Century 21 System signs master franchise agreement for Caribbean; 30 real estate brokerage offices to open in 36 months.

PARSIPPANY, N.J.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 24, 1996--Robert W. Pittman, managing partner and chief executive officer of Century 21 Real Estate Corp., today announced the signing of a master franchise agreement for the development of CENTURY 21 real estate offices in the Caribbean region.

Pittman, together with John Balossi, president, CENTURY 21 Sun Land Corp., Villa Carolina, Puerto Rico, said that under the terms of the agreement, Balossi will become regional owner and will hold master franchise rights for the region. Pittman said, "The agreement is the beginning of a new era in the way real estate is bought and sold in the Caribbean."

Pittman reported that Balossi, an experienced broker/owner who is fluent in several languages, expects to have 30 CENTURY 21 offices open and staffed within the next 36 months in 22 island groups throughout the Caribbean. These include Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Aruba, Bahamas, Barbados, Bermuda, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Dominican Republic, Grenada, Guadeloupe, Haiti, Jamaica, Martinique, Monserrat, Netherlands Antilles, Puerto Rico, St. Lucia, St. Vincent's and the Grenadines, Trinidad and Tobago, Turks and Caicos, and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

"The Caribbean real estate market is tied very closely with American consumers," Pittman said. "Families from the United States who vacation in the Caribbean often explore the possibility of owning a second home there. All they lack to make their dream come true is the familiar, reassuring presence of quality and service that comes with a true national brand, the CENTURY 21 brand. We expect sales to skyrocket."

Eric E. Pfeffer, president and managing director, HFS Global Services, stated, "This is the first international real estate master franchise agreement to be signed since the creation of the new Global Services division on April 1. The agreement demonstrates our resolve to grow HFS' international real estate and hotel brands quickly around the globe." He added, "John Balossi has decades of unparalleled experience in dealing with the wide range of real estate practices and cultural issues throughout the Caribbean."

"The CENTURY 21 brand and its reputation for quality service is ideally suited for the Caribbean," said Henry Silverman, chairman and CEO of HFS Inc., the parent company of Century 21 Real Estate Corp. "We expect to see dynamic growth in this area."

Century 21 Real Estate Corp., a subsidiary of HFS Inc., is the largest real estate sales organization in the world, with approximately 6,100 independently owned and operated franchised broker offices in 14 countries and territories worldwide.

HFS Inc. is the world's largest franchisor of hotels and real estate brokerage offices. Its stock is listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol "HFS." The company has about 5,200 Days Inn, Howard Johnson, Knights Inn, Park Inn, Ramada, Super 8, Travelodge, and Villager Lodge franchised hotels with more than 480,000 rooms in the United States, Canada, Latin America, and Europe, and more than 8,600 CENTURY 21 and ERA franchised offices with approximately 100,000 brokers and agents in the United States, Mexico, Canada, Europe, Africa, and the Asia/Pacific region. The company announced on May 2 that it has entered into a definitive agreement to purchase Coldwell Banker Corp., a leading residential real estate franshisor with more than 2,500 brokerage offices in North America, for $740 million.

CONTACT: Century 21 Real Estate, Parsippany

Richard Edmonds, 201/560-8903