Jack G. Lucas Earns Lifetime Achievement Award from the International Ticketing Association

SPOKANE, Wash., Jan. 31, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Red Lion Hotels Corporation (NYSE: RLH) and WestCoast Entertainment are proud to announce Jack G. Lucas, President of TicketsWest, earned the Patricia G. Spira Lifetime Achievement Award from the International Ticketing Association.

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"I am humbled and honored to be presented with the INTIX Patricia Spira Lifetime Achievement Award.  It is validation of the decision I made 26 years ago to become involved in an industry that has given me everything I could have asked from a career," said Jack Lucas, President of TicketsWest and WestCoast Entertainment and Vice President of Entertainment for Red Lion Hotels Corporation. "In addition, I have an incredible respect and admiration for Pat Spira, for whom the award is named. Pat was always supportive and passionate about what we were trying to achieve in growing TicketsWest into a national brand."

The award was presented to Lucas at the 34^th International Ticketing Association INTIX Annual Conference and Exhibition at Disney World Contemporary Resort in Buena Vista, Florida.  This award is presented to members who have been actively engaged in the direct management of a ticket operation for a minimum of twenty years, have made a major contribution to the ticketing industry by helping to set standards of excellence in all aspects of ticket management, and have been actively involved in the continuing development and organization of INTIX.

"This is a tremendous honor for a man who has worked most of his career to develop and build an extremely successful ticketing business," said Jon E. Eliassen, President and Chief Executive Officer of Red Lion Hotel Corporation, parent company of TicketsWest and WestCoast Entertainment.  "Jack Lucas certainly understands ticketing processes better than anyone in the business."

Lucas began his career in 1987 as the first manager of what was then G&B Select-A-Seat.  At the time, the ticketing company had two box offices and one call center, selling approximately 100,000 tickets annually.  TicketsWest now expands from the West Coast through St. Louis, Missouri, and is among the top ticketing companies in the United States.

Although this is the most prestigious award Lucas has earned professionally, he has received several other recognitions in the past.  Lucas was named INTIX 2004 Ticketing Professional of the Year.  In 2003, he earned Inland Northwest Tourism Professional of the Year and in 2010 he earned the ELITE Award from Visit Spokane.  In 2012, TicketWest in collaboration with Montana State University earned the Innovator of the Year award for pioneering a solution to college student ticketing for game days from Paciolan, an industry-leading provider of ticketing, marketing, and fundraising solutions.

About Red Lion Hotels Corporation:
Red Lion Hotels Corporation is a hospitality and leisure Company primarily engaged in the ownership, operation and franchising of midscale hotels under its Red Lion® brand. As of December 31, 2012, the RLH hotel network was comprised of 48 hotels located in nine states and one Canadian province, with 9,015 rooms and 484,693 square feet of meeting space. The Company also owns and operates an entertainment and event ticket distribution business. For more information, please visit the Company's website at www.redlion.com.

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Contact: Pam Scott
Red Lion Hotels Corporation
509-777-6393 (d)
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SOURCE Red Lion Hotels Corporation