Westcoast Hospitality (NYSE:WEH)
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Red Lion Hotels' Corporate Rate Programs Rated Highest in
Business Travel News Survey
Ranked among the "Top 5" in its segment
SPOKANE, Wash., Feb. 14 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- WestCoast Hospitality
Corporation (NYSE:WEH) today announced that its Red Lion brand was ranked first
by respondents in the 2005 Business Travel News' Top U.S. Hotel Chains Survey
with the best corporate rate programs. "We're pleased that the marketplace has
acknowledged some of the innovative corporate rate initiatives we've introduced
over the past year," said Bill Heaney, Vice President, Sales. "For large and
medium sized companies, our negotiated rate programs are flexible and provide
last room availability, attributes our customers have told us are important to
them," added Heaney.
In the Business Travel News survey, 6,000 corporate travel managers and
business travel agents were asked to rank the hotels with which they do
business across multiple price point segments. In the "mid-price with food and
beverage" segment, Red Lion ranked in the top-five overall based on survey
responders' rankings of eleven criteria deemed critical in the hotel purchase
decision and ranked first in corporate rate programs. "We're pleased that the
corporate market has responded so favorably to the initiatives we've launched
over the past eighteen months," said John Taffin, Executive Vice President,
Hotel Operations. "Our free Net4Guests high speed Internet access, 'Stay
Comfortable' plush pillow top mattresses, and 'We Promise or We Pay' rate
parity program are resonating in the marketplace," added Taffin.
In 2004, Red Lion also introduced two new corporate rate programs aimed at both
large and small businesses. Its "Pride Rate" program allows companies and
individuals who would not normally qualify for volume discounts to obtain
favorable pricing based on their preferred usage of Red Lion hotels. In
addition, and as an example of a business-to-business partnership, members of
Alaska Airlines' and Horizon Air's "EasyBiz" online corporate booking tool are
automatically provided with preferential EasyBiz corporate rates at all Red
Lion hotels. "We're proud to partner with Red Lion as our single EasyBiz hotel
partner and know that our EasyBiz members appreciate the additional hotel
savings our relationship provides," said Bob Derse, Manager - Corporate
Internet Sales for Alaska Airlines.
In late 2004, WestCoast Hospitality Corporation announced it will invest $40
million to revitalize all of the Red Lion Hotels it owns -- one of the most
significant facility improvement programs in company history. The investment
will enhance 31 hotels, accelerating the company's ongoing program to improve
hotel quality by increasing customer comfort, freshening decor and modernizing
with technology. It also builds on the $11 million the company invested during
2004 on such hotel improvements.
WestCoast Hospitality Corporation is a hospitality and leisure company
primarily engaged in the ownership, management, development and franchising of
mid-scale, full service hotels under its Red Lion(R) and WestCoast(R) brands.
In addition, through its entertainment division, which includes its
TicketsWest.com, Inc. subsidiary, it engages in event ticket distribution and
promotes and presents a variety of entertainment productions. G&B Real Estate
Services, its real estate division, engages in traditional real estate-related
services, including developing, managing and brokering sales and leases of
commercial and multi-unit residential properties.
This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of
federal securities law, including statements concerning plans, objectives,
goals, strategies, projections of future events or performance and underlying
assumptions (many of which are based, in turn upon further assumptions). The
forward-looking statements in this press release are inherently subject to a
variety of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ
materially from those expressed. Such risks and uncertainties include, among
others, matters discussed in the Company's annual report on Form 10-K for the
2003 fiscal year and in other documents filed by the Company with the
Securities and Exchange Commission.
Contact: John Taffin
Title: Executive Vice President, Hotel Operations
Phone: 1-509-459-6100
Internet:
http://www.westcoasthotels.com/
http://www.ticketswest.com/
http://www.redlion.com/
http://www.g-b.com/
DATASOURCE: WestCoast Hospitality Corporation
CONTACT: John Taffin, Executive Vice President, Hotel Operations, of
WestCoast Hospitality Corporation, +1-509-459-6100 or
Web site: http://www.westcoasthotels.com/