Choice Hotels International, Inc. is an American multinational hospitality company based in Rockville, Maryland. The company, which is one of the largest hotel chains in the world, owns several hotel brands ranging from upscale to economy. As of 2020, Choice Hotels franchises more than 7,100 hotels in more than 40 countries and territories worldwide, representing nearly 600,000 rooms, in addition to 1,035 hotels under construction with more than 85,000 rooms. History Founding and early years Quality Courts United, Inc., which began as a nonprofit referral chain of seven motels in Florida, was founded in 1939. It would undergo several name changes before becoming what is known today as Choice Hotels International. The chain initially remained east of the Mississippi River. By the early 1960s, Quality Courts United had approximately 600 members. All of its hotels needed to meet certain quality standards and offer amenities like air conditioning, telephones, swimming pools, paved driveways, and wall-to-wall carpeting. In 1963, the organization became a for-profit corporation and changed its name to Quality Courts Motels, Inc. In 1957, Stewart W. Bainum Sr., who ran a Washington, D.C., plumbing business, opened his first hotel in Silver Spring, Maryland. He later franchised his first Quality Courts motel in 1963. In 1968, Bainum merged his business, Park Consolidated Motels, Inc., with Quality Courts Motels, assumed the role of president and CEO, and moved the company's headquarters from Daytona Beach to Silver Spring, Maryland. Lodging Magazine wrote that, by 1969, Quality Courts Motels was the world's "largest association of independent motel operators". Growth and expansion The company changed its name to Quality Inns International in 1972 and, in 1990, the parent company became known as Choice Hotels International. In the 1980s, the company started the industry's first market segmentation strategy, using a range of hotel brands across price points. Geographically, it expanded across the country by opening hotels in the west. The Comfort brand, which would later become Choice Hotels' flagship brand, was established in 1981. The brand was marketed to family vacationers, business travelers, and senior citizens to compete with Days Inn, Best Western, and Friendship Inn. The company's Quality Inn hotels remained in the midscale segment, competing with Holiday Inn, Ramada, Howard Johnson, and Travelodge. The now-discontinued Quality Royale brand was positioned as Choice Hotels' upscale brand, designed to compete with Marriott, Hyatt, Hilton, and Sheraton; Quality Royale would eventually be rebranded as Clarion. In the