Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, April 15, 2002—Interstate Hotels Corporation (Nasdaq: IHCO) announced today that the Special Committee of its Board of Directors has engaged Merrill Lynch to act as its financial advisor to assist the Special Committee with its review and evaluation of the partial tender offer for Class A Common Shares commenced by the Shaner Hotel Group.

Interstate also announced today that its Board of Directors took action to defer the distribution date under its shareholder rights agreement until further action by the Board. This action defers the date on which the preferred share purchase rights previously distributed to holders of Interstate`s common stock separate from the shares of common stock and become exercisable. As a result of the commencement of the partial tender offer by the Shaner Hotel Group, the preferred share purchase rights would have separated from the common stock certificates and become exercisable, absent action by the Board to defer such occurrence.

Interstate Hotels Corporation operates approximately 135 hotels with more than 28,000 rooms in 37 states in the United States as well as Canada and Russia. For more information, visit www.interstatehotels.com.

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