founded 1972 headquarters crestview hills kentucky number of locations 41 hotels website columbiasussex.com columbia sussex is a private hotel company based in crestview hills kentucky . the company owned by the yung family owns and operates hotels in various parts of the united states . as of 2014 update the company operates 41 hotels under 8 different brands . the current president is william j. yung iii . contents 1 motels 2 hotels 3 casinos 3.1 aztar acquisition and tropicana related bankruptcy 4 hotel brands operated 4.1 marriott international 4.2 hilton hotels 4.3 starwood hotels 5 references 6 external links motels edit columbia sussex began operation as columbia development in 1972 with the construction of a single days inn location in richwood ky. rapid expansion followed and by 1978 the company was renamed columbia sussex and was the largest days inn franchisee with 14 locations many with restaurants named after the founder s wife marty . hotels edit in 1977 columbia sussex purchased their first full service hotel the president motor inn in fort wright ky. the hotel was closed for renovations and re opened as a ramada inn . columbia sussex then began a campaign of acquiring holiday inns and renovating them into properties featuring the holidome concept . together with the new loyalty program priority club which was a trailblazing concept at the time market success followed . holiday inns were acquired in dayton oh springfield oh and a group of 4 holiday inns in charleston wv . in 1980 columbia sussex completed their largest acquisition to date with the purchase of the 400 room holiday inn in southfield mi . in the early 1980s columbia sussex continued to grow mainly through acquisition while focusing primarily on the holiday inn brand . in 1983 a 400 room holiday inn was purchased and renovated in louisville kentucky . in 1984 columbia sussex began expanding through construction of new hotels . major projects included a holiday inn rochester ny which served as the company s flagship for a few years . also constructed in 1984 was a 400 room motel in kissimmee fl which carried the best western flag . this was the last exterior corridor property ever constructed by the company . columbia sussex also opened the newly constructed hilton louisville east and purchased the plymouth mi hilton . in 1985 columbia sussex purchased 3 holiday inns in the chicago area in glen ellyn itasca and hillside . 1985 marked the end of the holiday inn focus for the company and the beginning of the radisson era . columbia sussex became the first franchisee of radisson hotels with the purchase renovation and re branding of the americana hotel at the cincinnati airport located in northern ky. at the time of its opening the radisson cvg was the 14th hotel with the radisson brand in the us . development of many new construction hotels followed in the late 1980s and early 90s of mostly radisson branded hotels . in 1994 radisson hotels in 5 cities were converted to marriott . these were the first of many as columbia sussex transitioned from the largest radisson franchisee to the largest full service marriott franchisee . in 2005 columbia sussex substantially upgraded their portfolio by acquiring 14 properties from wyndham corp for 1.4 b while blackstone simultaneously acquired the remainder of the wyndham corp. shortly thereafter blackstone sold the wyndham brand name to cendant . columbia sussex repositioned these properties into 3 hiltons 2 marriotts 2 sheratons and 6 westins after significant remodeling . in 2006 columbia sussex purchased 2 hiltons in arlington va and sacramento ca from blackstone in a 150m deal . 2007 marked columbia sussex s acquisition of the sanibel harbour resort and spa from liberty mutual insurance for 126m . the property was re branded as a marriott in 2009 . in 2013 columbia sussex bought an historic building in downtown cincinnati called the bartlett building . a former bank the building was extensively renovated and converted into a hotel branded the renaissance cincinnati downtown . the hotel opened in summer of 2014 . casinos edit columbia sussex entered the gaming industry in 1990 purchasing the high sierra hotel in stateline nevada from del webb corporation for 19 million . 1 2 the property was renamed as the horizon casino resort . the lighthouse point casino in greenville mississippi was opened in november 1996 . 3 columbia owned the riverboat casino and a 79 % stake in its operating company . 3 in march 2002 jmbs casino a columbia sussex affiliate controlled by william yung s children bought bayou caddy s jubilee casino a riverboat in greenville for 42 million . 4 5 in 2002 columbia bought the closed maxim hotel and casino near the las vegas strip for 38 million . after a 90 million renovation the property was reopened in 2003 as the westin casuarina using the name of columbia s resort in the cayman islands . 6 in 2004 columbia bought the river palms casino in laughlin nevada and the harrah s vicksburg casino in vicksburg mississippi which it renamed to the horizon vicksburg . 7 8 in october 2004 columbia agreed to buy the president casino st. louis from bankrupt president casinos for 57 million . 9 the company planned a 150 million residential and retail development around the casino even though some of the land was already earmarked for pinnacle entertainment s lumi re place project . 10 11 the sale collapsed a year later however when columbia withdrew its application for a gaming license . 12 according to a lawsuit filed by president the missouri gaming commission was set to reject the application for flimsy reasons including an irs audit of yung s 2000 income tax return and his use of a corporate credit card for personal expenses . 13 14 president eventually won a judgment of 28 million plus 14 million in interest for breach of contract and for unreasonable fee increases at the casino parking lot which columbia had already purchased . 15 in 2005 columbia bought the bally s new orleans casino from caesars entertainment for 24 million . 16 17 caesars needed to sell the casino to avoid antitrust concerns in its acquisition by harrah s owner of harrah s new orleans . 18 it was later renamed as the amelia belle . 19 the same year columbia bought caesars tahoe in stateline from caesars entertainment for 45 million and renamed it as the montbleu . 20 columbia bought the argosy casino riverboat in baton rouge louisiana from penn national gaming in october 2005 for 150 million and renamed it as the belle of baton rouge . 21 22 the sale assuaged ftc antitrust concerns about penn s acquisition of argosy gaming which would have resulted in the company owning the only two casinos in the city . 23 the company made a second attempt to enter the st. louis market in may 2006 agreeing to pay 200 million for the casino queen riverboat in east st. louis illinois across the river from the president casino . 24 however after ordering casino queen the following january to remove a minority shareholder with ties to an organized crime associate the illinois gaming board did not approve the sale by the february deadline set in the contract and columbia ended the deal in march . 25 26 27 in december 2006 columbia opened a 317 room 150 million westin resort with a casino on the caribbean island of sint maarten . 28 29 aztar acquisition and tropicana related bankruptcy edit in january 2007 columbia acquired aztar corporation for 2.1 billion 30 after winning a bidding war against ameristar casinos and pinnacle entertainment . 31 32 aztar owned five casinos the tropicana las vegas tropicana atlantic city ramada express in laughlin casino aztar in evansville indiana and casino aztar in caruthersville missouri . a new subsidiary tropicana entertainment llc was created to hold columbia s and aztar s casinos . columbia sussex did not want to make another try for a missouri gaming license so aztar agreed before the acquisition to sell the caruthersville casino to fortunes entertainment the company of argosy gaming co founder lance callis . 33 34 35 the deal fell through because the licensing process for fortunes could not be completed on schedule so to avoid closing the casino aztar allowed the gaming commission to appoint a supervisor to operate it effective when the merger closed . 34 36 casino aztar was finally sold in june 2007 for 45 million to isle of capri which renamed it as lady luck casino . 37 at the time of the aztar acquisition the tropicana atlantic city was placed in a trust pending yung s licensing by the new jersey casino control commission . yung s license was denied in december 2007 due in part to complaints about the tropicana s maintenance and sanitation after yung laid off 1 300 staffers . 32 the commission declared that the company displayed a lack of business ability a lack of financial responsibility and a lack of good character honesty and integrity and a defiance of the regulatory process . 32 38 former new jersey supreme court justice gary stein was appointed as trustee and conservator of the property with a mandate to find a new buyer . 38 the loss of the atlantic city property led tropicana to default on its bank debt . yung tried to sell the vicksburg and evansville casinos to raise cash to appease creditors but it was not enough to prevent a lawsuit by bondholders . 32 the delaware court of chancery ruled in february 2008 that the transfer of the property to stein constituted a technical default on the bonds . 32 stein asked to transfer the title back to tropicana to cure the default but the commission roundly rejected the request . with no other options remaining tropicana entertainment filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy in may . 32 39 debtholders viewed yung s presence as a distraction and asked a court to appoint a trustee to run the company . 32 yung settled the dispute by agreeing in july to step down leaving the other four board members in place . in may 2009 tropicana seeking to focus its tahoe area efforts on the montbleu transferred the horizon casino to a columbia sussex affiliate . 40 table games at the casino were eliminated with a possible downsizing of slots also planned . the tropicana las vegas which had a 440 million secured loan against it emerged from bankruptcy in july 2009 as a separate company led by canadian private equity firm onex and former mgm mirage president alex yemenidjian . 41 42 the remainder of the company emerged in march 2010 as tropicana entertainment inc. led by carl icahn . 43 the amelia belle which was not included in the bankruptcy was sold in october 2009 to peninsula gaming owner of the evangeline downs racetrack for 107 million . 44 the westin casuarina las vegas which also was not included in the bankruptcy defaulted on its mortgage in april 2010 and lenders led by cw financial services filed for foreclosure the following november . 45 the hotel s general manager said in october 2011 that columbia sussex would not fight the foreclosure . 45 hotel brands operated edit marriott international edit marriott jw marriott hotels renaissance hotels courtyard by marriott hilton hotels edit hilton doubletree by hilton starwood hotels edit westin hotels references edit benston liz 15 april 2008 . deal salvages tropicana tahoe casino . las vegas sun . retrieved 16 march 2012 . kentucky businessman obtains casino license . portsmouth daily times . associated press . 30 september 1990 . retrieved 16 march 2012 . a b tropicana entertainment llc 23 july 2008 . form 10 k report . p. 7 . retrieved 17 march 2012 . company briefs . new york times .