WINGATE INN® HOTEL OPENS FOR BUSINESS IN FARGO, ND

Business and leisure travelers to the Fargo, ND, area will find advanced in-room telecommunications such as free guestroom high-speed Internet access, comfortable amenities and a 100% stisfaction guarantee at the new four-story, 84-room franchised Wingate Inn hotel at 4429 19th Avenue SW.

"We're located in the heart of the West Acre Business Park so business travelers won't have to go far to find high quality business accommodations," says Brian Conneran, hotel owner and president of Fargo Business Traveler, L.L.C. "Leisure travelers will also benefit from our location because we're near the Red River Zoo, West Acre Shopping Center and just minutes from Hector International Airport."

John Paul Nichols, Wingate Inns International, Inc. president and CEO adds, "We're very excited to open a Wingate Inn hotel in Fargo, a town brimming with corporate offices. Our business-related amenities, especially free guestroom high-speed Internet access, will guarantee that business travelers can work efficiently and effectively while away from the office. Leisure travelers will also feel at home with the host of comfortable amenities that the hotel has to offer."

As a part of the Wingate Inns chain, this franchised Wingate Inn hotel features high-speed Internet access connections in every guestroom, as well as in the meeting room and boardroom. Guests with standard Ethernet card and RJ45 connector will be able to enjoy free access to the Internet from guestrooms at speeds up to 50 times faster than conventional 56K modems. Meeting room and boardroom high speed Internet access will be rentable on a half-day and full day basis.

The hotel also features standard amenities such as express, automated check-in and check-out, as well as in-room cordless phones and two-line desk phones with dataport, speaker, conference call and voice mail capabilities. Wingate Inn hotels also offer meeting rooms, 24-hour access to a business center with free usage of fax, printing and copying equipment, and wireless phones that can be checked out from the front desk and used anywhere within the hotel for both incoming and outgoing calls.

Although focused on providing efficient working conditions for the business traveler, Wingate Inn hotels also provide amenities for leisure travelers such as an in-room entertainment system featuring pay-per-view movies and Nintendo 64 games. They can also benefit from larger-than-average guestrooms (12' x 28'), an expanded continental breakfast, a whirlpool, exercise facilities, free accommodations for children 18 and under accompanied by adults, the Wingate Inn 100% gest satisfaction guarantee and in-room safes, coffee makers, hair dryers and ironing boards with irons. In addition, the Wingate Inn hotel in Fargo features an indoor pool, in-room microwaves, a Jacuzzi suite and one suite with a fireplace. Room rates begin at $81 for a standard room and $149 for the Jacuzzi suite.

Wingate Inns International, Inc. is an all-new construction hotel chain that opened its first franchised hotel in July 1996. Its focused service, upper mid-market franchised hotels feature sophisticated, consumer-based technology and comfortable, oversized rooms that were created in response to business travelers' needs. All Wingate Inn hotels are independently owned and operated under Franchise agreements.