Articles tagged “red lion”

Why? They make money. And they're easier to roll out than a "hard brand." (Thus, why those are "hard.")

Whether you choose to view it as a war or not, it's fairly unanimous that nearly every hotelier wishes he or she would have more direct bookings versus bookings made through an online travel agency.

If you're a hotel company planning to launch and/or reinvest in a midscale brand, please make it interesting.

For about $27 million and change, this deal, for 1,000 hotel properties, was definitely a steal for Red Lion.

Red Lion has been making some bold moves as of late, including its arguably controversial partnership with Expedia. As the company scales up with this acquisition, it'll be interesting to see how Red Lion expands or deepens its partnership with other online travel agencies.

When it comes to relationships, hotel chains and online travel agencies have a lot of baggage but Marriott and Expedia, at least, are being open-minded and are taking advantage of each other. Expedia is becoming a technology provider for hotels in a move that has parallels with the way rival Booking.com's BookingSuite division is providing market intelligence and website services for properties. Where this all ends up is anyone's guess.

Red Lion Hotels is obviously a much smaller chain than a Hilton Worldwide or Marriott International. Still, Red Lion's deal to offer its member-only rates on Expedia.com and Hotels.com represents the start of some shifting in the direct-booking landscape. Expedia is a powerful force in hotel distribution and there will be more of these changes to come.

As the lodging options available to travelers diversify far beyond those of traditional hotels, legacy brands find themselves needing to differentiate their services for each kind of guest.