Choice Hotels Deploys Clarabridge Text Mining Solution To Enhance Guest and Franchisee Satisfaction Rates

RESTON, Va.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Clarabridge, the leading provider of text analytics software used by many Fortune 1000 companies to improve customer experience management (CEM), today announced Choice Hotels International, Inc. (NYSE: CHH) has initiated the deployment of the Clarabridge Content Mining Platform® to enhance guest satisfaction rates and increase efficiency for its franchisees.

“Having in-depth customer analytics at one’s fingertips and being able to communicate that information in a timely manner gives companies the ability to fix problems immediately before they fester and maximize those areas that make customers the most happy.”

The Customer Relations group for Choice Hotels Customer Care and Reservations (CC&R) Department collects and processes close to one million text-based customer comments annually from hotel guests providing commentary in guest relations case notes, emails, guest satisfaction surveys and other channels. The insight is used proactively by franchisees to make property improvements on a timely basis, by customer relations teams in coaching underperforming properties, and by marketing teams to understand the effectiveness of advertising and promotional campaigns, partner programs and overall brand health.

“Previously, we attempted to analyze this data manually, but despite our best efforts, we struggled with the manpower needed to analyze such data,” said Mark Weiner, vice president of customer care and reservations at Choice Hotels International. “Clarabridge allows us to aggregate data across multiple internal and external customer listening posts within minutes so we can more fully understand what our customers say about individual properties, improve their likelihood to recommend, and provide better reporting analysis and service to our franchisees.”

In March, Choice Hotels conducted a pilot program in which its customer relations team used Clarabridge to analyze positive and negative guest comments from satisfaction surveys and other sources. The goal of the project was to provide faster and more accurate root-cause analysis reporting to internal executives and franchise owners, reduce the amount of manual cleansing of the data and identify emerging customer trends buried in its own manual system of analysis.

Under its previous system, it would take Choice Hotels customer relations team 15 minutes to read just five comments. With the use of Clarabridge, Choice Hotels is able to analyze thousands of comments about an individual property from the past 18 months and create an action plan to improve that same property all within just 30 minutes. In addition, hotel operators, brand operations, and marketing and support departments all have access to the reports, giving managers the ability to make decisions based on their individual departments. The company also found that Clarabridge lowered the average handle time of the data and reduced the number of internal calls from franchisees and customers.

“For global companies such as Choice Hotels, keeping a close eye on guest satisfaction rates for each and every property is absolutely key, particularly in this competitive economy,” said Sid Banerjee, chief executive officer at Clarabridge. “Having in-depth customer analytics at one’s fingertips and being able to communicate that information in a timely manner gives companies the ability to fix problems immediately before they fester and maximize those areas that make customers the most happy.”

Today, over 50,000 business users at many of the world’s largest companies are using Clarabridge’s text mining software to stay competitive by improving products and services, reducing churn and improving their customer’s overall experience. Clarabridge’s clients include AOL, Capital One, Choice Hotels, Cisco Systems, Inc., Expedia, Gap, Inc., Gaylord Entertainment, H&R Block, Intuit, Inc., Lowe’s Companies, Marriott International, Oracle, Sage Software, Walmart, and Walgreens, among others.

About Clarabridge

Clarabridge is the leading provider of text mining software for customer experience management. The Clarabridge Content Mining Platform™ provides Global 1000 enterprises an analytical view of text-based verbatims found in voice of the customer feedback channels such as call center notes, qualitative survey feedback, Web 2.0 content, online forums, reviews, social media sites, and customer warranty forms. As a result, businesses can improve marketing, product/service management and customer service delivery. Clarabridge is privately held with headquarters in Reston, Virginia. For more information, visit www.clarabridge.com.

About Choice Hotels

As of June 30, 2009, Choice Hotels International, Inc. franchised more than 5,900 hotels, representing more than 479,000 rooms, in the United States and more than 30 other countries and territories. On September 22, 2009, the company announced it had opened its 6,000(th) franchised property. As of June 30, 2009, more than 800 hotels are under construction, awaiting conversion or approved for development in the United States, representing more than 64,000 rooms, and an additional 110 hotels, representing approximately 8,700 rooms, are under construction, awaiting conversion or approved for development in more than 15 other countries and territories. The company's Comfort Inn, Comfort Suites, Quality, Sleep Inn, Clarion, Cambria Suites, MainStay Suites, Suburban Extended Stay Hotel, Econo Lodge and Rodeway Inn brands serve guests worldwide. In addition, via its Ascend Collection membership program, travelers in the United States and the Caribbean have upscale lodging options at historic, boutique and unique hotels.

Additional corporate information may be found on the Choice Hotels Web site, which may be accessed at www.choicehotels.com.

Choice Hotels, Choice Hotels International, Comfort Inn, Comfort Suites, Quality, Sleep Inn, Clarion, Cambria Suites, MainStay Suites, Suburban Extended Stay Hotel, Econo Lodge, Rodeway Inn and Ascend Collection are proprietary trademarks and service marks of Choice Hotels International, Inc.