SILVER SPRING, Md. -- In a move that revolutionizes the way consumers can book hotel rooms, Choice Hotels International CHH today announced that reservations at its Comfort, Quality, Clarion, Sleep, Econo Lodge, Rodeway Inn and MainStay Suites brand hotels can be made via Palm(TM) VII and Palm VIIx handheld computers with wireless (R) service.

"As the technology becomes available, consumers are increasingly relying on their Palm handhelds to shop for goods and services," said Gary Thomson, senior vice president and chief information officer at Choice. "Now, they can also reserve rooms at over 4,300 Choice brand hotels located worldwide.

"First on the Internet, and now first to align with the Palm handheld - Choice is clearly on the cutting edge in employing technology to build reservations," Thomson added. In 1995, Choice was the first hotel company to offer real-time access to its reservation system via the Internet, and was one of the first companies to offer online booking capabilities.

Owners of the Palm VII or Palm VIIx handheld computer can download Choice's web clipping application to their handheld by visiting www.choicehotels.com, then clicking on "wireless" on the options menu. After following the download instructions, Palm VII or Palm VIIx handheld owners with service are able to reserve rooms, check room availability, check on existing reservations and more. "Essentially, the application provides all of the booking capabilities available through our web site," said Thomson.

According to Thomson, the Palm handheld was ideal for Choice's reservations application because it offers wireless access to the Web on a handheld computer with a screen large enough to perform a reservations application. Choice was particularly suited for this application because its software architecture employs XML (eXtenssible Markup Language) and XSL (eXtensible Stylesheet Language) to allow the presentation of Choice's Web site to be independent of its content. "Therefore, we just had to develop a new set of stylesheets to present the reservation system to the Palm handheld versus developing a completely new application," Thomson said.

"When the Palm VII handheld was introduced with wireless access capabilities, we were poised and ready to take advantage of it on behalf of our franchisees and guests," Thomson concluded. "Similarly, we are tracking developments in other technologies - such as cell phones - and will make our reservations capabilities available as soon as they are ready for us."

Choice Hotel International , the world's second-largest lodging franchisor, franchisees more than 5,000 hotels in 39 countries under the Comfort, Quality, Clarion, Sleep, Econo Lodge, MainStay Suites and Rodeway Inn brand names. For more information on Choice, visit the company's Internet site at www.choicehotels.com.

Comfort, Quality, Clarion, Sleep, Econo Lodge, MainStay Suites and Rodeway Inn are registered trademarks of Choice Hotels International. is a registered trademark and Palm is a trademark of Palm, Inc. or its subsidiaries.

Anne Papa Curtis
Corporate Communications
(301) 592-5155
Choice