ROCKVILLE, Md., Jan. 23, 2018 — Building on a legacy of innovations, Choice Hotels International, Inc. (NYSE: CHH), announced today the transition to choiceEDGE, the first new global reservation system (GRS) from a hotel company in over 30 years. The state-of-the-art distribution platform supports more than 6,500 Choice Hotels properties globally. The choiceEDGE platform leads the way for the industry's shift towards accelerated global digital communication and guest experience personalization through data analytics.
choiceEDGE and its cloud-based, technically advanced design is built to effectively handle the current and future volume on digital channels, and is the most advanced GRS in the lodging industry. The platform manages all distribution for Choice Hotels, optimizing rate, inventory, availability, shopping, booking and reservations for its website, mobile apps and third-party distribution partners.
This transformational project, which began in 2014, is led by the Choice Hotels technology innovation team, based in Phoenix, Arizona, and is a milestone initiative for the company and recently appointed President and CEO Pat Pacious.
"There has been an explosion of growth in shopping requests and digital travel sales worldwide over the last decade. The industry's old reservation systems are not designed to handle the volume and velocity of transactions we see today in the digital space," said Pacious. "choiceEDGE harnesses the power of cloud computing and big data analytics to help deliver value to both guests and franchisees, and leads the industry in capabilities. Through personalization and machine-learning, we are now able to create the intuitive experience guests want and provide data-driven, holistic solutions to boost efficiencies for our franchisees and throughout our value chain."
Flexibility, scale and speed to market are critical components of the choiceEDGE platform's unprecedented design. As Choice Hotels continues its growth in the upscale and midscale segments, and internationally, the choiceEDGE product will support its expanded system size, as well as multi-channel distribution and mobile strategies.
choiceEDGE features:
- Faster-to-market new products, features and third-party connectivity.
- Cloud-based scalability, stability and performance delivered through a "reservation-as-a-service" model.
- Preconfigured, state-of-the-art connectivity with online travel agents, global distribution systems and property management systems, enabling rapid onboarding of hotels and instant value delivery.
- Capability to add selling disparate inventory types, including hotel rooms, meeting rooms, vacation rentals and package offerings – or any space for any duration.
"This new platform showcases our talent and the forward-thinking, fast-paced and collaborative nature at Choice Hotels, mirroring that of any leading technology incubator," said Brian Kirkland, vice president of engineering at Choice Hotels. "choiceEDGE strengthens our core capabilities, and positions us and our franchisees to capitalize on the growth our industry is experiencing, while enabling the efficient future delivery of new initiatives."
Choice has already onboarded multiple distributors onto the advanced platform. Traci Mercer, senior vice president, global lodging, ground and sea, Sabre Travel Network, stated, "The new global reservation system, choiceEDGE, is helping Choice Hotels and Sabre gain seamless distribution of the broad and rich content for our buyers."
The choiceEDGE platform is the latest innovation by Choice Hotels and is part of a portfolio of tools and technology-driven solutions. Choice Hotels has pioneered some of the industry's greatest developments, including the first online booking platform and first mobile app.
