As Lodgian has previously outlined, a major component of the company's business plan is comprised of developing a "world class" sales and marketing organization. "As competition for room demand stiffens, we believe it to be prudent and proactive in putting in place the necessary sales resources, expertise and infrastructure that will provide a catalyst for Lodgian's continued internal growth," said Cole.

Efforts began early in 1999 when President and Chief Executive Officer, Robert S. Cole, along with Chief Operating Officer, Karyn Marasco, appointed Dan Engle as Vice President of Sales and Marketing. Engle has over 20 years of hospitality sales and marketing experience, and most recently held a similar position with Interstate Hotels.

Engle has built an experienced team of sales and marketing professionals at the corporate level consisting of a Corporate Director of Revenue Management, Corporate Director of Sales, National Director of Business Development and a Corporate Director of Sales Technology. The saturation of specific expertise has resulted in a series of checks and balances for "finding the right customer, for the right hotel, at the right price, at the right time," according to Engle.

"There is a direct correlation between Dan and Karyn's efforts in building this sales organization and Lodgian being among the industry leaders in RevPAR growth," said Cole.

The forward thinking team includes such well-known industry executives as Scott Dahl. Dahl, hired in April as Corporate Director of Revenue Management, is responsible for overseeing the revenue management process. Dahl has developed a series of systems using historical market and hotel specific data to forecast future trends in each of Lodgian's individual markets. Through information technology and history, Dahl has been able take the guessing out of forecasting.

In turn, D.C. Becker, also hired in April as Corporate Director of Sales, uses Dahl's information to focus sales and marketing efforts and properly train his sales teams to maximize business from Lodgian's existing customer base. Through leadership, effective training and a concentration on account management, Becker oversees the sales process increasing revenues already on each hotel's doorsteps.

Industry veteran Patrick Beron, brought on in May, directs the national business development program aimed at adding to the customer base through a sales force selling targeted "need dates" at Lodgian hotels across the country.

"Our goal is to proactively fill rooms that would otherwise sit empty, " said Beron. "We are targeting specialty groups, who can take advantage of specific date availability, rather than the business traveler. They get a very competitive rate and the hotel fills rooms they might not have before."

Serving as support to Engle's team is Charles Riveire, Corporate Director of Sales Technology. With technology fueling each component, Riveire has played a critical role in implementing a sales contact management system allowing the corporate office and each hotel to work from one system for booking rooms. This system, coupled with real time reporting generated by daily forecasting and web-based technology developed by Lodgian's IT department, allows the entire sales and marketing organization to focus its efforts in the right direction.

"Lodgian's focus on technology was one of the driving forces behind my joining the company," Engle said. "The ability to forecast market trends, project negative occupancy on a daily basis and manage marketing expenses through real-time, web-based programs has made my job a lot easier. These kinds of things were unheard of a few years ago."

Supplementing the corporate sales and marketing positions, Lodgian supports its hotels with six field based regional teams. In addition to operational support functions, each regional team is comprised of a Regional Director of Sales and a Regional Director of Revenue Management.

"These positions allow us to take macro functions and implement them in a more micro environment," according to Engle. "Each of the regional teams has geographic responsibilities for 20 to 25 hotels, allowing more time with the individual properties. These regional team members have a wealth of experience from some of the best management companies in our business, and are masters of process change."

At the heart of not only Lodgian's technology efforts, but also its sales and marketing organization is its Revenue Center in Baton Rouge, La. Designed to increase operational efficiency, maximize revenues and centralize sales efforts, the Revenue Center was introduced two years ago. Today, the Center serves as a reservation hub for almost 60 percent of Lodgian hotels and houses a portion of its Business Development Organization.

"Centralized reservations allow front desk associates to better service the guests on property without telephone interruptions," Engle said. "At the same time, our tracking tells us it improves booking percentages and yields better revenue per call." The idea is not novel, he admits, however what is novel is the execution of the idea by a multi-branded hotel owner/operator.

The Business Development portion of the Revenue Center is made up of a Tele-Prospecting unit and a Tele-Sales unit. While the majority of the associates are taking incoming reservation calls, others are making outbound calls to prospective clients.

"An associate may make 100 calls a day and only come up with a few solid leads. But what comes out of the funnel is truly qualified sales leads worth millions in business," said Beron. "We're targeting to fill the projected vacancies at the hotels with customers we have never done business with before." The leads are then given to the field based Directors of Business Development to close the sale.

"The entire process can be viewed like a circle, with each component playing an integral part," said Engle. "With technology at the center, we are able to change our sales strategies on a daily basis to best fit the needs of our hotels."

Lodgian, Inc. owns and operates a portfolio of 134 hotels with more than 25,000 rooms in 35 states and Canada. The hotels are primarily full service, providing food and beverage service as well as meeting facilities. Lodgian is the second largest Holiday Inn franchisee and one of Marriott's largest franchisees. Substantially, all of Lodgian's hotels are affiliated with nationally recognized hospitality brands such as Crowne Plaza, Doubletree, Hilton, Radisson, Sheraton and Westin. For more information on Lodgian call 404/364-9400 or visit www.lodgian.com.