Red Lion May Make A Return To Spokane

The Red Lion hotel brand may again appear in Spokane.

The hotel chain’s chief operating officer, Jim Dina, said Tuesday the DoubleTree Hotel Spokane Valley could be reconverted to the brand the facility carried as recently as 1997.

The DoubleTree Hotel City Center is less likely to undergo rebranding, he said, based on criteria Promus Hotel Corp. set in announcing plans to restore the Red Lion name to as many as 15 DoubleTrees by fall.

Changes can only occur with the consent of the owners, he said.

Promus is a minority partner in the downtown property. The Boykin real estate investment trust owns the Valley hotel.

Promus, a Memphis, Tenn.-based operator of 1,300 properties under a variety of brands, said it wants to open 100 Red Lion hotels during the next four years, reversing an earlier strategy to convert most Red Lion hotels to the DoubleTree brand.

Promus said it will start with the conversions. Combined with 20 existing Red Lions, those will expand the chain to about 30 properties in eight Western states.

Dina said future additions will include franchised operations, something Red Lion did not formerly do.

“There really is not a better name in the Northwest,” he said, adding that he has received calls from would-be franchisees since word of Red Lion’s resurgence started spreading though the lodging industry.

Dina said Red Lion will also be the only Promus group with a frequent-guest program offering discounts and other perks to good customers.

Most Red Lion hotels, including the two in Spokane, were converted into DoubleTree properties after DoubleTree Corp.’s 1996 acquisition of Red Lion Hotels Inc. DoubleTree later merged with Promus.

Red Lion hotels typically have 150 to 250 rooms, with rates that average about $65 a night, according to Promus.

Dina said the DoubleTree Hotel City Center’s size and rates probably position it outside those parameters.

Promus’s Red Lion unit will be based in Vancouver, Wash., where Red Lion Hotels Inc. was based and where Promus also keeps an office that manages hotel reservations.