Hotel Lodging News

Comfort Suites La Porte would like to announce that Adela Ordonez has been chosen our Employee of the Year for 2009.

We would like to congratulate Adela on her accomplishment.

We are pleased to announce that Sarah McKinley has won second runner up in the MIss Sylvan Beach Festival.

Congratulations Sarah!

Comfort Suites is pleased to present our 2009 Miss Comfort Suites La Porte Sarah McKinley. We wish her the best of luck in the upcoming Miss Sylvan Beach Festival pagent to be held Friday, April 24th.

Good Luck!

Comfort Suites La Porte has just passed their AAA inspection with a 3 Diamond rating which is the highest rating a limited service hotel can achieve. Come stay at the Comfort Suites La Porte and see why it was rated with the AAA Diamond.

With the opening of the Residence Inn at the Airport on December 23rd 2008 in Albuquerque NM, Lodging Host Hotel Corp has opened it’s first Marriott franchised product.  The hotel consists of 110 guest suites all of which have full cooking facilities.  Other amenities of the hotel include indoor pool, hot tub, exercise facility with equipment each with their own televisions, guest Market, guest laundry facilities, airport shuttle service, business center, meeting room to accommodate 40 persons and a Boardroom for 8 persons.

The hotel is a Generation 7.5 Residence Inn and incorporates the InnFusion Guestroom design of the new Generation 8 Residence Inn product.

Lodging Host Hotel Corp intends to develop 4 more Marriott products in the next 4 years and has executed franchises for a 75 room Fairfield Inn and Suites in Forney, Texas and a 110 suite Residence Inn in Longview Texas.  Construction is expected to begin in the first quarter of 2009 on both of those hotels.

According to Kevin P. Hilchey, President of Lodging Host Hotel Corp “We will be developing other product as well during that time as the economy and lending environment allow.”

During the semi-annual meeting of all the Lodging Host Hotel Corp Management Team a break was taken from the training exercises and information exchanges to hold the Annual Awards Dinner. It was an enjoyable evening, during which the three Lodging Host annual employee awards were presented.

The first award presented was to the Lodging Host Hotel Corp Manager of the Year. It was presented in his absence to Lloyd Quinn, who had to miss the event due to infectious flu. As General Manager of the Hotel Phillips in Bartlesville, OK he has stepped into one of the most demanding roles in the company after proving himself at the Hampton Inn in Marble Falls, TX. Now running a full service, historic facility has allowed him to show what he can really do.

Second award given out was for Department Head of the Year. The award presented to Cary Johnson of Hampton Inn Hillsboro. Cary has been with the hotel prior to the opening in April 2007 and no one was surprised when he won the prestigious 2008 award. Cary’s dedication, work ethics, responsiveness to guests needs, and wonderful sense of humor were big factors in the decision by the Lodging Host Hotel Corp Board of Directors to bestow Cary with this honor.

And finally, the Big Winner with a trip and spending money on the line was the Employee of the Year Award. After much deliberation it was presented to Marsha Jess of the Hampton Inn on the Lake, Marble Falls, TX. Marsha has been working at the hotel for over seven years at the Front Desk. She is khown for her cheery demeanor with guests and for filling in whenever and wherever the hotel needs her.

We would all like to congratulate this year’s outstanding service people who were given the awards as well as all those who were nominated from their respective hotels. It is employees such as those that create the high level of guest service surrounding Lodging Host managed hotels.

The Comfort Suites would like to congratulate Anne Gomez on being named Employee of the Year!

Congratulations Anne

In the month of September the three Hampton Inns run by Lodging Host, Hampton Inn Hillsboro TX, Hampton Inn Livingston TX and the Hampton Inn in Marble Falls TX ranked #1, #5 and #11 in the state of Texas.  This is a fantastic accomplishment by the three hotels and is based on Hilton’s SALT scores (Satisfaction and Loyalty Table) based on customer comment cards and Hilton inspections.

In addition The Hillsboro property won the Hilton 3rd Quarter Hampton Inn Hall of Fame award being ranked #33 in the entire Hilton system.

Lodging Host lost three hotels temporarily. Hurricane Ike hit TX and LA on September 12th 2008.  The Comfort Suites in La Porte, TX, the Hampton Inn in Livingston TX and the Holiday Inn Express and Suites in Livingston TX.  In addition the Hampton Inn in Hillsboro TX lost power briefly and the Holiday Inn Express and Suites in Marshall TX lost power for 2 days.

The Holiday Inn Express and Suites in Livingston sustained the most damage with water penetration to all guest rooms and public areas.  It should reopen late in the week of September 29th.  Mike Scavone headed up the efforts for the team.  The LHHC & hotel staff reacted quickly getting generators transported to the site for temporary power.  That provided enough electricity to allow lighting for crews to work, to do water extraction and power fans to lessen the growth of mold.  Outside contractors were secured immediately to replace carpet and padding, replace damaged sheetrock in walls and ceiling, paint and texture effected areas and eradicate mildew.  When power was restored the team was poised to move forward to minimize the loss created by Ike.

The Hampton Inn in Livingston sustained minor roof damages and water penetration only to a couple public space and a few guest rooms.  Again the team quickly moved to minimize damages and take in the remaining guests of the Holiday Inn Express that were displaced by the large amount of damage to that hotel and employee and their families displaced by the storm.  When the hotel got power back a couple of days later, the hotel quickly opened rooms and worked with the City of Livingston to house emergency crews working in the area.  The hotel opened the rest of it’s rooms the week of September 22nd even as repairs proceeded.

The Comfort Suites in La Porte TX was not as fast with power not restored until late in the week of September 22nd and access to the city restricted until early that same week.  The hotel sustained water damages to the first floor mostly due to the rising water.  But again the hotel and LHHC staff moved quickly to get repairs underway and reopened about 30 of their rooms later in the week of September 22nd, even as repairs continued, to provide much needed housing for emergency Utility crews doing repair work in surrounding communities.

Comfort Suites La Porte is the host hotel for the May 2008 Strawberry Festival held on the 16th and 17th, which is held at the Pasadena Convention Center FairGrounds on Fairmont Parkway in Pasadena Texas. Come out and try a piece of the worlds largest and sweetest Strawberry Shortcake before it is all gone.