Downtown Red Lion Is Now Doubletree

A downtown Spokane hotel will change ownership June 9 for the second time in three years.

People passing the former Red Lion City Center may already have noticed the new Doubletree Hotel sign, which was installed Friday noon.

Doubletree Hotels Corp. acquired Vancouver-based Red Lion Hotels Inc. on Nov. 8, 1996. In Spokane, both the downtown property, 422 W. Spokane Falls Court, and the Spokane Valley site, at Sullivan and Interstate 90, will be converted to Doubletree hotels.

The Red Lion took over the hotel in December 1995 from ITT Corp., the former Spokane Sheraton’s parent company.

Doubletree is one of the nation’s largest chains with 242 hotels in 39 states and Washington, D.C., Mexico and the Caribbean. The company has 29,000 employees.

Lynn Ericksen, general manager of the downtown hotel, said he expected most Red Lion employees to keep their jobs. “There will be no reductions in staff,” Ericksen said.

Ultimately, he said, 30 to 50 positions will be added as the hotel completes a $6 million expansion. , DataTimes