Sheraton To Change Affiliations

The Sheraton-Spokane Hotel, one of the best-known hotels in the Inland Northwest, will change its name soon.

The partnership that owns the downtown hotel announced Thursday that it will terminate its status as a Sheraton franchise effective March 31.

Riverfront Associates Limited Partnership, the Seattle-based firm that has owned the SheratonSpokane Hotel since 1990, is negotiating with several undisclosed national hotel chains that would like to gain franchise rights to the hotel.

Although unlikely, the hotel will become independent after March 31 if no chain agrees to become associated with the hotel, located at N322 Spokane Falls Court.

Riverfront has no immediate plans to sell the hotel, said Beryl Ash, president of U.S. Development Co., Riverfront’s general partner.

In October, Sheraton’s parent company, ITT Corp., indicated it hopes to sell the franchise rights to all Sheraton hotels except the ones it owns.

The franchise decision was one part of a broad restructuring plan. With the acquisition of New York’s Madison Square Garden and Caesar’s Palace in Las Vegas, ITT said it hopes to expand its lodging and entertainment division by concentrating on large marquee properties.

“That’s when we started considering the change to another franchise,” Ash said.

Riverfront also didn’t want to comply with Sheraton’s corporate regulations on food service, room design and architecture.

“We had to show the `Sheraton character’ in the lobby and rooms, and we thought we might prefer that of another franchiser …,” Ash said in a telephone interview from Seattle.

It is unlikely that the change will result in layoffs or new hiring at the hotel.