BELTSVILLE, MD-The Comfort Inn Capital Beltway has completed a major upgrade to its facilities. The 169-key hotel, located at 4050 Powder Mill Rd., has done over its lobby and public space under a plan put in place by Choice Hotels. Renovations now complete, Joseph Bojanowski, president of PM Hospitality Strategies, operators of the hotel, said, in a prepared statement, that "this hotel is in peak physical condition."

The renovations included Comfort Inns' "Your First Impression" program that includes a redesigned welcome wall with stone backdrop, new flooring, artwork and furniture.

The program and its subsequent renovations is one reason why Steve Joyce, president and CEO of Choice Hotels International, said he was excited about result for Comfort Inn and Comfort Suites brands, in the hotel's recent earnings call.

The multi-year plan is designed to position the brand in upper mid-scale segment. It is being rolled out to new hotels and in some existing hotels. There is "strict criteria requiring some hotels to improve or be removed from system," he added.

In May, CHH launched a $40 million Comfort property improvement incentive program, which has been exceptionally well received from franchisees, he also said.

Government Postscript

Joyce also noted during the call that its DC-area hotels took at a hit during October's government shut down. He reported that DC was down 11%, Virginia was down 10%, Maryland was down 4%.

"I was at a thing last night where somebody asked, was there really any impact?" Joyce told listeners on the call. "I started rattling these numbers. They go you're kidding me. And it's almost like people thought that was a paperless exercise, when in fact it had a significant impact on a number of our franchisees and moved our fourth-quarter forecast down…probably 25 to 50 [BPS] on the forecast."