UNITED STATES SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Washington, DC 20549

(Mark One)

Securities registered pursuant to section 12(g) of the Act: None

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer, or a smaller reporting company, or an emerging growth company. See the definitions of "large accelerated filer," "accelerated filer", "smaller reporting company", and "smaller reporting"emerging growth company" in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act. (Check one):

 

At December 31, 2017,2018, we employed approximately 1,580540 people on a full-time or part-time basis. Our total number of employees fluctuates seasonally.seasonally, primarily due to company operated hotel activity. At December 31, 2017,2018, approximately 8%11% of our total workforce was covered by various collective bargaining agreements providing, generally, for basic pay rates, working hours, other conditions of employment and organized settlement of labor disputes. AsAt February 28, 2019, we disposeemployed approximately 410 people on a full-time or part-time basis. Our employee count has declined over time as we have disposed of a number of our hotel ownership assets designatedcompany operated hotels and entered into third party management agreements for sale the numbermany of employees' subject toour remaining company operated hotels. At February 28, 2019, none of our workforce was covered by collective bargaining agreements will decline.agreements. We believe our employee relations are satisfactory.positive.

We are subject to various risks, including those set forth below, that could have a negative effect on our financial condition and could cause results to differ materially from those expressed in forward-looking statements contained in this report or other RLH Corporation communications.

Our revenues and operating results may be impacted by and fluctuate due to a number of factors, including the following:

Any of these factors could adversely impact our hotel brands, hotel room demand, andand/or pricing and thereby reduce occupancy, ADR and RevPAR or give rise to government imposed fines or private litigants winning damage awards against us. Reductions in occupancy, ADR and/or RevPAR could have a significant negative impact on the portion of our franchise revenues, which is derived from hotel rooms revenues.revenues as well as revenues from company operated hotels. These items could adversely affect our results of operations and financial condition.

The lodging industry is comprised of numerous national, regional and local hotel companies and is highly competitive. Competition for occupancy is focused on three major categories of travelers: business travelers, convention and group business travelers and leisure travelers. All three categories are significant occupancy drivers for our hotel system and our marketing efforts are geared towards attracting their business.

Competition in the industry is primarily based on service quality, range of services, brand name recognition, convenience of location, room rates, guest amenities and quality of accommodations. We compete against national economy, limited and full-service hotel brands and companies, as well as various regional and local hotels in the upscale, midscale and economy hotel segments of the industry.industry, and hotel alternatives, such as Airbnb. Many of our competitors have greater name recognition, a larger network of locations and greater marketing and financial resources than we do. Competitors may offer significantly lower rates, greater convenience, services or amenities or superior facilities, which could attract customers away from our hotels. New hotels are being built in a number of theseveral markets where we operate, which could adversely affect our business. In order to remain competitive and to attract and retain customers, we and the owners of our franchised and managed hotels must be able to differentiate and enhance the quality, value and efficiency of our product and customer service, and we must make additional capital investment to modernize and update our hotels.

We also compete with other hotel brands and management companies for hotels to add to our network, including through franchise and management agreements. Our competitors include management companies as well as large hotel chains that own and operate their hotels and franchise their brands. As a result, the terms of our prospective franchise and management agreements may not be as favorable as oura hotel owner's current agreements. In addition, we may be required to make investments in or guarantee the obligations of third parties or guarantee minimum income to third parties in connection with future franchise or management agreements.

If we are unable to compete successfully in these areas, our market share and operating results could be diminished, resulting in a decrease in occupancy, ADR and RevPAR for our hotels. Changes in demographics and other changes in our markets may also adversely impact the convenience or desirability of our hotel locations, thereby reducing occupancy, ADR and RevPAR. ADR, occupancy and/or RevPAR declines could have a significant negative impact on the portion of our franchise revenues, which is derived from hotel rooms revenues as well as revenues from company operated hotels and otherwise adversely impacting our results of operations and financial condition.

Many businesses, including RLH Corporation, were adversely affected by the state of the economy. During the economic downturn, which began in 2007, discretionary travel decreased because of economic pressures, and this in turn hurt the hospitality industry and our company. High unemployment, lower family income, low corporate earnings, lower business investments and lower consumer and government spending all have the effect of reducing the demand for hotel rooms and related lodging services and put pressure on industry room rates and occupancy. As a result, during the years 2008 through 2013, we reported net losses from continuing operations. Although the economy has improved, in 2016 and 2017, a slowdown in the economic recovery or a worsening of economic conditions in 20182019 could result in weak hospitality occupancy and rates and adversely affect our revenues and operating results. Negative economic conditions could also negatively impact our ability to obtain future financing and our liquidity in general. While we believe we have adequate sources of liquidity to meet our anticipated requirements for working capital and debt service for the foreseeable future, if our cash flow or capital resources prove inadequate or we do not meet our financial debt covenants, we could potentially face liquidity problems that could have a material adverse effect on our results of operations and financial condition.

Our new programs and new brands may not be successful.

We have made a significant investment in RevPak, a guest management system that allows hotel operators to increase their bookings by integrating customer relationship management software, sales force automation processes, translation services, a central guest reservation system, and digital and field marketing capabilities onto a single platform. Additionally, RevPak allows operators to measure results with reputation management, business intelligence, and web analytics capabilities. We believe this technology provides a measureable benefit to our company, and our franchisees and other users of RevPak by helping increase hotel patronage and generate strong RevPAR growth. However, we cannot be certain that this technology will provide all the benefits we anticipated, that it will be well received by all of our franchisees and hotel owners, or that we will be able to recover the costs we incurred in developing this system. We also cannot assure you that other recently announced programs and brands, such as Hotel RL, or any other new programs or brands we may launch in the future will be accepted by hotel owners, potential franchisees, or the traveling public or other customers. We also cannot be certain that we will recover the costs we incurred in developing or acquiring these programs or brands, or that the brands or any new programs will be successful.

The integration of the recently acquired Knights Inn brands into our own operations will be time consuming and presents financial, managerial and operational challenges. Issues that arise during this process may divert management’s attention away from our day-to-day operations, and any difficulties encountered in the integration process could cause internal disruption in general, which could impact our relationships with employees, hotel owners, hotel franchisees, or owners are unprofitable or go outguests. Migrating hotels and franchisees to our reservations and other systems and business practices could be more difficult and time consuming than we anticipated, and could result in additional unanticipated expenses. Our combined results of business, our franchise or management fee revenue will decline.

Our business is seasonal in nature, with the period from May through October generally accounting for the greatest portion of our annual company operated hotel revenues. In addition, our upscale and midscale franchise agreements contain fees paid to us primarily based on a percentage of hotel revenue. Therefore, our results for any quarter may not be indicative of the results that may be achieved for the full fiscal year. The seasonal nature of our business increases our vulnerability to risks during this period, including labor force shortages, cash flow problems, economic downturns and poor weather conditions. The adverse impact to our revenues would likely be greater as a result of our seasonal business.

The expenses of owning and operating a hotel are not necessarily reduced when circumstances such as market factors and competition cause a reduction in its revenues. Accordingly, a decrease in our revenues could result in a disproportionately higher decrease in our earnings because our expenses are unlikely to decrease proportionately. In addition, we continue to invest in sales and marketing, technology, franchising and personnel resources in an effort to position our company for future growth. These investments may not produce the returns we anticipate or the returns may take longer to achieve than expected.

It is our intention, subject to market conditions to sell all of our remaining hotel ownership positions in the next few years. Despite favorable market conditions at the time of the plan, we cannot be certain that the hotel sales will occur according to the timing or market prices anticipated. The revenue provided by the 11 hotels was $73.1 million, $70.4 million, and $71.6 million in 2017, 2016 and 2015, respectively. The Adjusted EBITDA provided by the hotels was $16.8 million, $15.5 million, and $14.4 million in 2017, 2016 and 2015, respectively. We cannot be certain that we will be able to replace the revenue and Adjusted EBITDA results from these hotels or other hotel sales with franchise business growth in future periods, or that the profit margins of our franchise business will be as we expected.

In connection with our acquisition of Vantage, we issued 690,000 shares of common stock, and westock. We settled the first portion of contingent consideration due in January 2018 in the amount of (i) $4.0 million cash and (ii) 414,000 shares of the Company's common stock. We may be required to pay additional consideration following September 2018 forsettled the second and final portion of the Vantage contingent consideration in an aggregateOctober 2018 in the amount of up to (i) $3.0 million in cash and (ii) 276,000 shares of the Company’s common stock. Future acquisitions of other hotels or brands may also involve the issuance of our equity securities as payment, in part or in full, for the businesses or assets acquired. These future issuances of our equity securities will dilute existing shareholders’ ownership interests.

We have hotel ownership interests varying fromof 55% to 73% in each of our joint ventures. We may in the future acquire interests in other properties through joint venture arrangements with other entities. In addition, we may enter into other non-property investment joint ventures through other divisions for marketing or other services. Partnerships, joint ventures and other business structures involving our co-investment with third parties generally include some form of shared control over the operations of the business and create additional risks. Some of these acquisitions may be financed in whole or in part by loans under which we are jointly and severally liable for the entire loan amount along with the other joint venture partners. The terms of these joint venture arrangements may be more favorable to the other party, or parties, than to us. Although we will actively seek to minimize such risks before investing in partnerships, joint ventures or similar structures, investing in a property through such arrangements may subject our investment to risks not present with a wholly owned property, including, among others, the following:

Based on our experience, newly acquired, developed or converted hotels typically begin with lower occupancy and room rates, thereby resulting in lower revenue. Any future expansion within our existing markets could adversely affect the financial performance of our hotels in those markets and, as a result, negatively impact our overall results of operations. Expansion into new markets may also present operating and marketing challenges that are different from those we currently encounter in our existing markets. Our inability to anticipate all of the changing demands that expanding operations will impose on our management and management information and reservation systems, or our failure to quickly adapt our systems and procedures to new markets, could result in lost revenue and increased expenses and otherwise have an adverse effect on our results of operations and financial condition.

The owners of many of our franchised and managed properties have pledged their hotels as collateral for mortgage loans they entered into when those properties were purchased or refinanced. If an owner cannot repay or refinance maturing indebtedness on favorable terms or at all, the lender could declare a default, accelerate the related debt, and repossess the property. Such sales or repossessions could, in some cases, result in the termination of our management or franchise agreements and eliminate our anticipated income and cash flows, which could negatively affect our results of operations.

In January 2015, we transferred 12 of our owned hotels to RL Venture, a joint venture, of which we own a 55% equity interest. In October 2016, we sold one of these hotels, leaving 11 properties in RL Venture. Additionally, duringDuring 2015 we entered into joint ventures related to our Baltimore, Washington D.C.DC and Atlanta properties, of which we own an equity interestsinterest of 73%, 55% and 55%, respectively.in each. We manage these hotelsthe Atlanta hotel under a management agreementsagreement with a five-year termsterm and three five-year extension options.

In connection with these transactions, the joint ventures borrowed a combined total of $112.5$26.0 million, which is secured by the hotel properties within the joint venture entities. The credit agreements for these loans contain customary affirmative and negative covenants. ThereThe current outstanding principal balance of these loans as of December 31, 2018 is no assurance that$25.2 million.

Since 2015, our DC hotel has not generated enough revenues to comply with the debt covenants in place under its credit agreement. As a result, we have been required to make additional cash contributions to this joint venture entity in 2017 and 2018, in the form of preferred capital, in the amount of $1.4 million. The preferred capital will be repaid to us only when the underlying hotel property is sold or when the joint venture is liquidated, plus a preferred return that ranges from 9%-11%.

Neither our Articles of Incorporation nor our Bylaws limit the amount of indebtedness that we may incur. Subject to limitations in our debt instruments, we may incur additional debt in the future to finance hotel renovations, repairs and replacements, for general corporate purposes or for hotel acquisitions. If our leverage increases, the resulting debt service could adversely affect our operating cash flow. Our continuing indebtednessThe degree to which we are leveraged could also increase our vulnerability to and reduce our flexibility to respond to, general adverse economic and lodging industry conditions, including increases in interest rates, and could impair our ability to obtain additional financing in the future and to take advantage of significant business opportunities that may arise. Increasing leverage could also place our company at a competitive disadvantage as compared to our competitors that are not as highly leveraged. Our indebtedness is, and will likely continue to be, secured by our existing assets. If we are not able to meet our debt service obligations, we risk the loss of some or all of our assets to foreclosure. Economic conditions could result in higher interest rates, which would increase debt service on our variable rate credit facilities and could reduce the amount of cash available for general corporate purposes.

We are committed to keeping our company owned properties well-maintained and attractive to our customers in order to maintain our competitiveness within the industry and keep our hotels properly positioned in their markets. We are also focused on working with our franchise hotel owners so that they maintain their properties to the same standards. This requires ongoing access to capital for both us and our franchisees for replacement of outdated furnishings as well as for facility repair, modernization and renovation. To the extent we or our franchisees cannot fund these expenditures from cash generated from operations, funds must be borrowed or otherwise obtained. If these funds cannot be obtained, the expenditures have to be deferred to a later period. Without needed investments, we may need to cancel the agreement with the franchisee or move the hotel to a lower classification, both of which would likely have a negative impact on our franchise revenue stream.

In the recent past, our levels of capital expenditures for these purposes hadour company operated hotels have been lower than normal due to the general economic conditions impacting our industry. As a result, in 2016, we completed a substantial renovation projectindustry and/or the marketing of over $27 million in our company operated hotels in order to support an increase in room rates.for sale. Customers may not view these investments and improvements as significant enough to allow us to charge higher room rates, and this could negatively impact our hotel revenues and operating results. There are likely to be similar adverse effects if our franchisees are unable to make comparable investments in their properties. Without needed investments, we may have to move the hotel to a lower classification, which would likely have a negative impact on our hotel revenue stream.

Hotel maintenance, brand acquisitions, hotel acquisitions and new project development are subject to a number of risks, including:

Whether capital for new investments and maintenance of existing hotels will be available to us and our franchisees depends on a number of factors, including our cash reserves, profitability, degree of leverage, the value of assets, borrowing restrictions that

If we need to raise capital through issuance of additional common stock, preferred stock or convertible debt, current shareholders may experience significant dilution. Moreover, there is no assurance that we could raise money through equity issuances.

If we seek to raise additional capital through financing, our leverage may increase. If our leverage increases, the resulting debt service could adversely affect our operating cash flow. Our continuing indebtedness could increase our vulnerability to general economic and lodging industry conditions, including increases in interest rates.

Any unanticipated delays or expenses incurred in connection with hotel maintenance and renovation, hotel acquisitions and new project development could impact expected revenues and availability of funds, negatively affect our reputation among hotel customers, owners and franchisees and otherwise adversely impact our results of operations and financial condition, including the carrying costs of our assets.

Four of our company operated hotels, three of which are owned hotels and one of which is owned through a joint venture entity and all of our corporate offices are subject to leases. In addition to the requirement to pay rent, the leases for these properties generally impose various maintenance and other obligations on us and may also require us to obtain the consent of the landlord before taking certain actions such as modifications to the properties. These lease provisions may limit our flexibility with the leased properties, delay modifications or other actions we may wish to take, or result in disputes with the landlords. In addition, the terms of the leases for three of our leased properties will expire in the period from 20182021 through 2024.2028. There can be no assurance that any of our landlords will be willing to extend these leases and, even if they are willing to extend, it is possible that the lease costs will increase, which would adversely impact the hotel operations and our expenses. If some of our leases are not renewed for any reason, we could incur additional costs and expenses associated with negotiating a new lease agreement and moving our offices to a new location. On October 31, 2018, the Company's lease for the Red Lion River Inn expired. The landlord filed a lawsuit against the Company on January 24, 2019 in Spokane Superior Court, alleging breach of the lease agreement and tort claims relating to the condition of the hotel. The Company filed its answer on January 25, 2019, denying all allegations and asserting various affirmative defenses.

Group contract business and other large customers, or large events, can significantly impact the results of operations of some of the hotels in our network. These contracts and customers vary from hotel to hotel and change from time to time. Contracts with large customers such as airlines and railroads are typically for a limited period of time, after which they may be eligible for competitive bidding. The impact and timing of group business and large events are not always predictable and are often episodic in nature. The operating results for hotels in our network can fluctuate as a result of these factors, possibly in adverse ways, and these fluctuations can harm our overall operating results.

SomeA significant percentage of our hotel rooms may befor individual guests are booked through third-partyinternet travel websites operated by companiesintermediaries like Priceline, Expedia, or Travelocity.Travelocity, to whom we commit to pay various commissions and transaction fees for sales of our rooms through their systems. As internet bookings now represent the majority of hotel reservations in the industry, these intermediaries may be able to obtain higher commissions, reduced room rates or other significant contract concessions from us. us or our franchisees.

Moreover, some of these internet travel intermediaries are attempting to offer hotel rooms as a commodity, by increasing the importance of price and general indicators of quality (such as "three-star downtown hotel") at the expense of brand identification. We believe that these internet intermediaries hope that consumers will eventually develop brand loyalties to their reservation systems. Although most of the business for our hotels is expected to be derived from traditional channels, if the amount of sales made through internet intermediaries increases significantly, our profitability may be adversely affected.

The hospitality industry requires the use of technology and systems for property management, procurement, reservations, operation of customer loyalty programs, distribution and other purposes. These technologies can be expected to change guests' expectations, and there is the risk that advanced new technologies will be introduced requiring further investment capital. We maintain a hotel reservation system that allows us to manage our hotel network's rooms inventory through various distribution channels, including our website, and execute rate management strategies. As part of our marketing strategy, we encourage guests to book on our website, which guarantees the lowest rate available compared to third-party travel websites.

The development and maintenance of our central reservation system and other technologies may require significant capital. There can be no assurances that, as various systems and technologies become outdated or new technology is required, we will be able to replace or introduce them as quickly as our competition or within budgeted costs and time frames. Further, there can be no

assurance that we will achieve the benefits that may have been anticipated from any new technology or system. If our systems fail, whether as a result of a deliberate cyber-attack or an unintentional event that causes interruptions or delays in our ability to process reservations, our ability to conduct business and generate revenue will be negatively impacted. If our systems fail to achieve anticipated benefits, or if we fail to keep up with technological or competitive advances, our revenues and cash flows could suffer.

Our central reservation system includes a third-party operated call center that enables guests to make reservations on a 24/7 basis. Poor performance by the third party provider, disputes with the third party provider, increased costs of the call center or our inability to renew or extend our agreement with the third party on favorable terms could adversely impact the hotel operations and our expenses as well as those of our franchised and managed hotels.

Our operations require us to collect and retain large volumes of internal and customer data, including credit card numbers and other personally identifiable information of our customers, which are entered into, processed by, summarized by and reported by our various information systems and those of our service providers. We also maintain personally identifiable information about our employees. Our franchise hotel owners also maintain similar personally identifiable information, on systems that we do not control. The security of this data may potentially be breached due to a number of risks, including cyber-attack, system failure, computer virus, or unauthorized or fraudulent use by customers, company employees, franchisees or employees of third party vendors. Although we employ systems to protect data, no system is impenetrable. A theft, loss or fraudulent use of customer, employee or company data by us or our franchise hotel owners could adversely impact our reputation and could result in significant remedial and other costs, fines and litigation.

We also rely on a variety of direct marketing techniques to reach guests and potential guests, including email marketing, telemarketing and postal mailings. Changes in laws and regulations regarding direct marketing and solicitation could adversely affect the effectiveness of these marketing techniques and could force us to make changes to our marketing strategies. Our failure to comply with laws and regulations regarding direct marketing could result in fines or place restrictions on our business.

We collect and maintain information relating to our guests for various business purposes, including credit card information and information on guest preferences that we use to enhance customer service and for marketing and promotional purposes. The collection and use of personal data are governed by privacy laws and regulations enacted in the United States, as well as by various contracts under which we operate. Privacy regulation is an evolving area in which different jurisdictions may have inconsistent compliance requirements. Compliance with applicable privacy regulations may increase our operating costs and/or adversely impact our ability to service our guests and market our products, properties and services. In addition, noncompliance with applicable privacy regulations, either by us or in some circumstances by third parties engaged by us or our franchise hotel owners, could result in fines or restrictions on our use or transfer of data.

Our information technology systems are vulnerable to damage or interruption from:

We rely on our systems to perform functions critical to our ability to operate, including our central reservation system. Accordingly, an extended interruption in the systems' function could significantly curtail, directly and indirectly, our ability to conduct our business and generate revenue.

Effective internal controls are necessary for us to provide reliable and accurate financial reports and effectively prevent fraud. We have devoted significant resources and time to comply with the internal control over financial reporting requirements of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. In addition, Section 404 under the Sarbanes-Oxley Act requires that our auditors attest to the design and operating effectiveness of our controls over financial reporting. Our compliance with the annual internal control report requirement for each fiscal year will depend on the effectiveness of our financial reporting, data systems, and controls across our operating subsidiaries. Furthermore, a part of our growth strategy has been, and may continue to be, the acquisition of complementary businesses, and we expect these systems and controls to become increasingly complex to the extent that we integrate acquisitions and our business grows. Likewise, the complexity of our transactions, systems, and controls may become more difficult to manage. We cannot be certain that these measures will ensure that we design, implement, and maintain adequate controls over our financial processes and reporting in the future, especially for acquisition targets that may not have been required to be in compliance with Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act at the date of acquisition.

During our evaluation of the effectiveness of the internal controls over financial reporting as of December 31, 2017, we identified material weaknesses in each of the following areas: Control Environment, Risk Assessment, Monitoring and Financial Closing and Reporting.

Control Environment

Risk Assessment

Monitoring

Financial Closing and Reporting

These deficiencies arewere pervasive in nature and create a reasonable possibility that a material misstatement of the annual or interim financial statements would not have been prevented or detected on a timely basis.

We are currentlyDuring 2018, management executed a remediation plan that included significant changes to the Company’s accounting and internal audit staffing. Remediation efforts included a formal risk assessment performed by internal audit and senior management and included an internal review of all internal control processes, which resulted in the processidentification of implementingnew internal controls to address design gaps, the re-design of certain existing controls, and the elimination of redundant or unnecessary controls. During 2018, we completed our remediation plans, including engagingplan and successfully completed testing of the new control environment. As a third-party provider to help us assess and improve our internal controls for complying with the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, hiring a Chief Accounting Officer with appropriate experience applying GAAP technical accounting guidance, hiring additional accounting personnel and designing additional controls around identification, documentation and applicationresult of technical accounting guidance with particular emphasis on events outside the ordinary course of business. As we continue to evaluate and take actions to improve our internal control over financial reporting and the monitoring of those internal controls,testing, we may determine to take additional actions to address control deficiencies or determine to modify certain of the remediation measures described above.

Any material weaknesses in the assimilation of acquired businesses into our control systemfuture could cause harm to our operating results or cause us to fail to meet our financial reporting obligations. Inadequate internal controls could also cause investors to lose confidence in our reported financial information, which could have a negative effect on the trading price of our stock and our access to capital.

The success of our business depends in part upon our continued ability to use our trademarks, increase brand awareness and further develop our brands. We have registrations with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office of various formulations of certain trademarks, including but not limited to the following: Red Lion, Hotel RL, Red Lion Inn & Suites, GuestHouse & Design, Settle Inn, Settle Inn & Suites, Signature & Design, Signature Inn, WestCoast, Cavanaughs and Cascadia Soapery, Hello Rewards, MAKE IT#WORTHIT, MIWI, PROJECT WAKE UP CALL, RLH Corporation and RLH. We also acquired several additional registered trademarks in our transaction with Vantage, includingKnights Inn, Americas Best Value Inn, ABVI, Best Value Inn, Value Inn Worldwide, Vantage & Design, 3 Palms Hotels & Resorts & Design, America’s Best Inns & Suites, Country Hearth Inn & Suites, Jameson Inn, Lexington, Canadas Best Value Inn & Design, CBVI, Cavanaughs and CBVI.Cascadia Soapery, Hello Rewards, MAKE IT #WORTH IT, PROJECT WAKE UP CALL, RLHC and RLH.

We have also registered various formulations of the Red Lion trademark and others in several international jurisdictions including for example, Canada, Mexico, China, India, Australia, the European Union and a number of other countries in Asia. We cannot be assured that the measures we have taken to protect our trademarks will be adequate to prevent imitation of our trademarks by others. The unauthorized reproduction of our trademarks could diminish the value of our brands and their market acceptance, competitive advantages or goodwill, which could adversely affect our business.

In 2014 we hired newWe have seen significant turnover among our senior executives over the past five years. Our current Chief Executive Officer was hired in 2014. Our current Chief Financial Officer was hired in January 2019 to replace her predecessor, who was hired in 2017 and Chief Marketing Officers. In 2016 weannounced his departure for personal reasons in October 2018. We hired a new Chief Franchise Officer and a new Chief Operating Officer in June 2018, after the departure of our prior Chief Operating Officer and President of Global Development in 2017 we hired a newMay 2018, and our Chief Financial Officer.Marketing Officer announced he will be departing the company in May 2019. We may in the future hire additional officers and key employees. To be properly integrated into our company, new executives and employees must spend a significant amount of time learning our business model and management system, in addition to performing their regular duties. As a result, the integration of new personnel may result in some disruption to our ongoing operations. If we fail to successfully complete this integration,operations, and the lack of continuity among our executive team could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and financial results may suffer.of operations.

We place substantial reliance on the lodging industry experience and the institutional knowledge of the members of our senior management team. We compete for qualified personnel against companies with greater financial resources than ours, and the loss of the services of one or more of these individuals, or delay in replacing a key employee, could hinder our ability to effectively manage our business. Finding suitable replacements for senior management and other key employees can be difficult, and there can be no assurance we will continue to be successful in retaining or attracting qualified personnel in the future. We currently do not carry key person insurance on members of our senior management team. Any loss of a senior team member could have a material adverse impact on our financial condition or results of operations.

Financial and credit market volatility directly impacts fair value measurement through our company's estimated weighted average cost of capital used to determine discount rate,rates, and through our common stock price that is used to determine market capitalization. During times of volatility, significant judgment must be applied to determine whether credit or stock price changes are a short-term swing or a longer-term trend.

At the end of 2017,2018, our goodwill amount was $9.4$18.6 million, and other intangible assets totaled $50.7$60.9 million. Market conditions in the future could adversely impact the fair value of one or both of our franchise or hotel reporting units, which could result in future impairments of their goodwill, intangibles and other long-lived assets.

The assessment for possible impairment requires us to make judgments, including:

In accordance with the guidance for the impairment of long-lived assets, if the expected undiscounted future cash flows are less than net book value, the excess of net book value over estimated fair value of the assets is charged to current earnings. There were no impairment charges in 2015, 2016 or 2017. However, in 2018 we recognized an impairment charge of $7.1 million on our Baltimore property due to default on the RL Baltimore loan, coupled with challenging cash flow results for the asset gave rise to the impairment, and an impairment charge of $3.5 million in our Guesthouse brand name intangible asset and reclassified the amount from an indefinite lived intangible asset to a finite lived intangible asset as the brand has encountered lower growth than previously expected, mostly due to the addition of other offerings in our portfolio. Changes in our estimates and assumptions as they relate to valuation of goodwill, intangibles and other long-lived assets could affect, potentially materially, our financial condition or results of operations in the future.

We are subject to varying degrees of risk that generally arise from the ownership of real property. Revenue and cash flow from our hotels and other real estate may be adversely affected by, and costs may increase or market values may decrease as a result of, changes beyond our control, including but not limited to:

These adverse conditions could potentially cause the terms of our borrowings to change unfavorably. Unfavorable changes in one or more of these conditions could also result in unanticipated expenses and higher operating costs, thereby reducing operating margins and otherwise adversely affecting our results of operations and financial condition.

Real estate investments are relatively illiquid, and therefore we and the joint ventures in which we participate have a limited ability to promptly sell one or more hotels in response to changing economic, financial or investment conditions. The real estate market, including the market for hotels, is affected by general economic conditions, availability of financing, interest rates and other factors, including supply and demand, that are beyond our control. In addition, it may be difficult or impossible to convert hotels to alternative uses if they become unprofitable due to competition, age of improvements, decreased demand or other factors. The conversion of a hotel to an alternative use would also generally require substantial capital expenditures. This inability to respond promptly to changes in the performance of our hotels could adversely affect our financial condition and results of operations as well as our ability to service debt. In addition, sales of appreciated real property could generate material adverse tax consequences, which may make it disadvantageous for us to sell certain of our hotels.

Sales of substantial amounts of our common stock in the public market, or the perception that these sales could occur, could adversely affect the price of our common stock and could impair our ability to raise capital through the sale of additional shares.

As of March 16, 2018, Columbia Pacific Opportunity Fund, L.P. (Columbia Pacific) and HNA Investment1, 2019, Coliseum Capital Management LLC (HNA)(Coliseum) held 22% in aggregate15% of our outstanding shares of common stock. Columbia Pacific, HNAColiseum, or one or more other large shareholders may take actions designed to impact our corporate policy and strategy, and their interests may differ from those of other shareholders. Such actions could include, among other things, attempting to obtain control of our board of directors or initiating or substantially assisting an unsolicited takeover attempt.

The stock market has experienced and may in the future experience extreme volatility, oftentimes unrelated to the operating performance of particular companies. Many factors could cause the market price of our common stock to rise or fall, including but not limited to:

We have never paid or declared any cash dividends on our common stock. We currently intend to retain all available funds and any future earnings to fund the development and expansion of our business, and we do not anticipate paying any cash dividends in the foreseeable future. Any future determination to pay dividends will be at the discretion of our board of directors and will depend on our financial condition, results of operations, capital requirements, contractual restrictions and other factors that our board of directors deems relevant.

Our financial and operating performance may be adversely affected by acts of God, such as natural disasters, particularly in locations where our properties are located. Our properties are generally covered by comprehensive liability, public area liability, fire, boiler and machinery, extended coverage and rental loss insurance. However, certain types of catastrophic losses, such as those from earthquake, volcanic activity, flood, terrorism and environmental hazards, may exceed or not be covered by the insurance. Should an uninsured loss or a loss in excess of insured limits occur, we could lose all or a portion of the capital we have invested in a property, as well as the anticipated future revenue from the property. Similarly, threatened or actual terrorist activity, war, epidemics, travel-related accidents, geopolitical uncertainty, international conflict and similar events that impact domestic and international travel have caused in the past, and may cause in the future, our results to differ materially from anticipated results. In addition, depending on the severity, a major incident or crisis may prevent operational continuity at hotels in our network and consequently impact the value of our brands or the reputation of our business.

We currently have franchised hotels operating outside of the United States, including in Canada India and South Korea. We may also in the future enter into new joint venture or franchise agreements with foreign hotel operators. International operations generally are subject to greater economic, geopolitical and other risks that are not present in United States operations. These risks include not only administrative and logistical difficulties in managing worldwide operations, but also risks of war, terrorism or civil unrest, political instability, exposure to local economic conditions, and adverse changes in the diplomatic relations between foreign countries and the United States.

Sales in international jurisdictions typically are made in local currencies, which exposes us to risks associated with currency fluctuations. Fluctuations in currency exchange rates may significantly increase the amount of translated U.S. dollars required for expenses outside the United States, or significantly decrease the U.S. dollars received from foreign currency revenues. We

also face exposure to currency translation risk because we report the results of our business outside of the United States in local currency, and then translate those results to U.S. dollars for inclusion in our consolidated financial statements. As a result, changes between the foreign exchange rates and the U.S. dollar will affect the recorded amounts of our foreign assets, liabilities, revenues and expenses, and could have a negative impact on our financial results. To date we have not entered into foreign exchange hedging agreements to reduce our exposure to fluctuations in currency exchange rates, but even if we enter into these hedging agreements in the future, they may not eliminate foreign currency risk entirely, and will involve risks of their own in the form of transaction costs and counterparty risk.

In addition, the laws of some foreign countries do not protect proprietary rights to the same extent as do the laws of the United States. As a result, the steps we have taken to protect our trademarks and brands in foreign countries may not be sufficient to prevent the unauthorized use or the imitation of our trademarks by others, which could reduce the value of our brand and its goodwill, which could adversely affect our business. As we continue to expand internationally, the risks related to our international operations will become more significant.

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC), various states and certain foreign jurisdictions, where we market franchises, regulate the sale of franchises. The FTC requires franchisors to make extensive disclosure to prospective franchisees but does not require registration. A number of states in which our franchisees operate require registration or disclosure in connection with franchise offers and sales. In addition, several states in which our franchisees operate have "franchise relationship laws" or "business opportunity laws" that limit the ability of the franchisor to terminate franchise agreements or to withhold consent to the renewal or transfer of these agreements. While our business has not been materially affected by such regulation, there can be no assurance that this will continue or that future regulation or legislation will not have such an effect.

Our results of operations may be affected by the costs of complying with existing and future environmental laws, ordinances and regulations. Under federal, state and local environmental laws, ordinances and regulations, a current or previous owner or operator of real property may be liable for the costs of removal or remediation of hazardous or toxic substances on, under or in the property. These laws often impose liability whether or not the owner or operator knew of, or was responsible for, the presence of the hazardous or toxic substances. In addition, the presence of contamination from hazardous or toxic substances, or the failure to remediate a contaminated property properly, may prevent the owner from selling a property or using it as collateral for a loan. Environmental laws may also restrict the use or transfer of a property as well as the operation of businesses at the property, and

When we acquire a hotel, a Phase I environmental site assessmentassessments (ESA) is usually conductedhave been performed on all hotel properties owned and leased by a qualified independent environmental engineer.us. A Phase I ESA involves an on-site inspection and research of historical usages of a property,the subject and surrounding properties, and regulatory databases ofregarding underground storage tanks and other matters to determine whether an environmental issue with respect to the property needs to be addressed.matters. If the results of a Phase I ESA reveal potential issues warranting further investigation, a Phase II ESA, which may include soil testing, ground water monitoringsampling or borings to locate underground storage tanks, will be recommended. It is possible that Phase I and Phase II ESAs will not reveal all environmental liabilities or compliance concerns or that there will be material environmental liabilities or compliance concerns that we do not discover. Phase I ESAs have been performed on all properties owned and leased by us.

Other than as disclosed above, we have not been notified by any governmental authority and we have no other knowledge of any continuing material noncompliance, material liability or material claim relating to hazardous or toxic substances or other

environmental substances in connection with any of our properties. Nevertheless, there is no assurance that these properties do not have any environmental concerns associated with them.them or that we will not be required in the future to perform or fund cleanup or hazardous or toxic substances. In addition, there is no assurance that we will not discover problems we are unaware of that currently exist, that future laws, ordinances or regulations will not impose any material environmental liability, or that the current environmental condition of our existing and future properties will not be affected by the condition of neighboring properties, such as the presence of leaking underground storage tanks, or by third parties unrelated to us.

At any given time, we are subject to claims and actions incidental to the operation of our business. The outcome of these proceedings cannot be predicted. If a plaintiff were successful in a claim against us, we could be faced with the payment of a material sum of money, and we may not be insured for such a loss. If this were to occur, it could have an adverse effect on our financial condition and results of operations.

In addition, our financial condition may be adversely impacted by legal or governmental proceedings brought by or on behalf of our employees or customers. In recent years, a number of hospitality companies have been subject to lawsuits, including class action lawsuits, alleging violations of federal and state law regarding workplace and employment matters, discrimination, accessibility and similar matters. A number of these lawsuits have resulted in the payment of substantial damages by the defendants. Similar lawsuits in the future may be instituted against us, and we may incur material damages and expenses, which could have an adverse effect on our results of operations and financial condition.

In addition, in recent years there has been increasing activity by patent holding companies (so-called patent "trolls") that do not use technology but whose sole business is to enforce patents for monetary gain against companies in a wide variety of businesses and industries. These efforts typically involve proposing licenses in exchange for a substantial sum of money and may also include the threat or actual initiation of litigation for that purpose. Any such litigation can be quite costly to defend, even if infringement is unsubstantiated or speculative. We have been threatened with one such claim and two claims have actually been filed against us. Each claim is related to separate technology, but we believe that each such technology is non-proprietary. Both filed claims have been resolved. If we are ultimately found to have violated a patent, our operations could be negatively impacted and/or we might be subject to substantial financial penalties, licensing fees and attorneys' fees. It is not possible to predict the potential impact on our business and operations of any future claims of this type that may be asserted against us.

Our company is incorporated in the State of Washington and subject to Washington state law. The Washington State Anti­takeover Act could interfere with or restrict takeover bids or other change-in-control events affecting us. For example, one statutory provision prohibits us, except under specified circumstances, from engaging in any significant business transaction, such as a merger, with any shareholder who owns 10% or more of our common stock (which shareholder, under the statute, would be considered an "acquiring person") for a period of five years following the time that such shareholder becomes an acquiring person.