Denver, Colo. � January 20, 2003 � Richfield, a SWAN solution that has been providing practical, profitable hotel management services for more than 30 years, has achieved significant success and growth in 2002 amidst a down economy, and more contracts are in the pipeline for 2003. The secret to Richfield�s success stems from its management culture and its more than 100 years of combined hotel management experience.

�Jack Kemp once said: �Every team requires unity. A team has to move as one unit, one force, with each person understanding and assisting the roles of his teammates. If your team doesn't do this, whatever the reason, it goes down in defeat. You win or lose as a team, as a family.� (Kemp received the Republican Party�s nomination for vice president in August 1996; was a cabinet member and also led the San Diego Chargers and the Buffalo Bills football teams as Captain.) 

�This philosophy is revered at Richfield,� said Aik Hong Tan, Richfield president. �Our team is made up of individuals who are committed to a group effort�making hotels successful and profitable. That�s what makes a winning team, and what makes us at Richfield a family. Our team�s experience and enthusiasm trickles down to form a win-win situation for owners, managers, employees and guests.�

Tan said the company that gets ahead and stays ahead in today�s economy is the one that is able to recruit and retain the top talent. 

�In Richfield�s current management portfolio our general managers� tenure exceeds eight years on average.� Tan said. �In an industry where turnover is the rule, rather than the exception, we know we have something very special here within our culture and our people that cannot be replicated.�

The Richfield family is as qualified as they are committed. The management team has a proven track record of assisting owners and operators who are experiencing increased performance concerns relating to the repositioning of their asset in its competitive market, as well as improving profitability flow through. The company has successfully managed more than 250 properties, encompassing the entire range of product type, quality, size and scope of operation.

Commitment starts at the top

Tom Conran, Richfield Managing Director, said most management companies cannot afford to have the level of expertise on board that is apparent at Richfield. 

�Members of the Richfield corporate team have previously held property level positions, including experience as General Managers, Marketing Directors, and Controllers, many within the Richfield system,� Conran said. �They know hospitality, and understand the challenges owners and operators face on a daily basis because they have worked side-by-side in the trenches with hoteliers for many years.�

For example, Conran, has been a part of the Richfield family and its affiliates for 23 years and was instrumental in the acquisition and management of hotels on behalf of Regal Hotels and Millennium Hotels & Resorts. He served as a general manager and sales director at the property level for Holiday Inns, Radisson, Hilton and Sonesta hotels. Robert Ferree, Richfield VP of Operations, has been with the company for 10 years, and has also served as Vice President with Forte Hotels International. Bill Zollars, also VP of Operations, has been with Richfield for 27 years. As a 30-year hospitality industry veteran, Bill has served as general manager of numerous upscale full-service hotels, including: Sheraton Hopkins Hotel Cleveland, Ohio, Fourwinds Resort Indiana, Four Seasons Hotel New Mexico, Sheraton Denver Tech Center and Millennium Hotel Boulder, Colo. He also received the �GM of the Year� distinction twice for the company, as well as �Hotel of the Year.�

Rave reviews

Here�s what just a few the owners and general managers within the Richfield system have to say the company and its leadership:

�When Richfield took over our hotels, they made an immediate impact by reducing our expenses, increasing our marketing visibility, and getting us an audience with the franchise companies to pose questions that we never thought franchise companies would answer,� said John Cardwell, co-owner of Real Estate Investors of Decatur LLC, a company which owns four hotels in Illinois, each managed by Richfield. �Richfield�s inside knowledge of franchise operations, and the ability of its management team to maximize the franchisor/franchisee relationship is critical to our success as a multi-brand hotel owner.�

�As a family-owned and operated business, we were looking to align ourselves with a company that shares our management and operating philosophies and could immediately maximize our revenue and marketing potential,� said Rakesh Patel, owner of the The Clarion Hotel @ RTP in Raleigh/Durham, N.C. �Richfield was the top contender from the very beginning � not only because it has a great reputation, but the company is run by hoteliers just like us. Taking care of our employees and the members of the community is critical to our business success. The Richfield team listened to our needs, met our expectations and hit the ground running.�

�As soon as our Mendocino Hotel & Garden Suites hotel began working with Richfield we saw instantaneous results,� said Dwight Goldstein, hotel general manager. �The hotel immediately saved 15 percent on food purchases and experienced substantial savings in overall property procurement. In addition, we saw daily reservations come in from the global-distribution systems, where previously we had received none. With operating results like these, we knew we had to bring our sister property, The Hill House, into the Richfield family.�

Award-Winning GMs

Not only does the management team of Richfield receive rave reviews and exceptional operating results, but its successes have trickled down to the property level. In December, James Beard, general manager of the Comfort Inn Piqua in Dayton, Ohio, and John Wild, general manager of the Auburn (Ala.) University Hotel & Dixon Conference Center, were named �Hotelier Of The Year� by The Greater Dayton Lodging Council and the Alabama Hospitality Assn. respectively.

John Wild has worked in the hospitality industry since the age of 15, working in restaurants while in high school. After graduating from Michigan State University, he began his career in the lodging industry, working for Marriott Corp. in Missouri. He then joined Richfield Hospitality and worked at properties in Tennessee, Colorado, Montana, Florida and Michigan prior to moving to Alabama. He has now been with the Auburn University Hotel & Dixon Conference Center for 12 years.

�I believe my strongest traits as a general manager came from the corporate culture of Richfield and training from individuals like Bill Zollars and Bob Ferree,� Wild said. �When compared to other companies, Richfield was always superior in our financial and technical skills, which included accounting and proper controls. This bred a group of people who set standards which did indeed move down the line to our other staff and owners.�

Wild said that as the industry continues to change year after year, the strengths inherent in the Richfield management culture will come into play, more now than ever. 

�To be successful in 2003, more companies need to adopt the Richfield philosophy: �Treat all guests the way you want to be treated.  Accommodate all guests the way you would like to be accommodated,�� he said. 

James Beard has been with the Comfort Inn Piqua since June of 2000 and has served the hotel industry for nine years. He said he was attracted to the Comfort Inn because of its affiliation to Richfield and the opportunity to work for, and learn from a strong management company.

�In my nine-year lodging career, the difference I have found from working with other hotel companies and that of Richfield is that under Richfield, I feel as though I am part of a family,� Beard said. �Every time we need something, we get an immediate, friendly response, whether it�s about a human resource issue, or questions pertaining to purchasing, accounting or our computer system. We feel wanted. We feel important. We feel like family.�

About Richfield
Richfield Hospitality Services provides a full complement of successful management services to a broad range of limited-service, full-service and resort hotels.  The company achieves superior operating results through intense focus on its strong commitment to guests, employees and owners. Richfield is one of the key business units of SWAN Inc., a multi-service company focused on the hospitality industry.   Other hospitality services of SWAN include SCEPTRE (reservations management), SHIELD (insurance and risk management) and SOURCE (procurement of operating supplies and FF&E).

For more information on the recent growth of Richfield in 2002-2003, and a look at its impressive portfolio of hotels, please visit www.Richfield.com.

Swan Inc. is headquartered in Denver with approximately 1,000 employees. The company's shareholders include City e-Solutions Limited (CES) listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, and Millennium & Copthorne Hotels plc, a U.K.-based company listed on the London Stock Exchange, operating 91 hotels worldwide.

Tom Conran
Managing Director, Richfield
[email protected]
(860) 648-9040

http://www.Richfield.com/