Business Objects

Choice Hotels Uses IBM Software and Business Objects to Drive Business Intelligence Deployment
One of the World's Largest Lodging Franchisors Chooses IBM and Business Objects for Enterprise Performance Management
SAN JOSE, Calif. - June 23, 2004 - Business Objects, (Nasdaq: BOBJ; Euronext Paris ISIN code FR0004026250-BOB), a leading provider of business intelligence solutions and an IBM business partner, today announced that Choice Hotels International (NYSE:CHH), has selected Business Objects solutions to assist in accessing and analyzing data for its 5,000 franchise hotels. In addition, Choice Hotels plans to provide executives with access to key performance indicators regarding revenue, room rates, and occupancy figures on a daily basis via a customized dashboard powered by BusinessObjectsTM Dashboard Manager.
Choice Hotels, worldwide franchisor of Comfort Inn, Comfort Suites, Quality, Sleep Inn, Clarion, MainStay Suites, Econo Lodge and Rodeway Inn brand hotels, deployed a data warehouse, using the IBM Informix® Extended Parallel Server (XPS) Data Warehouse Engine. This offers a flexible solution to enable integration of data from multiple transactional sources at Choice Hotels, including Informix, Oracle and Microsoft SQL Server. With the data now aggregated, the company is deploying a business intelligence solution from Business Objects to access and analyze information from the data warehouse to help manage and improve enterprise performance.
According to Jonathan Prial, vice president, marketing, information management, IBM, "As the database at the heart of Choice Hotels' data warehouse, IBM provides the security, scalability and openness required to manage a multi-vendor infrastructure. The combination of IBM and Business Objects applications will enable Choice Hotels to run an enterprise-class business intelligence solution while protecting their existing IT investments."
In the first phase of its business intelligence deployment, Choice Hotels will provide users with a centralized reporting environment to track franchisee/property performance and operations, marketing and promotional campaigns, geographical trends, and current and forecasted reservations. For example, Choice Hotels will pull in information from its many hotels via satellite nightly, and then use Business Objects to build and deliver reports the next morning to company executives with the most up-to-date revenue and operational information. The marketing department will rely on Business Objects solutions to monitor guests who belong to the hotel's loyalty program, and gear specific promotional and discount campaigns to benefit them.
In addition, Choice Hotels plans to deploy dashboards using BusinessObjects Dashboard Manager to deliver key company metrics to the executive management team, allowing executives to track trends on a daily, weekly, monthly, or quarterly basis.
"Our implementation of Business Objects integrated with our IBM data warehouse gives us faster access to information, which we use to better service our franchisees and their guests," said Gary Thomson, senior vice president and chief information officer for Choice Hotels.
"Business intelligence allows our customers to make their enterprise performance management initiatives truly company-wide initiatives, so that every employee and every department in an organization can work together to reach and exceed corporate goals," said Chris Caren, vice president of corporate marketing at Business Objects. "Choice Hotels is an excellent example of a company that gets the idea of empowering its employees to improve the overall bottom line of the business. Business Objects EPM solutions help customers like Choice set goals, monitor metrics, analyze their business, decide a course of action, and then act in a timely manner."
About Choice Hotels InternationalChoice Hotels International franchises more than 5,000 hotels open or under development in 44 countries and territories under the Comfort Inn, Comfort Suites, Quality, Sleep Inn, Clarion, MainStay Suites, Econo Lodge, and Rodeway Inn brand names. For more information on Choice Hotels, visit the company's Web site at www.choicehotels.com.
Choice Hotels, Choice Hotels International, Comfort Inn, Comfort Suites, Quality, Sleep Inn, Clarion, MainStay Suites, Econo Lodge and Rodeway Inn are registered trademarks and service marks of Choice Hotels International, Inc.
About Business Objects
Business Objects has been a pioneer in business intelligence (BI) since the dawn of the category. Today, as the world's leading BI software company, Business Objects transforms the way the world works through intelligent information. The company helps illuminate understanding and decision-making at more than 44,000 organizations around the globe. Through a combination of innovative technology, global consulting and education services, and the industry's strongest and most diverse partner network, Business Objects enables companies of all sizes to make transformative business decisions based on intelligent, accurate, and timely information.
Business Objects has dual headquarters in San Jose, Calif., and Paris, France. The company's stock is traded on both the Nasdaq (BOBJ) and Euronext Paris (ISIN: FR0004026250 - BOB) stock exchanges. More information about Business Objects can be found at www.businessobjects.com.
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Business Objects, the Business Objects logo, and BusinessObjects are trademarks or registered trademarks of Business Objects SA or its affiliated companies in the United States and other countries.
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