The company was established in 1939 as Quality Courts United. It started as a referral chain consisting of seven motel operators. After a while, the motel chain began operating under the name Quality Motels, from 1969 to 1971, and Quality Inns from 1972. The company accepted franchise hotels without very strict guidelines or norms, making it different from Holiday Inn which, from its beginning, already implemented a number of mandatory standards such as room size, etc. Moreover, Quality Inn accepted franchisees that already operate existing hotels.
In the early years of its operation, Quality Courts focused on areas of the US east of the Mississippi River and some parts of Canada. It had a marketing partnership with Best Western, whose properties were mostly located west of the Mississippi River, from 1946 to 1964. However, the efforts were abandoned as Best Western expanded into the eastern US, thus the creation of Best Eastern. Meanwhile, Quality Courts started to move its operations toward the national market, beginning by opening a motel in St. Louis, Missouri and two in Texas.
In 1972, the company changed its name to Quality International as it switched to franchising. Several years later, the franchising well on its way, an approximate of 300 hotels were already independently owned, with 38 remaining company-owned.
In the 1980s, the company began introducing new brands as it started segmentation. In the 1990s, they ventured into economy-oriented chains and changed its corporate name to Choice Hotels International.