Comfort Inn 2009 Annual Report Download - page 9

2009 Annual Review | 9
Annual Review
Concluding Thoughts
I would like to thank our Board of Directors,
management team and all Choice Hotels associates
for their ongoing support and dedication.
No doubt about it, 2009 was a challenging year.
However, the strength, uniqueness and resiliency
of the company’s business model were on full
display in this difficult environment. 2010 will
again be a year filled with challenges for our
industry. Despite the challenging current
economic environment, our fee-for-service
business model positions us well for long-term
profitable growth in a variety of segments and
geographies on account of our well-known
brands, exceptional franchise services, strong
central reservations system, and collaborative
relationships with our owners. We are commit-
ted to achieving our vision of providing owners
the highest return on investment of any hotel
franchising company. We continue to execute
against our key strategies that we believe will
enable our franchisees to be more successful and
will position us well to continue to build on our
track record of long-term profitable growth.
The combination of a dominant presence in the
moderate tier, an asset-light pure-play franchising
business model, and a portfolio mix of both new
construction and conversion brands has driven
strong performance through both the peaks and
troughs of the lodging cycle. Our priorities remain
focused on returning excess cash flows generated
by our business to shareholders through opportu-
nistic share repurchases and dividends, supporting
the expansion of our emerging brands and
international system and seeking opportunities
to add additional brands to our platform either
through acquisition or organically.
I thank you for the investment that you have
made in Choice Hotels as a shareholder. I look
forward to a brighter 2010 for Choice Hotels.
Sincerely,
Stephen P. Joyce
President & CEO
March 25, 2010