Hotel Lodging News

Intercontinental Hotels Group, Parent company of Holiday Inns and Staybridge Suites, last week honored the Las Cruces location with a request for them to submit information and photographs to be considered for a Brand Design Award for 2008.  In 2008 the hotel added 28 additional long term stay suites, an additional guest use laundry area, a communal dining table in the Great Room, a Home Theater Room, “public-private meeting space” and an Internet Cafe.

The Communal dining table is a High top table that seats up to eight persons.  It has a granite top and custom pendant lighting. It has become a popular gathering point at almost any time of day for singles or groups.

For those groups that need just a little more privacy, the hotel installed “public-private meeting space”  on the 4th floor.  It is a public space that was designed so that small groups, not wishing to purchase private meeting space, could meet in a semi-private atmosphere for informal meetings.  The space is arranged with flexible seating and in separate pods.  Each of the pods has a CRT for displaying laptop presentations and a meeting board is available for brainstorming sessions.

For singles and couples the hotel designed an Internet Cafe on the third floor.  The area contains a modern coffee shop atmosphere and decor, a complimentary coffee maker that makes 25 varieties of coffee, teas and cocoas, background music, seating for singles and couples, wired and wireless Internet access and a complementary full body massage chair.  The staff even keeps the area stocked with biscotti.

The second floor contains the Home Theater.  This area is for public use and can be reserved for private showings.  The room contains plush recliner seating with drink holders, a state of the art surround sound system, special sound deadening walls, an extra large Digital High Definition screen, DVD player, Blue Ray player and a popcorn machine.

The winner of the Design award for the Staybridge Brand will be announced at the IHG Annual Investor’s Conference in the Fall of 2009 in Washington DC.

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.

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.

May 22, 2008
Staybridge Suites Las Cruces NM hosts “Oktoberfest in May” for its ATAMIR German contingency.
The German contingency is working out at White Sands Missile Range in a two part training series.
The ATAMIR German contingency checked in April of 2008 and will be at the Staybridge Suites though mid-summer. they will return in October for the second portion of their training module.
In efforts to welcome this group, Staybridge Suites hosted “Oktoberfest in May” serving authentic German cuisine, German music and Staybridge Suites hospitality. We want to thank Steve Aragon for his assistance and Ingrid Caesar, Ulli Dunn and the White Sands Team for their participation in this event.

May 27, 2008

Staybridge Suites-Las Cruces New Mexico promotes and announces the new Director of Sales for the upcoming Residence Inn by Marriott-Albuquerque Airport.  Monica Lucier, former front desk manager at the Staybridge Suites has recently accepted the Director of Sales position in Albuquerque, NM.   Monica will be in Seabrook, TX (suburb of Houston) on a Task Force assignment, assisting in operations for the new Holiday Inn Express-Seabrook, before relocating to Albuquerque.  From all of your fellow team member, we wish Monica much luck and success in her new role.  Accepting the General Manager position at the Residence Inn-Albuquerque is Janet Glynn.  Janet is thrilled to have Monica has a member of the management team

April 17, 2008

Staybridge Suites Las Cruces hosts its 2nd ribbon cutting on Thursday, April 17, 2008 to celebrate its 28 additional suites, to its existing 87 suite property.  In addition to celebrating our 28 additional suites, we’ve added a “Just like home theater”, internet cafe, and additional guest public space area.  The Las Cruces Chamber of Commerce, Mesilla Valley Economic Alliance and the community helped celebrate this momentous event. 

The Staybridge Suites Las Cruces also congratulates, Sonny Gonzales, the winner of our Las Vegas giveaway!  From our staff to our community we thank you for helping us celebrate in our success.  We look forward to providing our community with superior lodging accommodations and the highest quality of guest service!

The Rainbow Warriors, Hawaii’s men’s basketball team, has been staying at the Staybridge Suites hotel in Las Cruces for the Western Athletic Conference Tournament. We’ve been delighted to have them with us and are very glad they’ve been telling everyone how much fun they’ve had while staying at our hotel.

We wish them luck in their tournament and hope they come back to visit sometime when relaxation is their motivation.

The 2008 WAC Men and Women’s Basketball Tournament for the second year in a row has choosen Las Cruces, NM for the 2008 host city. The Staybridge Suites Las Cruces, NM will host to band members from Hawaii, teams, family members and spectators for this event, March 10-15th.The Staybridge Suites is proud to be a part of this event for the second year.