Red Lion Hotels Corp., of Spokane, announced this afternoon that it plans to introduce a new brand segment of hotels that will be called The Leo Hotel Collection.

Intended to complement its full-service Red Lion Hotels and the limited-service Red Lion Inns & Suites, The Leo Hotel Collection will be comprised of boutique and historic hotels in key markets, the company said in a press release.

"The Leo Collection is a new opportunity for franchising, and we are currently in discussions with hotel owners about converting to the new brand," said Ron Burgett, executive vice president of lodging and brand development.

As part of its rebranding, Red Lion is working with TravelClick on a website design. The umbrella site of redlion.com went live Jan. 16, and the company expects to launch hotel-specific pages beginning this spring.

As of Dec. 31, Red Lion had 48 hotels in nine states and one Canadian province with a total of 9,015 guest-rooms and about 485,000 square feet of meeting space.