56Chevy
12 years ago
LVH - Las Vegas Hotel & Casino First to Join New Leo Hotel Collection
SPOKANE, Wash., Feb. 4, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Red Lion Hotels Corporation (NYSE: RLH) today announced the LVH – Las Vegas Hotel & Casino, also known as the LVH, will be first to join the Leo Hotel Collection, a new brand segment announced by the company in January. LVH and Red Lion Hotels signed the agreement this week and the hotel is expected to integrate the license affiliation relationship by the end of the first quarter.
"We are happy to have the LVH join as the first hotel in the Leo Hotel Collection," said Ron Burgett, Executive Vice President of Lodging and Brand Development for Red Lion Hotels Corporation. "This iconic hotel has the outstanding guest service and amenities that can only be found in premium Las Vegas resorts, all directly adjacent to the Las Vegas Convention Center, one of the world's largest meeting destinations. We look forward to being rewarded for the incremental revenue we drive to the LVH from reservations made through our select distribution channels."
"This historic property is a home run for the Leo Hotel Collection," said Harry Sladich, Executive Vice President of Sales, Marketing and Distribution for Red Lion Hotels Corporation. "The LVH has a rich storied past as the former stomping grounds and home of Elvis Presley."
Having served as headquarters for some of the best entertainers of all time with a 1,650 seat main showroom and 350 seat cabaret, the LVH is a world-class 2,956-room resort hotel, with luxury suites and opulent villas. The LVH is home to the world-famous Benihana, the first name in exhibition-style, Japanese cuisine, among its 14 restaurants and the world's largest Race and Sports Book – THE SUPERBOOK® in its 95,000 square foot full-service casino. The hotel has 220,000 square feet of meeting space, a full-service spa, a luxurious outdoor pool with 17 cabanas, six tennis courts and access to a prestigious private golf course. Located at 3000 Paradise Road, LVH is just one block off the famous Las Vegas Strip, offers easy access from McCarran International Airport, is adjacent to the Las Vegas Convention Center and conveniently accessible to the Las Vegas Monorail, providing easy access to all of the excitement of the Las Vegas Strip.
"This strategic relationship allows the LVH the opportunity to work with a well-respected hotel company like Red Lion. Affiliating with the new Leo Hotel Collection, the LVH joins a strong and well-established distribution network to the benefit of all," said Rick Stevens, President of Navegante Gaming LLC, representing the LVH.
Red Lion Hotels Corporation introduced the Leo Hotel Collection as a new brand in development last week at the Americas Lodging Investment Summit (ALIS). The brand is geared toward independent owners of boutique and historic hotels interested in access to the company's reservation distribution systems, providing more than 48 percent contribution through its central sources. The alliance also provides access to the services of Red Lion revenue management, national sales and marketing teams and to the Red Lion R&R Club members, attractive options for independent hotel owners looking to maintain their own local identity. The Leo Hotel Collection is designed for unique properties offering superior amenities with great attention to detail and outstanding and distinctive customer service.
http://ih.advfn.com/p.php?pid=nmona&article=56135736
56Chevy
12 years ago
Red Lion Hotels Announces New Franchise at Denver Airport Location
Date : 09/12/2012 @ 1:57PM
Source : PR Newswire
Stock : Red Lions Hotels Corp. (RLH)
Quote : 6.64 -0.06 (-0.90%) @ 4:16PM
SPOKANE, Wash., Sept. 12, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Red Lion Hotels Corporation (NYSE: RLH) today announced the company has signed a franchise license agreement with the owners of a hotel located at the Denver International Airport, the fifth busiest airport in the nation.
"Our new franchise is one of the closest hotels in proximity to the Denver International Airport, a superb location that will gain visibility for our brand," said Ron Burgett, Executive Vice President of Lodging and Brand Development for Red Lion Hotels. "We have been looking for just the right property in this airport market and we are glad to have this hotel join the system."
The future Red Lion Inn and Suites Denver Airport, located at 7010 Tower Road, is expected to join the system by November 2012. The hotel has 87 guest rooms and is just minutes from downtown and multiple venues, including those used by the Denver Broncos, Colorado Avalanche and Denver Nuggets.
"With all of the competition we have in this market, we think Red Lion will help us to differentiate our property and compete in the midscale segment," said Zanfar Kahn of Tower Hospitality, owners of the hotel.
[....]
http://ih.advfn.com/p.php?pid=nmona&article=54146529
56Chevy
12 years ago
Red Lion Hotels Announces Sale of its Sacramento Hotel; Adds New Sacramento Franchise
Date : 09/04/2012 @ 4:14PM
Source : PR Newswire
Stock : Red Lions Hotels Corp. (RLH)
Quote : * 6.64 -0.06 (-0.90%) @ 4:16PM
*The price per share on the date of the announcement of the sale was $7.30. A decline in pps.
SPOKANE, Wash., Sept. 4, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Red Lion Hotels Corporation (NYSE: RLH) announced today it has sold for $9.0 million the Red Lion Hotel Sacramento at Arden Village. This hotel was previously leased to the buyer. As part of the transaction, the franchise agreement at that location will terminate and a new franchise will be added in Sacramento.
"This transaction supports our strategy to reduce debt, expand our franchise system and improve the competitive position of our hotels," said Jon E. Eliassen, President and Chief Executive Officer of Red Lion Hotels Corporation. "We sold our property in Sacramento and added a new franchise hotel with extensive meeting and banquet facilities that make it a much better fit in that market for the Red Lion brand going forward."
In November 2011, the company acquired ownership of the Red Lion Hotel Sacramento at Arden Village as part of an agreement with iStar Financial Inc. to purchase 10 previously leased hotels. The company has been leasing the property to a company owned by Kumar Sharma, which has now purchased the hotel from Red Lion. As part of the transaction, Sharma's subsidiary, Shri Vinayaka Hotel Inc., has signed a new franchise license agreement with Red Lion Hotels for the former Woodlake Hotel Sacramento, a property he also owns.
"Our new franchised property in Sacramento is in a wonderful location and is a great fit for our customers," said Ron Burgett, Executive Vice President of Lodging and Brand Development for Red Lion Hotels. "And, we are especially pleased to carry forward our business relationship with Mr. Sharma."
The new franchise, the Red Lion Hotel Woodlake Conference Center Sacramento, is located at 500 Leisure Lane on the scenic shores of a private lake, just three miles from the Sacramento city center. The full service hotel offers 306 guest rooms, 60,000 square feet of meeting space, a fitness center and an outdoor pool. The Lakeside Bar and Grille in the lobby of the hotel is known for its views and for its Mediterranean and California Fresh cuisine. The property is a popular wedding and meeting venue.
"Red Lion is well-recognized in Northern California," said Kumar Sharma of Shri Vinayaka Hotel, Inc. "We are looking forward to our continued franchise relationship with Red Lion and all of the benefits we expect to have from converting an independent hotel to a trusted brand."
[....]
http://ih.advfn.com/p.php?pid=squote&symbol=RLH
56Chevy
12 years ago
This is partly why RLH has been able to sell properties lately.
Hotel Construction Sees Comeback in U.S. (9/19/12)
By KRIS HUDSON
U.S. hotel construction, which dropped sharply during the economic downturn, has staged a modest turnaround, buoyed by building booms in New York as well as in small towns crowded with workers drilling oil-shale formations.
In the past four quarters, construction starts for U.S. hotels are up 32% by room count from the same period a year ago, and new-project announcements are up 22%, according to Lodging Econometrics, which tracks the hotel industry globally. Fueling the construction rebound are rising occupancy and room rates at U.S. hotels since 2009 and a willingness by more lenders to make hotel-construction loans, typically the most volatile and risky of commercial real-estate classes.
The average U.S. room rate of $105.53 in the first seven months of this year marks a 6.6% increase from the same period in 2009, according to Smith Travel Research. Average occupancy increased in the same span by nearly seven percentage points to 62.3%.
The pickup in hotel construction is a mixed signal for the industry. Although it is viewed as a sign that developers are confident about the economy's prospects and about consumers' willingness to travel, some owners of existing hotels worry that too many new hotels can lead to lower room rates in the future.
But so far, analysts say the new construction cycle isn't likely to lead to an oversupply of rooms, coming after nearly three years of declines in construction. At the end of the second quarter, developers had 474 hotels, totaling 60,000 rooms, under construction in the U.S. That is up from 437 hotels and nearly 55,000 rooms in the previous year. New-project announcements in the past year totaled 1,180 hotels, up from 926 in the previous year.
"Very modestly and very quietly, a new [construction] cycle has begun," said Patrick Ford, president of Lodging Econometrics. The company predicts a steady rise in new hotel openings through 2014.
New York remains by far the most-active market for hotel construction with 7,248 rooms being built, amounting to roughly 11% of the national total. Though the city's room count grew 7% in 2010 and 2.3% last year, its occupancy has remained above 80% since 2010. "New development is not catching up with the increase in demand," said Issac Hera, chief executive of Brack Capital Real Estate USA, which is developing three hotels in Manhattan.
A similar hotel boom is unfolding in a far different locale: rural communities atop oil-shale formations being drilled for oil and natural gas. Of the top 10 U.S. markets for hotel construction in the past year, three are in oil-shale areas: North Dakota, with 2,088 rooms under construction; the greater Corpus Christi area in Texas, with 1,491 rooms; and rural Oklahoma, with 1,242 rooms.
Most developers in these smaller markets are building budget and midscale hotels to accommodate oil-shale workers and other energy-industry employee. The hotels are needed in these areas to house the many workers, from engineers to rig workers, needed to drill and complete wells across the region. Since those workforces move around often to different drill sites, companies prefer to house them in hotels rather than longer-term residences such as houses or apartments.
Braxton Development, based in Bozeman, Mont., built Microtel Inns in the small North Dakota towns of Williston and Dickinson last year and opened a Hampton Inn in Williston last August. "When we first started, we were the second hotel in Williston to get built," Braxton principal Jon Braxton said. "But more competition came along quickly. It's as crazy as ever. Hotels still are running fairly full."
However, some hoteliers worry that the hotel-construction booms in markets like North Dakota amount to a bubble set to pop, especially if federal regulation cools the drilling industry or if gas and oil prices decline sharply. Lamont Cos., based in Aberdeen, S.D., recently built a Hampton Inn in Dickinson, N.D., and the builder also is planning a Candlewood Suites in the town.
Yet Jeff Lamont, president and chief executive, said he would sell the properties if the right offer surfaces. "I know of six or seven hotels going up in Dickinson," he said. "It has us a little nervous about what might happen with the occupancy once all of these hotels are built. To me, it seems like there might not be enough demand there for all of them."
Overall, two-thirds of new hotels under construction in the U.S. are either upscale or upper midscale, according to Lodging Econometrics. And many of those are limited-service properties, meaning they don't include restaurants or other amenities found in full-service hotels.
Developers and lenders tend to favor those types of hotels because they are more profitable than full-service hotels with restaurants. They also can be built on smaller sites and tend to hit their stride with occupancy and rate more quickly after they open.
The construction boom is made possible by the availability of construction loans, which dried up during the economic downturn but are now starting to flow again. Joe Hoesley, vice president of commercial real estate for U.S. Bancorp USB +0.53%in Minneapolis, said underwriting criteria remain fairly stringent for hotels.
Hotel owner and developer White Lodging Services Corp. has six hotels under construction in five states. Deano Yiankes, president and chief executive of White Lodging's investments and developments division, said that construction loans are "available at terms that are starting to get into the realm of doable again" for credit-worthy companies
http://professional.wsj.com/article/SB40000872396390444772804577621842373381510.html
56Chevy
12 years ago
Red Lion Hotels Authorizes Exploration of Strategic Alternatives to Maximize Shareholder Value
SPOKANE, Wash., March 28, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Red Lion Hotels Corporation (NYSE: RLH), a western U.S. based owner and franchisor of midscale hotels, today announced that its board of directors has authorized Bank of America Merrill Lynch to explore strategic alternatives to maximize shareholder value, including a potential sale of the company or a strategic combination with a third party. The board has formed a Strategic Alternatives Committee comprising independent directors Ryland P. (Skip) Davis, Melvin L. Keating and Ronald Taylor. This Committee will work with Bank of America Merrill Lynch in its review.
"The Red Lion Hotels board of directors and management team are committed to maximizing shareholder value," said Jon E. Eliassen, President and Chief Executive Officer of Red Lion Hotels Corporation. "We have been working with Bank of America Merrill Lynch since mid-February, and authorizing the exploration of strategic alternatives, including a potential sale of the company, demonstrates our commitment to achieving this important objective. Our board and management team are open minded about the process and intend to evaluate all options thoughtfully and carefully."
Mr. Eliassen continued, "Red Lion Hotels will continue to operate in the ordinary course and will continue to execute its strategic plan to position the company for growth and value creation, including pursuing transactions for our assets currently held for sale. We have made important progress as evidenced by the completion of the strategic sale of Seattle Fifth Avenue, which allowed the company to acquire previously leased hotels and strengthen its balance sheet with the retirement of more than $28 million in debt. We remain focused on improving profitability and are confident that the successful execution of our three-pronged strategy to reduce debt, expand our franchise program and improve the competitive position of our hotels will enhance value for all Red Lion Hotels shareholders."
The evaluation of financial and strategic alternatives will not necessarily result in any changes to the company's current business plan or any transaction or agreement. The company does not intend to disclose developments regarding the evaluation of financial and strategic alternatives unless and until a final decision is made.
http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/red-lion-hotels-authorizes-exploration-of-strategic-alternatives-to-maximize-shareholder-value-144694675.html