Industry NewsChoice Hotels Moves to New Corporate Headquarters

Choice Hotels Moves to New Corporate Headquarters

ROCKVILLE, Md.—Choice Hotels International is completing its move to its new global headquarters at Rockville Town Square. The company’s more than 400 headquarter employees will begin at the new location on April 8.

This move is just 13 miles from the Choice Hotels current headquarters in Silver Spring, Maryland. However, it represents a sea of change for the company, with a layout designed to encourage collaboration and creativity. Features include open work areas, high technology and connectivity, and several non-conventional meeting spaces.

“It’s a whole new Choice Hotels,” said Stephen P. Joyce, president and CEO of Choice Hotels International. “This move is physical — as we will be in a state-of-the-art facility that serves our associates and franchisees in ways we’ve never dreamed of — but it is also symbolic of our company’s evolution across the board. We’re making bold moves: from refreshing our well-known hotel brands — like Comfort Inn and Sleep Inn, our expansion into upscale hotel properties with Ascend Hotel Collection and Cambria Suites — for which we are currently breaking ground in key urban markets including next door to our new offices, to the creation of our recently announced new business division, SkyTouch Technology.”

The headquarters will occupy six floors of the building. Consoles in the reception area were designed in keeping with hotel check-in desks and an international welcome wall features images that capture the character of the locations of Choice Hotels properties around the world. Meeting and gathering spaces throughout incorporate the latest hotel brand design schemes such as fabrics, seating, stonework, warm woods, and polished metals. Guests and franchisees will also have use of a business center enabling them to work remotely and even print boarding passes.

Throughout the building, open staircases and a myriad of outdoor spaces and indoor non-conference room meeting areas can be found. Wi-Fi is available throughout the building, a move designed to encourage associates to work anywhere that inspires creativity, not just at their workstations. On the fourth floor, an outdoor lounge will feature a state-of-the-art sound system, a fire pit, and Wi-Fi. A large multi-functional meeting space and training rooms are equipped with the audio-visual conferencing, projection, lighting, and computer tablet controls.

On the 5th floor, a history area containing artwork, photographs and artifacts will serve as a de facto museum and constant reminder of the company’s roots. Next to the history area, model guest rooms will serve as experiential spaces as well as a way to ensure daily decisions are made with Choice’s guests and franchisees in mind.

Designed to meet the guidelines for certification under the U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED), the facility’s sustainability features include water consumption that has been reduced by 40 percent, locally sourced building materials, and controllable lighting and thermostats. Energy consumption will be further offset through Renewable Energy Credits (RECs) sourced from wind power.

The building at was developed by Rockville-based Foulger-Pratt Companies and designed by WDG Architecture. The Choice Hotels’ office space was designed by VOA Associates, the architecture firm behind Choice Hotels’ offices in Phoenix, Arizona which serve as the company’s global technology hub. Like the Rockville headquarters, the Phoenix branch was based on an open design to help foster innovative ideas and teamwork.

Other parties actively involved with this project include: rand* construction corporation, as the general contractor for the Choice Hotels workplace; AtSite, Inc. as project manager and LEED consultant. Clear Real Estate Services also served as project manager.

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