WEH Westcoast Hosp Cp

WestCoast Hospitality Corporation Adds the Red Lion Hotel on the River in Portland, Oregon to Its Family of Hotels SPOKANE, Wash., Feb. 2 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- WestCoast Hospitality Corporation (NYSE:WEH) today announced an addition to its Red Lion brand. The owner of the DoubleTree Hotel-Jantzen Beach in Portland, Oregon has executed a franchise license agreement with the Company's subsidiary, WestCoast Hotels, Inc. The 318 room property will open as the Red Lion Hotel on the River in late March, 2005. The hotel is managed by North Pacific Management, Inc., and features wireless high speed Internet access, pool, fitness center, tennis courts and a business center. WestCoast recently announced a $40 million facility improvement plan for its owned Red Lion Hotels which will accelerate the company's ongoing program to improve hotel quality by increasing guest comfort, freshening decor and modernizing with new technology. Consistent with this plan, the Red Lion Hotel on the River will undergo renovations that will include updated bathrooms, new plush pillow top Red Lion "Stay Comfortable" beds and new decor in all sleeping rooms and meeting space. To take advantage of the beauty of the hotel's riverside location, there will be new outdoor meeting space directly on the banks of the Columbia River with riverside decks, a lobby bar and a double stone fireplace built into the lobby. The hotel has 34,000 square feet of meeting space. Of that space, 18,000 square feet is a ballroom that will be configurable to allow flexible conference and meeting space. The hotel is located a half mile away from the Jantzen Beach Supercenter Mall and minutes from the Portland Airport, downtown and the Portland Expo Center. All renovations to sleeping rooms and meeting space will be designed to accentuate riverfront views and riverside access, with emphasis on guest service and the overall guest experience. "We are very pleased to be teaming up with Red Lion Hotels. We want to make this the best hotel in Portland," said Brett Wilkerson, Vice President of Hotel operations for North Pacific Management, Inc. "The capital improvements we are planning will make the hotel a true resort in the city, a destination for business, leisure and restaurant guests." John Taffin, Executive Vice President Hotel, Operations for WestCoast Hospitality Corporation said, "It will be wonderful to have the Red Lion Hotel on the River in our family of hotels. The property was at one time a flag-ship hotel of the Red Lion brand in the Portland area. This hotel fits well with the Red Lion growth strategy of having excellent combination meeting, business and leisure hotels in primary markets." About North Pacific Management, Inc. North Pacific Management is based in Portland, Oregon. Some of the other properties managed by North Pacific Management include: The Heathman Lodge in Vancouver, Washington, SouthPark Seafood Grill & Wine Bar in Portland, Oregon, Radisson at the Airport in Portland, Oregon, and Ashland Springs Hotel in Ashland, Oregon. About WestCoast Hospitality 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 WestCoast(R) and Red Lion(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 acting as a broker for 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: Julie Langenheim Investor Relations Manager WestCoast Hospitality Corporation +1-509-777-6322 DATASOURCE: WestCoast Hospitality Corporation CONTACT: Julie Langenheim, Investor Relations Manager, of WestCoast Hospitality Corporation, +1-509-777-6322, or Web site: http://www.ticketswest.com/ Web site: http://www.westcoasthotels.com/

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