Crescent Hospitality Corporation, a rapidly growing hotel and resort management company, announced that E. Robert Roskind has joined the company as chairman.

He will play a major role in the company's expanded growth strategy that will include hotel ownership. "Hotel management will remain an important, core part of our business," said Michael George, president and CEO. "Ownership will diversify our earnings base and allow us to provide a better platform to serve our existing and future third-party owners."

Roskind will lead the company's acquisition program, which will focus on first-class, full-service hotels in major urban, premier suburban and resort locations. "We have access to capital to fund our acquisition program from both internal and external sources," Roskind said. "We believe the current environment, with at least several more years of expected growth in average rate and occupancies as predicted by independent experts, makes this a propitious time to invest in hotel properties. We are seeking properties that are doing well but can benefit from Crescent's ability to increase margins, as well as turn-around situations that require repositioning which has been one of the company's specialties."

Roskind is a 30 year-plus veteran in the hotel and real estate industry. In addition to his role with Crescent, he is chairman of Lexington Corporate Properties Trust, a New York Stock Exchange listed REIT with a market equity of approximately $1.5 billion and assets under management exceeding $4 billion that owns and manages office, industrial and retail properties that are net leased to major corporations throughout the U.S. Roskind also is the founder and chairman of the LCP Group, a real estate investment firm. The LCP Group has an affiliate company in Tokyo, LCP Investment Corporation, which is expected to complete an initial public offering in Japan in spring of 2006. Through its controlled partnerships, the LCP Group has owned such hotels as the Arizona Biltmore in Phoenix, the King Edward in Toronto, Canada, and Hyatt Regency hotels in Savannah, Ga., Phoenix, Ariz., and Washington, D.C. He is a founder and former chairman of CapStar Hotels and Resorts, a predecessor company to MeriStar Hospitality Corporation.

He received his B.S. from the University of Pennsylvania and is a Harlan Fiske Stone Graduate of the Columbia Law School. He is the founder of the Babies Heart Fund, which supports the pediatric cardiology unit at New York Presbyterian Hospital and an advisory board member of the Center for Environmental Research & Conservation.

Headquartered in Fairfax, Va., just outside of Washington, D.C., Crescent Hospitality is an operator of hotels, resorts and nationally branded, free-standing restaurants. Crescent Hospitality currently operates approximately 35 upscale and mid-market hotels and resorts with approximately 5,400 rooms in 18 states, and restaurants affiliated with Houlihan's, Golden Corral & Boston Pizza. The company's hotel management portfolio encompasses properties in the resort, full-service, convention and premium limited-service segments under nearly 15 hotel flags, including the leading brands of Marriott, Hilton, InterContinental, Choice and Cendant, as well as independent hotels and resorts.