Justin Edwards & Samantha Lewellen named "General Manager of the Year"

FRISCO, TX - JANUARY 26, 2010 - Image Hospitality recently named Justin Edwards & Samantha Lewellen as the 2009 General Managers of the Year during the company's Annual Business Meeting.  Edwards serves as general manager of the Hampton Inn & Suites in Waco, TX, and Lewellen serves as general manager of the Holiday Inn Express Tyler-South in Tyler, TX.  Managers from the nine properties in the Image Hospitality portfolio attended the company's 2010 Business Meeting. The meeting provided Image Hospitality leadership an opportunity to meet with their managers and discuss, as a group, new strategies and business initiatives for 2010, including operations, sales, and e-commerce. The business meeting also gave the attendees a chance to share ideas and set goals for the upcoming years.

Edwards has been with the company since 2002.  In 2009, his property; Hampton Inn & Suites in Waco, TX was a recipient of the "Lighthouse Award" by Hilton Worldwide.  This award is based on guest survey satisfaction, which ranked the hotel as the 13^th top Hampton Inn & Suites in the Nation.

Lewellen has been with the Holiday Inn Express Tyler South property since 2007. In 2009, Lewellen's property was among the best performing hotels in the overall rank within the brand by receiving an almost perfect 98.31 QA score for the 2009 year which places them almost at the top 10% in the Holiday Inn Express hotels in the Nation.

"We are very proud to have great general managers like Justin and Samantha work for our company," commented Yogi Patel, cheif operating officer.  "They exemplify the determination and leadership skills to be the best hotel managers.  They have made a name for the hotel in and around the Tyler and Waco community."