The hotel company's board has formed a committee to find a new chief executive, and is likely to hire a search firm, says chairman Kenneth M. Fell. Herman steps down after two years at the helm of Arlington Hospitality, the largest owner and operator of AmeriHost Inn hotels. The veteran of more than 20 years of hotel industry experienced replaced Michael P. Holtz, who was forced out in late 2002 after a change in the makeup of the company's board of directors.

"Along with the board, he helped develop a new strategy and chart a progressive course that has led the company through a difficult downturn in the industry," Fell says. "Arlington now has a more solid foundation, and the company is in a position to move forward, just as the industry recovery is gaining momentum."

Earlier this year, Arlington Hospitality, Inc. hired top mergers and acquisitions advisors Houlihan Lokey Howard & Zukin to help point the hotel company to debt and equity capital sources.