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Red Roof Inns, Inc. Business Information, Profile, and History

4355 Davidson Road
Hilliard, Ohio 73026-2491
U.S.A.

History of Red Roof Inns, Inc.

Red Roof Inns, Inc., controlled by the Morgan Stanley Real Estate Fund, was the third largest budget lodging chain in the United States. In 1996, the "rooms only" motel chain owned and operated more than 230 inns in 33 states. Except in a few locations where zoning or building codes interfered, all the motels featured the chain's signature red roofs.

The Trueman Years: 1972-86

Red Roof Inns was founded in 1972 by James R. Trueman, a native of Cleveland and a developer of apartments, office buildings, and mobile home parks, who anticipated a growing market for budget travel lodging--quality rooms without costly amenities. Trueman opened his first Red Roof Inn in Grove City, a suburb of Columbus, Ohio, in February 1973. The motel was named for the Red Roof Tavern, a steakhouse in Kalamazoo, Michigan.

Trueman, a sportsman who also owned the TrueSports auto racing team, guided Red Roof Inns Inc. for the next 14 years, until his death in 1986, following a two-year battle with cancer. By then, Red Roof Inns, which promoted its motels with the simple slogan "Sleep Cheap," had become the largest privately owned and operated chain of budget motels in the United States, with 180 motels in 30 states and $148 million in annual revenues. Eleven days before his death, Trueman also saw Bobby Rahal drive the TrueSports/Red Roof Inn car to victory in the Indianapolis 500.

Less than a week before he died, Trueman announced a company reorganization that called for William J. Denk, then head of the company's development division and a longtime friend who had helped Trueman found Red Roof Inns, to succeed him as president. He named Richard Bibart, who had joined the company in 1984 as general counsel and vice president of planning, to head the Red Roof Inns Management Co., the new operating arm of the Red Roof Inns. When Trueman died, ownership of the company passed to a trust with his widow, Barbara, as chairman.

Without Trueman at the helm, Red Roof Inns lost its aggressiveness and expansion slowed. In 1987, Denk acknowledged to Ohio Business that life at Red Roof Inns was different without Trueman. "What we lost--and we lost a hell of a lot--was the entrepreneurial spirit that Jim gave to this company. I think it's a classic case of the difference between entrepreneurial management and systems management. Jim owned the majority of this company, and could pretty much do what he wanted with it. My style is, I report to the company's board, and I have to manage with that in mind. As a result, I think I'm more bottom-line oriented than Jim was."

1988: "Hit the Roof" Debuts

When Denk, at the age of 65, retired as planned in 1988, Bibart was named to head the corporation. That same year Red Roof Inns, targeting the business traveler, became the first budget motel chain to offer copy machines and fax services at all its properties.

The company also hired W.B. Donar & Co., a Detroit-based advertising firm, to create a more sophisticated, aggressive advertising campaign. The result was "Hit the Roof," a series of television commercials featuring actor Martin Mull, who ridiculed high-priced extras at other motels, such as a supposed $27 chocolate mint on the pillow at night and off-key lounge entertainment. The motel chain's first television advertising campaign, "Hit the Roof" received a silver Effie Award from the American Marketing Association.

The following year, Red Roof Inns opened its 200th motel, in Orlando, Florida, which was also the first Red Roof Inn with a swimming pool. Red Roof Inns also broke with its no-frills Company Perspectives:

We place great emphasis on the three components that create strong customer value in our segment&mdash′ice, location, and consistent quality.

tradition to add swimming pools to its motels in Tampa and Kissimmee. Although business travelers continued to be the mainstay for Red Roof Inns, management felt swimming pools were critical to compete for families vacationing at the nearby destination resorts, including Disney World. Still, Bibert told Lodging Hospitality, "We must be careful about adding amenities that will increase room rates."

In 1989, Red Roof Inn also announced a major renovation program, updating its guest rooms and lobbies in older motels, many of which had not changed since 1976. The lobbies were expanded to add "warmth," while some rooms were enlarged to offer business travelers more work space. "Business King" rooms were also outfitted with telephone modem jacks for computer hook-ups. Targeting about a dozen motels per year, Red Roof spent an estimated $15 million on renovations between 1989 and 1991.

Early in 1990, Red Roof Inns surprised the industry by announcing that it would develop its first full-service hotel--including restaurant, indoor swimming pool, health club, and conference center--in Columbus, Ohio, near company headquarters. The upscale, 182-room hotel was named the Trueman Club, after the company founder.

New Life with Morgan Stanley in the 1990s

Late in 1993, the Morgan Stanley Real Estate Fund, a division of investment banker Morgan Stanley Inc., bought Red Roof Inns for $600 million. The Wall Street Journal reported that Morgan Stanley, known for buying distressed properties, initially approached Red Roof Inns about acquiring a minority interest in the chain, with the infusion of cash fueling long-delayed plans for expansion. After the purchase, analysts following the hospitality industry pointed to the acquisition as evidence that the investment value of hotels and motels, stagnant for several years, was once again on the rise.

Under Morgan Stanley, Red Roof Inns, which had added only The Trueman Club to its list of properties since 1990, acquired more than a motel a month for the next year and a half. Morgan Stanley also brought in a new management team and named Jack Van Fossen, a longtime director, as president and chief executive.

In 1995, Red Roof Inns also added its first new-construction motels in five years, in El Paso, Laredo, Houston, and San Antonio, Texas. The new motels came with a redesigned floor plan, with exterior room entrances in the ground floor, but still avoided costly extras. John Campbell, then chief operating officer, told Hotel & Motel Management that Red Roof Inns would continue to fight "amenity creep," something he said the motel chain had lost sight of in the 1980s. "We don't spend an extra penny if it doesn't add value for guests," Campbell said. "We have to make sure we stay in our niche."

Late in 1995, Morgan Stanley took Red Roof Inns public with a $160 million initial public offering, the 10 million shares representing about 35 percent of all stock in the company. Soon afterwards, Francis "Butch" Cash, a longtime Marriott Corp. executive who had succeeded Van Fossen as president and chief executive, announced that Red Roof Inns would begin a franchising program for the first time in its 23-year history.

Trueman, the entrepreneur, had established the policy against franchising. As Bibart told Lodging Hospitality in 1989, "It was clear to Jim Trueman that Red Roof could grow rapidly. [But he] felt strongly about the ability to control the product and to operate it in a first-class manner." Morgan Stanley had restated that policy and concern about control when it acquired Red Roof Inns in 1993. Peter Krause, then head of Morgan Stanley's lodging and leisure division, told Hotel & Motel Management, "While we have no opposition to franchising, we don't see ourselves getting into that. We like to own and we like to control. You lose control when some third party owns and operates the property."

However, in an interview with the Wall Street Transcript in late 1996, Cash explained, "We think that [Red Roof Inns] should be opening 45 or 50 properties per year and in order to do that, we need to have a very active franchising program." He predicted Red Roof Inns would award about 25 franchises per year. Cash also said the company was looking for joint-venture partners for motels that Red Roof Inns would manage. He told the Columbus Dispatch Business Reporter, "How many inns should we have? A lot closer to 1,000 than 300."

Related information about Red

otheruses


Red is any of a number of similar colors at the lowest frequencies of light discernible by the human eye.

Red is an additive primary color, complementary to cyan. however, the colors cyan, magenta and yellow are now known to be closer to the true subtractive primary colors detected by the eye, and are used in modern color printing. In order to produce exact colors the color red needs to be defined in terms of an absolute color space such as sRGB.

  • Red denotes "stop" in, for instance, stop signs, traffic signals, brake lights, or the flashing lights of a school bus.
  • Red is the color of blood, and a Red Cross, Red Crescent or Red Crystal emblem signifies medical personnel, facilities, or equipment, or the Geneva Conventions.
  • Red indicates extreme danger on Western color-coded scales, such as wildfire hazard signs or the U.S. Homeland Security Advisory System. It also denotes the maximum level of danger and preparedness as in the phrases condition red and red alert.
  • In auto racing, a red flag signals all cars to immediately stop.
  • "Redlining" is delineating a forbidden area (as on a map), for instance where a company denies or increases the cost of services, and is illegal in various circumstances in the U.S.
  • With ships on collision courses, the ship on starboard tack sees the Green for Go light on the ship on port tack, while the ship on port tack sees the Red for Stop light on the ship on starboard tack.
  • Being the color of blood, red was associated in Roman mythology with the god of war, Mars, and the reddish planet Mars became named after him.
  • Red is the color of the passion (emotion), romance and sex, (because of its association with blood, which is responsible for arousal) thus the red of a Valentine heart and of a "red-light district".
  • In the World Cup, red is the color of victory in South Korea.
  • Red is considered holy in some parts of sub-sahara Africa.
  • Before the French revolution red was the color of the flag signifying the imposition of martial law.
  • Red is one of the Christmas colors, with green, white, or both.
  • In some East Asian countries, the names of the deceased are written in red ink in a Book of the Dead. To write a living person's name with red ink is taboo, tantamount to placing a curse on the person

Red in the Military and Politics

  • Beginning with the Revolution of 1848, "Socialist" red was used as a color of European Revolutionaries, often in the form of the red flag. It was also used by Garibaldi's camicie rosse ("redshirts") in the Italian Risorgimento, and taken up by Leftist and generally revolutionary groups, while the white of legitimist Bourbon partisans became associated with pre-World War I conservatives.
    • For instance the Civil War in Russia and the Civil War in Finland were fought between the "Red Army" and various "White Armies".
    • The identification of Communism with "Socialist" red (with the red flag being the primary color of the flag of the Soviet Union) and the red star being a Communist emblem led to such Cold War phrases as "the Red Menace" and "Red China" (distinguished from Nationalist China, "Free China," or Taiwan). The color was also associated with political vehicles such as the Red Guard in China and the Red Guards during the Russian Revolution of 1917 as well as with left wing paramilitary groups such as the Red Army Faction in Germany and the Japanese Red Army.
    • Red remains associated with parties on the left of the political spectrum, with several notable exceptions (see "Political Parties" below)
  • In maps of political parties, red is traditionally used for the following parties:
    • Australia: Labor
    • Brazil: Workers' Party
    • Canada: Liberal Party of Canada
    • Finland: Social Democratic Party of Finland
    • Germany: Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands (Social Democratic party of Germany) and Partei des Demokratischen Sozialismus (Party of Democratic Socialism)
    • Malta: Malta Labour Party
    • New Zealand: New Zealand Labour Party
    • The Netherlands: Partij van de Arbeid (Social Democratic party), Socialistische Partij (Socialist Party)
    • Portugal: Portuguese Communist Party (and the Unitarian Democratic Coalition, of which the PCP is part of)
    • Sweden: Swedish Social Democratic Party and the Left Party (Sweden)
    • United Kingdom: Labour Party
    • United States: Republican Party, since the 2000 presidential election, when contrasted with blue representing Democratic Party.
  • Red is the national colour of Wales
  • Red is the color of the coat of arms of ?amrun, Malta.
  • In the United States Army, red is the color of the artillery and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Brick red is the color of the United States Army Transportation Corps, while crimson is the color of the Ordnance Corps, and Maroon is that of the Medical Corps.
  • In the Finnish Army, red is the color of artillery. Black symbols on a red field signify field artillery, white symbols signify anti-aircraft artillery.
  • Red is the color commonly associated with the British Army (e.g., Redcoats) and is also used to describe someone of British nationality.
  • Red is the color often used for the Roman, British and Soviet Empires.
  • In the history of Japan red is the color of military flags used by the Heike (or Taira) clan and of the Genji (or Minamoto) clan, two clans that struggled for power at the close of the Heian era, in the late 12th century.
  • In the United States wearing red clothing is promoted by some groups to symbolize support for or opposition against the Iraq War, or to spread awareness about heart disease. See: Red Friday
  • Red is also used to symbolize AIDS awareness or Drug awareness, in the form of a red ribbon

Red in science, technology and computing

  • Red is the word for a fish of the genus Myripristis in Tobian.
  • Red is the color used for critical or important systems (such as emergency lighting) that operate in low-light or night-time conditions, as rod cells in the human eye do not respond to it and therefore does not interfere in the eye's ability to focus in dim environments.
  • A red filter used in black and white photography increases contrast in most scenes.
  • Oxygenated blood is red due to the presence of oxygenated hemoglobin.
  • One screen is called Red Screen of Death

Other Symbolism of Red

  • In Christianity, red represents the color of fire and so symbolizes the presence of God. In Catholic tradition it is used for Palm Sunday in anticipation of the death of Jesus.
  • In North American stock markets, red is used to denote a drop in stock prices.
  • In Association football (soccer), the referee shows a red card to a player who is being sent-off.
  • In English heraldry, red (called gules) denoted ardent affection or love, while crimson (blood-color) stood for boldness, enthusiasm, or impetuosity. 369-370)
  • A red item is an omen in the 2006 film The Omen (2006 film)
  • Red is the color claimed by the street gangs Bloods and Norte単os.
  • Red is the color of the lowest-value balls in snooker.
  • In the Star Wars universe, red is traditionally (although not always in the Expanded Universe) the color of light sabers used by the Sith, evil users of the Force.
  • In the 1983 television mini-series V and V: The Final Battle (1984), as well as the short-lived weekly series that followed, all of the Visitors wear red jumpsuits.
  • In the Harry Potter series of novels by author J.K. Rowling, the character Hagrid's given name is Rubeus, which is the Latin word for red.

In other languages

Hungarian has two words for red, medium piros and dark v旦r旦s, which are distinct colors the way red and pink are distinct colors in English. These include cherries, beets, turnips, strawberries (often used in referring to "strawberry blonde" hair), and raspberries (as referenced in the Prince song, "Raspberry Beret".

Red pigments

  • Alizarin
  • Carmine
  • Indian red
  • Red lead
  • Red ochre
  • Vermilion
  • Mercury oxide

See also



  • List of colors



Shades of red
Optical spectrum

Additional topics

Company HistoryHotels & Resorts

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