Hotel Lodging News

A recent guest of the Holiday Inn Express & Suites in Marshall, TX wrote IHG’s Guest Relations to tell them:

  ”All the staff at this hotel were extremely nice and helpful! A very pleasant experience to stay there. One of the best stays we’ve had! These people deserve special recognition. Never stayed where entire staff was so friendly! Definately will stay there again.”

It’s always good to hear from our guests, but comments like these are the icing on the cake!!  Thanks to all the staff for doing such a good job and really delivering for our guests!

Lodging Host Hotel Corp President, Kevin P. Hilchey announced today that effective December 11th 2009 Lodging Host had assumed the management of the Staybridge Suites at the Austin Airport in Austin, Texas.  The hotel opened for business earlier in 2009 and houses 161 guest suites. 

The Staybridge is the newest hotel at the Austin Airport and offers studio, one bedroom and two bedroom/two bathroom suites, all with full cooking facilities.  It also offers complementary breakfast 7 days a week,the brand’s “Sundowner” dinner 3 nights a week, free high speed Internet access, the Bridgemart, meeting space, outdoor pool, exercise facilities, complementary guest use laundry facilities and a sports court.

According to Denise Arnold, Director of Marketing for Lodging Host, “We are proud to add this sixth IHG (InterContinental Hotels Group, parent company of Holiday Inns) product to our portfolio of managed hotels.  Lodging Host Hotel Corp has been in business for over 25 years, providing quality property management services to lenders, federal agencies and private owners.  This hotel is a superb addition to 14 hotels and we look to provide the Austin Airport Market with the same exceptional guest service that has separated our hotels from our competitors.”

The Holiday Inn Express in Marshall ,Texas is one of the cleanest, friendliest, most hospitable hotels I have ever stayed at. We were there with a baseball team of twelve 13 and 14 year olds for the state tournament, and the personnel there made sure we were very well taken care of. Shirley Kilgore made sure there was plenty of breakfast to feed our hungry boys, and Xavier made certain we had everything we needed to feel comfortable, and to occupy our boys. This was a welcomed relief after a horrifying two night stay in the LaQuinta!!! Thanks to Xavier, Ms. Shirley, and Shy, our stay was fantastic! !!!! Sincerely, Shannon “Sunny” Whittington  July 29 2009

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.

       Lodging Host Hotel Corp was proud to announce that it opened it’s second new hotel this year on July 16th in Marshall, TX.  The hotel is a Holiday Inn Express & Suites and has eighty guest rooms and suites.  Holiday Inn Express is a brand of InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) which operates over 3,000 hotels worldwide.

      The design of the hotel incorporates all of the elements of the Holiday Inn Relaunch program including upgraded breakfast, new bedding, new entry design elements, communal breakfast table, exercise facility, business center, branded backround music and new signage.  According to Denise Arnold, Corporate Director of Marketing for Lodging Host, “It is an exciting and easy product to sell.  IHG truly is building “Hotels that Guests Love” like their new motto says”.

    The relaunch is not just about new designs though.  According to Kevin Hilchey, President of Lodging Host, “We had to pass a rigorous inspection and will have to maintain a high level of guest satisfaction scores to maintain the upgraded product guidelines.  Because of this we have assigned a person many believe is our best General Manager in the company, Louis C. Christian III.  He has been with us a long time and has put together the team that will make this project a homerun for us and the community of Marshall”.

Three floors have been painted and exterior stone walls are up. Opening date is still targeted for mid July.