Choice Hotels seeks agency for brand push

Hotel group Choice Hotels Europe (CHE) is looking for an advertising agency for the first time in three years to manage its estimated &£2m advertising for its four brands.

The move comes after brand awareness research was carried out by CHE’s US parent Choice Hotels International. It found that its brands would benefit from a more consistent marketing approach. The company owns or franchises more than 350 hotels in the UK and Europe under the Comfort, Quality, Sleep Inn and Clarion brands. A spokeswoman says the hotel group is looking for a full-service agency to handle the creative and media planning accounts.

CHE hired agency Senior King as its lead marketing agency in 2001 but it held the account for only one year (MW May 1, 2003). Since then advertising has been handled by a number of different agencies hired on a project basis.

The company has also announced that its director of sales and marketing, Stuart Leven, is to become an executive board member – making him one of the few marketers to be promoted to the board of directors.

Leven joined the company in January this year from Moat House Hotels where he was sales and marketing director. He previously held senior roles elsewhere in the leisure industry, including the airline KLM where he was UK head of international sales.

His promotion to the board, which was announced this week, takes immediate effect.