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WestCoast Hospitality Corporation Partners with LRA Worldwide to Further Enhance Their Lodging Brands
Innovative Quality Program to Measure and Enhance Guest Satisfaction and Brand Loyalty for WestCoast and Red Lion Hotel Brands
SPOKANE, Washington/HORSHAM, Pennsylvania; September 23, 2002 - WestCoast Hotels, a unit of Spokane-based WestCoast Hospitality Corporation (NYSE:WEH), today announced that the company has retained LRA Worldwide to implement an innovative quality assurance and performance measurement program for their hotel portfolio. WestCoast Hospitality Corporation owns, manages and franchises more than 90 hotels in 16 states, trading under the WestCoast Hotels and Red Lion Hotels and Inns brand names. Sharon Sanchez, Executive Vice President-Hotel Division of WestCoast Hospitality Corporation remarked, "We are committed to providing our many guests with the consistent, memorable and distinctive experiences they have come to expect from WestCoast Hotels and Red Lion Hotels. Red Lion Hotels was recently acquired by WestCoast Hospitality Corporation. LRA Worldwide has been a long-time partner of Red Lion Hotels and Inns. Working closely with LRA over the years, we have designed and implemented an innovative process to measure and enhance the performance of Red Lion's people, product and brand. We will now introduce this program throughout the WestCoast Hotels portfolio as well. We value our consistency, our unique product offerings and the resourceful and friendliness of our staff; the hallmark of our brands. Working with LRA ensures that we will continue to focus on and improve our efforts in these key areas."
"We are delighted to have this opportunity to transfer and share our quality measurement processes with the WestCoast Family of Hotels", said Melissa Farrell, Vice President of LRA Worldwide. "We have enjoyed our long relationship with Red Lion Hotels and Inns, and look forward to working with WestCoast Hotels as well. Our process measures and evaluates performance in all key hotel function areas, including reservations, arrival, departure, guest services, cleanliness and maintenance of the physical product, F&B, and business center. This program will help ensure that all WestCoast Hotel guests throughout the chain consistently receive the most attentive personal service and outstanding facilities."
About WestCoast Hospitality Corporation
WestCoast Hospitality Corporation completed the acquisition of Red Lion Hotels, Inc. in December 2001 and now owns, manages and franchises more than 90 hotels in 16 states. WestCoast Hotels and Red Lion Hotels and Inns focus on serving business, convention and leisure travelers in first, second and third tier markets. WestCoast provides entertainment services through TicketsWest, including event ticketing for venues in the United States and Canada, and aggregates content for travel and entertainment that is sold in real-time at its www.ticketswest.com website. TicketsWest also includes WestCoast Entertainment, a Broadway and special event presenting company. G&B Real Estate Services is the real estate division of WestCoast Hospitality Corporation and owns and manages commercial and residential properties. Registered trademarks of WestCoast Hospitality Corporation protect the use of "WestCoast" and "Red Lion Hotels and Inns" and "TicketsWest". For more information, visit the company's Web site at www.westcoasthotels.com.
About LRA Worldwide, Inc.
LRA Worldwide, Inc. is a leading consulting, organizational development and research company that specializes in Customer Experience Management (CEM). LRA helps companies and brands design and deliver the optimal customer experience across all key touch points using an integrated suite of services that measure and improve service quality, customer satisfaction, employee performance, loyalty, customer advocacy and profitability. LRA specializes in "operationalizing the brand" - turning brand promise and customer strategy into operational reality. LRA's CEM practice areas include CEM Strategy Design, Standards Development & Content Management, Organizational Development & Training, Research and Quality Assurance & Mystery Shopping; these are either deployed together in a strategic manner to continually monitor and improve the customer experience or deployed individually to address a specific tactical client need.
LRA's clients include some of the world's leading companies and brands, including Starwood Hotels & Resorts, Hard Rock Hotels & Casinos, the PGA TOUR, Albertsons Supermarkets, the NBA and First Niagara Financial Group. For more information, visit the company's Web site at www.LRAworldwide.com
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