Atlanta-based US Franchise Systems, Inc. is a noted hotel franchising company, formed in 1995 by hotel industry icon Mike Leven and acquired by business interests of the Pritzker family of Chicago in November of 2000. USFS is now a subsidiary of Global Hyatt Corporation.

USFS’ hotel brands include Microtel Inns & Suites, the award-winning chain of all newly constructed, interior-corridor economy hotels, and Hawthorn Suites, the all-suite, mid-market, extended-stay chain. The Company has a system wide total of more than 400 hotels open or under construction around the globe.

USFS has gained national recognition as a fair franchisor, both customer and franchisee-oriented, with a reputation for treating franchisees fairly and a franchise license agreement that has become an industry model. We have been named a Best Practice Champion by the American Hotel Foundation, and were the first hotel company to receive the Fair Franchising Seal from the American Association of Franchisees and Dealers (AAFD) - initially in 2000 - and have continued to qualify each year since. What makes this particularly meaningful is that our own franchisees voted overwhelmingly for us to receive the seal.

In recognizing USFS for the second time as its “Franchisor of the Year”, the AAFD Awards Committee looked beyond its praise for our company’s commitment to fair franchising standards and wrote:

"USFS has clearly distinguished itself as much for its business innovation and support for the profitability of its network as it has for its dedication to quality franchising."