Sheraton Changing To Red Lion

The Sheraton-Spokane, one of the best known hotels in the Inland Northwest, will get interior and exterior redesigns when it becomes a Red Lion Inn this summer.

According to the partnership that owns the downtown hotel, Vancouver, Wash.-based Red Lion Inn has signed a letter of intent with the hotel’s owners and will most likely enter a joint venture in June or July.

Riverfront Associates Limited Partnership, the Seattle-based firm that has owned the SheratonSpokane since 1990, is in the process of finalizing negotiations with Red Lion Inns. Red Lion manages 54 hotels in Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nebraska, Oregon, Texas, Utah and Washington.

In the meantime, Sheraton has given the hotel an extension to use its national affiliation and logos until the end of May, said Beryl Ash, president of the U.S. Development Co., Riverfront’s general partner.

The hotel’s owners have been shopping for a new chain to affiliate with since October, when Sheraton said it wanted to drop its association with the Spokane hotel as part of a corporate restructuring.

When the Sheraton’s name is removed from the high-rise hotel near Riverfront Park, the upper end of the Spokane hotel market will be dominated by regional chains. Experts said that the absence of national franchises - and their extensive reservation networks - would not impact tourism or hotel occupancy rates significantly.

“The biggest problem may be that it takes Spokane out of an international reservation network,” said John Hunt, department head and professor with the Department of Resource Recreation and Tourism at the University of Idaho in Moscow.

But he stressed that Red Lion is recognized in the West as an upscale hotel on par with national chains such as Sheraton.

“The lion’s share of hotel use comes from Pacific Northwest business and leisure travelers. As such, if my guess is correct, I would think that the Red Lion network would probably reach the vast majority of the market in the region,” Hunt said.

“If Spokane were a major, international destination, it might make some difference. But it’s not, and both properties are good quality properties. I don’t think you’re trading off for lesser quality,” he said.

The downtown hotel will get a new look for the facade and interior, and prices will likely increase somewhat to subsidize the remodeling effort, Ash said.

“Overall, it’s a very good improvement for the hotel,” Ash said. “We think Red Lion is one of the strongest chains in the Northwest and if this association completes itself, we will be very pleased.”

Red Lion, which also has a hotel in the Spokane Valley, will replace Sheraton as the property manager and will hire all of its own employees for the Spokane hotel. Red Lion will most likely interview and rehire employees currently working for Sheraton, Ash said.