approved for development in its domestic system as compared to 603 hotels and 46,464 rooms at December 31, 2005. The number of new construction franchised hotels in the Company’s domestic pipeline increased 46% to 602 at December 31, 2006 from 413 at December 31, 2005. The Company had an additional 70 franchised hotels with 6,317 rooms under development in its international system as of December 31, 2006 compared to 84 hotels and 7,611 rooms at December 31, 2005. While the Company’s hotel pipeline provides a strong platform for growth, a hotel in the pipeline does not always result in an open and operating hotel due to various factors.

A summary of the domestic franchised hotels under construction, awaiting conversion or approved for development at December 31, 2006 and December 31, 2005 by brand is as follows:


	December 31, 2006			December 31, 2005			Variance
	Conversion	New Construction	Total	Conversion	New Construction	Total	Conversion				New Construction				Total
	Conversion	New Construction	Total	Conversion	New Construction	Total	Units		%		Units		%		Units		%
Comfort Inn	56	124	180	41	85	126	15		37	%	39		46	%	54		43	%
Comfort Suites	3	233	236	2	165	167	1		50	%	68		41	%	69		41	%
Sleep	—	123	123	1	88	89	(1	)	(100	)%	35		40	%	34		38	%

Midscale without Food & Beverage	59	480	539	44	338	382	15		34	%	142		42	%	157		41	%

Quality	76	10	86	54	12	66	22		41	%	(2	)	(17	)%	20		30	%
Clarion	11	4	15	13	4	17	(2	)	(15	)%	—		0	%	(2	)	(12	)%

Midscale with Food & Beverage	87	14	101	67	16	83	20		30	%	(2	)	(13	)%	18		22	%

Econo Lodge	41	5	46	41	9	50	—		0	%	(4	)	(44	)%	(4	)	(8	)%
Rodeway	66	3	69	35	—	35	31		89	%	3		NM		34		97	%

Economy	107	8	115	76	9	85	31		41	%	(1	)	(11	)%	30		35	%

MainStay	—	33	33	1	29	30	(1	)	(100	)%	4		14	%	3		10	%
Suburban	5	24	29	2	9	11	3		150	%	15		167	%	18		164	%

Extended Stay	5	57	62	3	38	41	2		67	%	19		50	%	21		51	%

Cambria Suites	—	43	43	—	12	12	—		NM		31		258	%	31		258	%

	258	602	860	190	413	603	68		36	%	189		46	%	257		43	%

Excluding the acquisition of Suburban on September 28, 2005, net domestic franchise additions during 2006 increased 14 units to 163 compared to 149 for the same period a year ago. Gross domestic franchise additions increased from 339 for 2005 to 381 for 2006. Net franchise terminations increased to 218 for 2006 from 190 in 2005.

International royalties increased $5.2 million or 47% from $11.0 million in 2005 to $16.2 million in 2006 primarily due to the commencement of royalty payments by over 300 properties in continental Europe under our master franchise agreement with RHC. Prior to January 1, 2006, only reservation fees were assessed to the properties in RHC’s portfolio. Beginning in January 2006, the Company began to assess royalty and marketing fees in addition to the reservation fees.

Domestic initial fee revenue, included in the initial franchise and relicensing fees caption above, generated from executed domestic franchise agreements increased 18.5% to $17.9 million for 2006 from $15.1 million for 2005. The increased revenues primarily reflect increased sales of our new construction brands, most notably our Cambria Suites and Comfort Suites offerings, which carry a higher average initial fee than our other brands. New domestic franchise agreements executed in 2006 totaled 720 representing 57,365 rooms compared to 639 agreements representing 52,862 rooms executed in 2005. During 2006, 288 of the executed agreements were for new construction hotel franchises, representing 22,035 rooms, compared to 237 contracts, representing 18,096 rooms for the same period a year ago, both increases of approximately 22%. The growth in conversion hotel franchise executed contracts increased 7% from 402 for 2005 to 432 for 2006. During 2006, the Company executed 30 new franchise agreements for its Cambria Suites brand bringing the total contracts executed since its launch in January 2005 to 43.

A summary of executed domestic franchise agreements by brand for 2006 and 2005 is as follows:


	2006			2005			% Change
	New Construction	Conversion	Total	New Construction	Conversion	Total	New Construction		Conversion		Total
Comfort Inn	67	65	132	53	56	109	26	%	16	%	21	%
Comfort Suites	98	3	101	89	5	94	10	%	(40	)%	7	%
Sleep	58	1	59	55	2	57	5	%	(50	)%	4	%

Midscale without Food & Beverage	223	69	292	197	63	260	13	%	10	%	12	%

Quality	6	143	149	5	148	153	20	%	(3	)%	(3	)%
Clarion	2	26	28	4	31	35	(50	)%	(16	)%	(20	)%

Midscale with Food & Beverage	8	169	177	9	179	188	(11	)%	(6	)%	(6	)%

Econo Lodge	1	80	81	4	85	89	(75	)%	(6	)%	(9	)%
Rodeway	3	105	108	—	75	75	NM		40	%	44	%

Economy	4	185	189	4	160	164	0	%	16	%	15	%

MainStay	9	1	10	14	—	14	(36	)%	NM		(29	)%
Suburban	14	8	22	—	—	—	NM		NM		NM

Extended Stay	23	9	32	14	—	14	64	%	NM		129	%

Cambria Suites	30	—	30	13	—	13	131	%	NM		131	%

Total Domestic System	288	432	720	237	402	639	22	%	7	%	13	%

Relicensing fees increased 14% to $11.7 million for the year ended December 31, 2006 from $10.3 million for the year ended December 31, 2005. Relicensing fees are charged to the new property owner of a franchised property whenever an ownership change occurs and the property remains in the franchise system. During 2006, relicensings increased 14% from 332 in 2005 to 378 for 2006.

Other income increased $3.0 million to $6.9 million for the year ended December 31, 2006 primarily due to an increase in liquidated damage collections related to the early termination of franchise agreements.

Selling, General and Administrative Expenses: The cost to operate the franchising business is reflected in selling, general and administrative expenses. Selling, general and administrative (“SG&A”) expenses were $87.1 million for 2006, an increase of $8.9 million from the 2005 total of $78.2 million. As a percentage of revenues, excluding marketing and reservation fees and hotel operations, total SG&A expenses were 33.2% for 2006 compared to 34.0% for 2005. Expenses increased primarily due to higher compensation costs related to stock compensation, variable franchise sales compensation, the launch of the Company’s Cambria Suites brand and the acquisition of Suburban. Despite the increase in expenses, SG&A as a percentage of franchise revenues declined since our variable overhead costs associated with franchise system growth have historically been less than incremental royalty fees generated from new franchises.

Depreciation and Amortization: Expenses increased $0.6 million to $9.7 million for 2006 primarily due to the acceleration of depreciation resulting from the renovation and replacement of furniture, fixtures and equipment at two of the Company-owned Mainstay Suites during the second quarter.

Total marketing and reservations revenues were $273.3 million and $237.8 million for 2006 and 2005, respectively. Depreciation and amortization attributable to marketing and reservation activities was $7.9 million and $7.6 million for the years ended December 31, 2006 and 2005, respectively. Interest expense attributable to reservation activities was $0.9 million and $1.1 million for 2006 and 2005, respectively. Marketing and reservation activities provided positive cash flow of $19.0 million and $19.4 million for the years ended December 31, 2006 and 2005, respectively. As of December 31, 2006 and 2005, the Company’s balance sheet includes a receivable of $6.7 million and $13.2 million, respectively resulting from cumulative marketing expenses incurred in excess of cumulative marketing fee revenues earned. These receivables are recorded as an asset in the financial statements as the Company has the contractual authority to require that the franchisees in the system at any given point repay the Company for any deficits related to marketing and reservations activities. The Company’s current franchisees are legally obligated to pay any assessment the Company imposes on its franchisees to obtain reimbursement of such deficit regardless of whether those constituents continue to generate gross room revenue. The Company has no present intention to accelerate repayment of the deficit from current franchisees. A payable has been recorded in the Company’s balance sheet within other long-term liabilities related to cumulative reservation fee revenues received in excess of reservation fee expenses incurred totaling $8.4 million and $3.6 million at December 31, 2006 and 2005, respectively. Cumulative reservation and marketing fees not expended are recorded as a payable in the financial statements and are carried over to the next fiscal year and expended in accordance with the franchise agreements.

Other Income and Expenses, Net: Other income and expenses, net, declined $1.7 million to an expense of $11.3 million for 2006 from $13.0 million for 2005. This decline resulted primarily from a reduction in interest expense from $15.3 million to $14.1 million and a $0.9 million increase in interest income and the appreciation of investments held in the non-qualified employee benefit plans. Interest expense declined due to lower outstanding borrowings on the Company’s variable rate debt offset by higher average interest rates. The Company’s weighted average interest rate as of December 31, 2006 was 6.6% compared to 6.0% as of December 31, 2005. The increase in investment income and decline in interest expense was offset by a loss on extinguishment of debt of $0.3 million attributable to the refinancing of our senior credit facility during the second quarter of 2006 and a $0.4 million gain on sale of investments in the third quarter of 2005.

Income Taxes: The Company’s effective income tax provision rate was 27.4% for 2006, compared to the effective income tax provision rate of 33.0% for 2005. The effective income tax rate declined primarily due to the resolution of provisions for income tax contingencies totaling approximately $12.8 million as well as an increase in the proportion of foreign income earned over the prior year period, which is taxed at lower rates than statutory federal income tax rates. The effective income tax rate for 2005 also includes additional tax expense of approximately $1.2 million related to the Company’s repatriation of foreign earnings and a reduction of income tax expense related to the resolution of certain tax contingencies of approximately $4.9 million.

Net income for 2006 increased by 28.8% to $112.8 million, and diluted earnings per share increased 27% to $1.68 for 2006 from $1.32 reported for 2005.

Liquidity and Capital Resources

Net cash provided by operating activities declined $7.8 million to $146.1 million for the year ended December 31, 2007 from $153.9 million for the year ended December 31, 2006, respectively. The decline in cash flows from operating activities primarily reflects timing of working capital items and lower cash repayments from marketing and reservation activities compared to the prior year.

Net cash repayments related to marketing and reservation activities totaled $12.0 million during 2007 compared to repayments of $19.0 million during the year ended December 31, 2006. The Company expects marketing and reservation activities to be a use of cash between $1.0 million and $3.0 million in 2008.

Cash used in investing activities for the years ended December 31, 2007, 2006 and 2005 was $21.3 million, $17.3 million and $24.5 million, respectively. During 2005, investing cash flows included the payment of $7.3

million related to the Company’s acquisition of Suburban. As a lodging franchisor, the Company has relatively low capital expenditure requirements. During the years ended December 31, 2007, 2006 and 2005, capital expenditures totaled $12.0 million, $7.7 million, and $11.5 million, respectively. Capital expenditures for 2007 primarily include leasehold improvements to the Company’s facilities as well as upgrades of system-wide property and yield management systems and the purchase of computer equipment. In addition, the Company provides financing to franchisees for property improvements, hotel development efforts and other purposes. During 2007, 2006 and 2005, the Company advanced $7.4 million, $2.4 million and $2.7 million, respectively. At December 31, 2007, the Company had commitments to extend an additional $9.5 million in financing provided certain conditions are met by its franchisees of which $5.2 million is expected to be advanced in 2008.

Financing cash flows relate primarily to the Company’s borrowings under its credit lines, treasury stock purchases and dividends. On June 16, 2006, the Company entered into a $350 million senior unsecured revolving credit agreement (the “Revolver”), with a syndicate of lenders. The proceeds from the Revolver were used to refinance and terminate a previous revolving facility. The Revolver allows the Company to borrow, repay and reborrow revolving loans up to $350 million (which includes swingline loans for up to $20 million and standby letters of credit up to $30 million) until the scheduled maturity date of June 16, 2011. The Company has the ability to request an increase in available borrowings under the Revolver by an additional amount of up to $150 million by obtaining the agreement of the existing lenders to increase their lending commitments or by adding additional lenders. The rate of interest generally applicable for revolving loans under the Revolver are, at the Company’s option, equal to either (i) the greater of the prime rate or the federal funds effective rate plus 50 basis points, or (ii) an adjusted LIBOR rate plus a margin between 22 and 70 basis points based on the Company’s credit rating. The Revolver requires the Company to pay a quarterly facility fee, based upon the credit rating of the Company, at a rate between 8 and 17¹/2 basis points, on the full amount of the commitment (regardless of usage). The Revolver also requires the payment of a quarterly usage fee, based upon the credit rating of the Company, at a rate between 10 and 12¹/2 basis points, on the amount outstanding under the commitment, at all times when the amount borrowed under the Revolver exceeds 50% of the total commitment. The Revolver includes customary financial and other covenants that require the maintenance of certain ratios including maximum leverage and interest coverage. The Revolver also restricts the Company’s ability to make certain investments, incur certain debt, and dispose of assets, among other restrictions. At December 31, 2007, the Company was in compliance with all covenants under the Revolver. As of December 31, 2007, the Company had $172.4 million of revolving loans outstanding pursuant to the Revolver.

The proceeds from the Revolver are used for general corporate purposes, including working capital, debt repayment, stock repurchases, dividends and investments.

In 1998, the Company completed a $100 million senior unsecured note offering (“the Senior Notes”) at a discount of $0.6 million, bearing a coupon rate of 7.13% with an effective rate of 7.22%. The Company used the net proceeds from the offering of approximately $99 million to repay amounts outstanding under the Company’s previous credit facility. The Senior Notes will mature on May 1, 2008, with interest to be paid semi-annually. The Senior Notes have been classified as a long-term liability at December 31, 2007, since the Company’s intention is to repay the Senior Notes upon maturity by utilizing the available capacity of the Revolver.

The Senior Notes contain a call provision that would require the Company to pay a premium if the Senior Notes were redeemed prior to their maturity. At December 31, 2007, the call provision would have resulted in a premium of $2.4 million.

The Company’s Senior Notes are guaranteed jointly, severally, fully and unconditionally by 7 wholly-owned domestic subsidiaries. There are no legal or regulatory restrictions on the payment of dividends to Choice Hotels International, Inc. from subsidiaries that do not guarantee the Senior Notes.

The Company has a line of credit with a bank providing up to an aggregate of $10 million of borrowings which is due upon demand. The line of credit ranks pari-pasu (or equally) with the Revolver. Borrowings under

the line of credit bear interest at rates established at the time of the borrowings based on prime minus 175 basis points. As of December 31, 2007, no amounts were outstanding pursuant to this line of credit.

In the second quarter of 2007, the Company repaid an outstanding note with a balance of $0.4 million by utilizing proceeds from the Revolver. The note had an original maturity date of January 1, 2009. This loan bore interest based on seventy percent of prime and required monthly principal and interest payments.

As December 31, 2007, total debt outstanding for the Company was $272.4 million. With the exception of the Company’s Senior Notes, which are scheduled to mature in May 2008, no outstanding debt amounts at December 31, 2007 were scheduled to mature in the twelve months ending December 31, 2008.

Through December 31, 2007, the Company had purchased 38.6 million shares (including 33.0 million prior to the two-for-one stock split) of its common stock under its share repurchase program at a total cost of $895.9 million. Considering the effect of the two-for-one stock split in October 2005, the Company has repurchased 71.5 million shares at an average price of $12.52 per share. In September 2007, the board of directors authorized an increase under the Company’s existing stock repurchase program to acquire up to an additional 3 million shares of its outstanding common stock. At December 31, 2007, the Company had approximately 62.1 million shares of common stock outstanding and had remaining authorization to purchase up to 3.2 million shares. Subsequent to December 31, 2007 through February 29, 2008, the Company had not repurchased any additional shares of its common stock.

In September 2005, the Company’s board of directors increased the quarterly dividend rate to $0.13, or a 15.6% increase from the previously quarterly rate of $0.1125. This increase raised the annual dividend rate on the Company’s common stock from $0.45 to $0.52 per share. Dividends paid in 2005 were approximately $30.2 million. In 2006, the Company’s board of directors again increased the quarterly dividend rate to $0.15, a 15.4% increase from the previous quarterly rate of $0.13. This increase raised the annual dividend rate on the Company’s common stock from $0.52 to $0.60 per share. Dividends paid in 2006 were approximately $35.4 million. In 2007, the Company’s board of directors again increased the quarterly dividend rate to $0.17, a 13% increase from the previous quarterly rate of $0.15. This increase raises the annual dividend rate on the Company’s common stock from $0.60 to $0.68 per share. Dividends paid in 2007 were approximately $40.1 million. Based on our present dividend rate and outstanding share count, aggregate annual dividends for 2008 would be approximately $42.0 million.

The Company expects to continue to return value to its shareholders through a combination of dividends and share repurchases, subject to market and other conditions.

During the first quarter of 2007, the Company recorded a $3.7 million charge in selling, general and administrative expenses for employee termination benefits relating to the termination of certain executive officers. Termination benefits include salary continuation of approximately $2.5 million, SERP curtailment expenses of $0.2 million and $1.0 million of accelerated share based compensation. As a result of those separations, the Company will remit to those officers approximately $1.5 million of cash termination benefits over the next twelve months as well as $1.0 million of deferred compensation and retirement plan obligations.

As of January 1, 2007 and December 31, 2007, the Company had $7.1 million and $6.7 million, respectively of total unrecognized tax benefits of which approximately $4.0 million and $3.5 million, respectively would affect the effective tax rate if recognized. These unrecognized tax benefits relate principally to state tax filing positions and stock-based compensation deductions. The Company believes it is reasonably possible it will recognize tax benefits of up to $1.6 million within the next twelve months. This is due to the anticipated lapse of applicable statutes of limitations regarding state tax positions and stock-based compensation deductions.

upon the satisfaction of certain criteria. During 2007, the Company has determined that the performance conditions can no longer be satisfied and therefore the contingent consideration will not be earned.

The following table summarizes our contractual obligations as of December 31, 2007


	Payment due by period
Contractual Obligations	Total		Less than 1 year		1-3 years		3-5 years		More than 5 years
	(in millions)
Long-term debt⁽¹⁾	$	274.8	$	2.4	$	—	$	272.4	$	—
Operating lease obligations		32.9		5.8		10.8		10.5		5.8
Purchase obligations		0.5		0.5		—		—		—
Other long-term liabilities⁽²⁾		57.6		—		20.2		6.4		31.0

Total contractual cash obligations	$	365.8	$	8.7	$	31.0	$	289.3	$	36.8

⁽¹⁾

Long-term debt amounts include interest on fixed rate debt obligations. The Senior Notes have been classified as a long term liability, since the Company’s intention is to repay the Senior Notes upon maturity by utilizing the available capacity of the Revolver.

⁽²⁾

The total amount of unrecognized tax benefits and the related interest and penalties totaled $8.0 million at December 31, 2007 and is not reflected in the Contractual Obligations table. We have several open tax positions, and it is possible that the amount of the liability for unrecognized tax benefits could change over the next year. While it is possible that one or more of these open positions may be resolved in the next year, it is not anticipated that a significant impact to the unrecognized tax benefit balance will occur.

The Company believes that cash flows from operations and available financing capacity are adequate to meet expected future operating, investing and financing needs of the business.

Off Balance Sheet Arrangements: In March 2006, the Company guaranteed $1 million of a bank loan funding a franchisee’s construction of a Cambria Suites in Green Bay, Wisconsin. The guaranty was scheduled to expire in September 2010. In February 2007, the Company was released from its obligations under the March 2006 guaranty, and subsequently, on May 3, 2007, issued a new $1 million guaranty for a bank loan funding the construction for the same franchisee’s Cambria Suites in Green Bay, Wisconsin. The guaranty expires in August 2010. The Company has received personal guarantees from several of the franchisee’s principal owners related to the repayment of any amounts paid by the Company under the guaranty.

Inflation: Inflation has been moderate in recent years and has not had a significant impact on our business.

Seasonality: The hotel industry is seasonal in nature. For most of the Company’s franchised hotels, demand is lower in December through March than during the remainder of the year. Our principal source of revenues is franchise fees based on the gross room revenues of our franchised properties. The Company’s franchise fee revenues and operating income reflect the industry’s seasonality and historically have been lower in the first quarter than in the second, third or fourth quarters.

Critical Accounting Policies

Our accounting policies comply with principles generally accepted in the United States. We have described below those policies that we believe are critical and require the use of complex judgment or significant estimates in their application. Additional discussion of these policies is included in Note 1 to our consolidated financial statements.

Revenue Recognition.

The Company accounts for initial, relicensing and continuing franchise fees in accordance with Statement of Financial Accounting Standards (“SFAS”) No. 45, “Accounting for Franchise Fee Revenue.” We recognize

continuing franchise fees, including royalty, marketing and reservations fees, when earned and receivable from our franchisees. Franchise fees are typically based on a percentage of gross room revenues of each franchisee. Our estimate of the allowance for uncollectible royalty fees is charged to selling, general and administrative expense.

The Company may also enter into master development agreements (“MDAs”) with developers that grant limited exclusive development rights and preferential franchise agreement terms for one-time, non-refundable fees. When these fees are not contingent upon the number of agreements executed under the MDA, the Company accounts for these up-front fees in accordance with Staff Accounting Bulletin (‘SAB”) No. 104, “Revenue Recognition” (“SAB No. 104”) and recognizes the up-front fees over the MDAs’ contractual life.

Initial franchise and relicensing fees are recognized, in most instances, in the period the related franchise agreement is executed because the initial franchise and relicensing fees are non-refundable and the Company has no continuing obligations related to the franchisee. We defer the initial franchise and relicensing fee revenue related to franchise agreements which include incentives until the incentive criteria are met or the agreement is terminated, whichever occurs first.

We account for brand solutions revenues from endorsed vendors in accordance with SAB 104. SAB 104 provides guidance on the recognition, presentation and disclosure of revenue in financial statements. Pursuant to SAB 104, the Company recognizes brand solutions revenues when the services are performed or the product delivered, evidence of an arrangement exists, the fee is fixed and determinable and collectibility is probable. We defer the recognition of brand solutions revenues related to certain upfront fees and recognize them over a period corresponding to the Company’s estimate of the life of the arrangement.

Marketing and Reservation Revenues and Expenses.

The Company records marketing and reservation revenues and expenses in accordance with Emerging Issues Task Force (“EITF”) Issue No. 99-19, “Reporting Revenue Gross as a Principal versus Net as an Agent,” which requires that these revenues and expenses be recorded gross. In addition, net advances to and repayments from the franchise system for marketing and reservation activities are presented as cash flows from operating activities.

Reservation fees and marketing fees not expended in the current year are carried over to the next fiscal year and expended in accordance with the franchise agreements. Shortfall amounts are similarly recovered in subsequent years. Cumulative excess or shortfall amounts from the operation of these programs are recorded as a marketing or reservation fee payable or receivable. Under the terms of the franchise agreements, the Company may advance capital as necessary for marketing and reservation activities and recover such advances through future fees. Our current assessment is that the credit risk associated with the marketing fee receivable is mitigated due to our contractual right to recover these amounts from a large geographically dispersed group of franchisees.

Choice Privileges is our frequent guest incentive marketing program. Choice Privileges enables members to earn points based on their spending levels at participating brands and, to a lesser degree, through participation in affiliated partners’ programs, such as those offered by credit card companies. The points may be redeemed for free accommodations or other benefits. Points cannot be redeemed for cash.

The Company collects a percentage of program members’ room revenue from participating franchises. Revenues are deferred in an amount equal to the fair value of the future redemption obligation. A third-party actuary estimates the eventual redemption rates and point values using various actuarial methods. These judgmental factors determine the required liability for outstanding points. Upon redemption of the points, the Company recognizes the previously deferred revenue as well as the corresponding expense relating to the cost of the awards redeemed. Revenues in excess of the estimated future redemption obligation are recognized when earned to reimburse the Company for costs incurred to operate the program, including administrative costs, marketing, promotion and performing member services. Costs to operate the program, excluding estimated redemption values, are expensed when incurred.

Impairment Policy.