Published on : Saturday, November 9, 2013
Red Lion Hotels Corporation (NYSE: RLH) today announced its Board of Directors unanimously has approved a new multi-pronged growth strategy that will allow the company to refine its owned hotel portfolio and place greater emphasis on franchising and development in major Western U.S. markets.
“Throughout the economic downturn that impacted the entire hospitality industry, the Board of Directors and management team of Red Lion Hotels have executed a focused approach to improve our operations, increase our financial flexibility and position the company to benefit when markets recovered,” said Interim President and Chief Executive Officer James P. Evans.
“Now that the industry has stabilized, the board is confident our new strategy is the
best way to continue optimizing shareholder returns and the ongoing CEO search process
will identify the best leader to carry this plan forward. “The sale of non-strategic assets over the past few years, along with the refinancing of our debt this summer, has considerably strengthened the balance sheet of Red Lion Hotels,” continued Evans.
“We used proceeds from an asset sale in 2011 to purchase ten previously leased properties which, along with refinancing the company’s maturing securitized debt, gave us control of our properties and the flexibility to divest non-strategic properties. The next steps in our plan include divesting six additional non-strategic properties, more aggressive promotion of our brand, and continued enhancements in our owned and leased hotels, including funding significant renovations to attract new customers and increase our occupancy rates.
While we still have work ahead of us, we are confident we are successfully executing our franchise strategy and achieving our goals. Going forward our goal is to complement the growth of our hotel portfolio through direct real estate investments, partnerships or joint ventures and management contracts.”
Source:-Red Lion Hotels
Tags: Hotel News, strategy
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