[2] Red Lion Hotels' roots began in 1959 in the Portland metropolitan area by two local business partners, Tod McClaskey and Ed Pietz.

The original motel would eventually land in the hands of Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen's Aegean Development Company, which purchased it on November 1, 1992 for $5 million.

Aegean, cited the extraordinary maintenance costs of operating a 40-year hotel, weighed against potential revenues that would be generated by a redevelopment of the site, as its reason for closing the inn.

[3] At the time of the sale, the company had a footprint stretching across eight states and employed 11,000 workers,[3] becoming the largest privately owned hotel chain west of the Mississippi River.

[9] McClaskey stayed on with Red Lion as its CEO until his retirement in 1989,[4] while Pietz would go on to operate Raffle Hotels and Inns for a brief time, before transitioning into real estate development.

[20] Seeking to revitalize some of its aging properties, in 2004 WestCoast Hospitality announced plans to sell 11 company-owned hotels to fund a $40 million "rejuvenation project" for the rest of the chain.

Red Lion hotels are currently located in Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Idaho, Maryland, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Utah, Washington, Wisconsin, as well as British Columbia in Canada.

Between 2007 and 2008 parent company Red Lion Hotels Corporation lost one-third of its market value and[23] subsequently instituted a wage freeze and five percent pay reduction for salaried employees.

[24] In a 2008 interview, CEO Anupam Narayan stated he expected the chain to lose six properties by the end of that year; franchises that did not commit to a required remodel program.

The new CEO of the company coming from over 25 years in the hospitality industry wanted to focus more on providing a high quality brand for guests of the corporation.

Featuring a cartoon lion caricature, the campaign included full-page ads in daily newspapers in nine U.S. cities, as well as regional editions of USA Today.