Spokane-based Red Lion Hotels Corp. is remodeling three of its hotels in Spokane and Post Falls at a combined cost of roughly $4.8 million.


Remodeling work at the Red Lion Hotel at the Park at 303 W. North River Drive, the Red Lion River Inn at 700 N. Division, and the Red Lion Templins Hotel on the River at 414 E. First, in Post Falls, is expected to be completed by the end of March, says Todd Thoreson, Red Lions vice president for hotel operations.


The work includes installing new carpets and furniture and renovating bathrooms in the guest rooms of the 400-room Hotel at the Park, 245-room River Inn, and 163-room Templins Hotel, he says. After that work is done, the company probably will remodel the restaurants and bars at the two Spokane hotels, Thoreson says. Exterior painting of the hotel in Post Falls was completed last fall, following a renovation of the hotels two-floor, 11,000-square-foot convention center, which wrapped up in May 2004.


The renovations are part of the companys plan to spend more than $40 million on improvements to its hotels companywide, with about 10 percent of that money being spent on its hotels here, Thoreson says.


Theres a lot of positive momentum with the tourism industry in these markets, he says.


The hotels are remaining open during the remodeling work.


The company announced last November its plan to sell 11 hotels and other properties, including the Crescent and Paterson buildings that it sold in December, to raise the money for the renovation projects.