"It has been an exciting year for the franchisees - purchasing the company, focusing the business model and enacting programs that serve the franchisees," said Kevin Lewis, president and CEO of SFS. "Therefore, it is especially energizing to see the positive impact these changes have had on the system and the franchisees."

Generally, extended-stay hotels outperformed the overall hotel industry in the first quarter of 2003 as compared to the first quarter of 2002, according to The Highlands Group's US Extended-Stay Lodging Report. However, the report also noted that that economy sector saw both occupancy and RevPAR decline.

"We've bucked the trend for the economy extended-stay lodging segment," said Lewis. "We attribute this success to a combination of factors including the franchisees' high degree of focus on our goals, corporate marketing efforts and aggressive sales strategies at the property level."

Lewis went on to say that the brand's new partnership with Petty Enterprises and the Richard Petty Driving Experience will support this positive momentum during second and third quarters.

Many segments experienced declines in RevPAR including economy and mid-priced extended-stay hotels and the transient economy segment. Suburban's RevPAR increased 4.1 percent over last year, which is 8.72 percent over the first quarter average for the economy extended-stay segment and 2.92 percent above the average for the overall extended-stay lodging segment.

Suburban has been fortunate in that the rate of increase in supply in the mid-price and upscale segments far exceeded that of the economy segment for first quarter 2003. Additionally, Suburban has capitalized on the weak economy and implemented aggressive marketing efforts to increase demand. Suburban Extended Stay Hotels' average occupancy was 72 percent, a 2.9 percent increase over last year. The industry average for overall extended-stay hotel occupancy was 68.5 percent.

Suburban's average rate increased .7 percent over the same period last year. The overall extended stay lodging segment experienced an average rate increase of 1.1 percent.

A leader in the economy extended stay lodging segment, Suburban Franchise Systems, Inc. is an Atlanta-based, franchisee-owned company, which owns and operates 62 Suburban Extended Stay Hotels throughout the United States.