I don't know exactly where they're getting this from, but I just did a Google search for "Quality Suites history", and the top result was Google AI which says:

Quality Suites was one of three brands created by Quality Inn in 1981 when the company split into separate segments:

• Quality Inn: The legacy brand of Choice Hotels International, known for its value and affordability
• Quality Suites: One of the three brands created in 1981
• Comfort Inn: A lower-priced, limited-service chain that was marketed to families, business travelers, and seniors

And the Choice Hotels Wikipedia page seems to contain similar information, so maybe the AI just rephrased that?

So it's unclear if there was even a truly "first" location, because since it was apparently splitting up from one brand to three, so it's possible that there were a bunch conversions at once.