Hotel Lodging News

Spring is in the air, and summer is just around the corner….  Now is the perfect time to plan your group meetings!  Holiday Inn Express and Suites of Marshall, Texas, welcomes groups of all sizes, for any event.  Whether it be a family reunion, wedding, high school reunion, church conference, or trial at the Federal Courthouse, (just to name a few)….  our staff is ready, willing, and able to accommodate the special needs of your group.  For more information on discount group rates and availabililty,  please contact:           Cheryl Westbrook, Director of Sales,  by calling (903) 934-9700 or feel free to email Cheryl at salesmarshall@lodginghost.com.

Charlotte Hilchey, Controller for Lodging Host Hotel Corp, announced today that same hotel Room Revenues ended up over One Million Dollars year over year for 2011.  “This is the third straight year that Room Revenues for Lodging Host managed hotels have ended up year over year.” she added.

REVPAR, Revenue Per Available Room, for all of the Lodging Host manged portfolio ended up just under 7% according to Kevin P. Hilchey, President of Lodging Host Hotel Corp.  “More importantly in 2011 we had a year of Great Guest Service. Our properties received a Gold Award from Marriott at the Residence Inn at the Airport in Albuquerque, our Hampton received a Circle of Excellence award from Hilton and our Staybridge Suites in Las Cruces ended 2011 ranked #13 out of more than 280 Staybridge Suites system wide.  Every one of our properties ended 2011 with Guest Service score higher than they started with.  This was a personal goal of our General Managers coming out of our General Managers meeting in January of 2011.” Mr. Hilchey reported.

According to Denise Arnold, Corporate Director of Marketing for Lodging Host Hotel Corp “These facts will only continue to allow our Sales people to leverage their efforts again their local market competitors.  We expect an excellent 2012!”

Kevin P. Hilchey, President of Lodging Host Hotel Corp, announced today that the company had signed an agreement and would be adding the Holiday Inn Express in Silver City, NM to it’s portfolio of managed hotels.  The hotel will be included under management Starting on January 1, 2012.

“We are very happy with this addition for two reasons; it extends our product line in New Mexico and it adds another Express branded hotel to the Lodging Host stable of IHG Branded hotels.” said Denise Arnold, Corporate Director of Marketing for Lodging Host Hotel Corp.  “The Express brand is a very strong brand for us.  We think it is a great product.”

Mike Scavone, Director of Engineering for Lodging Host, commented that the hotel would be undergoing a license extension that would include a Product Improvement Plan, the addition of rooms and the addition of a pool to the hotel in the near future.  While the exact number of rooms has not yet been determined, he placed the number at somewhere between 10 and 30 rooms.

“This hotel is a market leader in Silver City and the renovation and addition to the hotel will ensure that it stays so well into the future.” comment Mr. Hilchey.

Kevin P. Hilchey, President of Lodging Host Hotel Corp, recently reported that “November results continued to build the momentum that our portfolio of hotels has experienced in 2011.”  The company reported results in November that included a porfolio wide increase in Occupancy Percentage of over fifteen (15) points and an increase in Average Daily Rate of more that $5.00 over November of 2010 resulting in a REVPAR increase of almost $22.00 for the month.

“It is always gratifying to grow revenues.” According to Denise Arnold, Corporate Director of Marketing for Lodging Host. “It is especially gratifying to increase occupancy rates and ADR at the same time.  I believe that we need to recognize that while the improving economy helps, the committed work of the sales teams at the hotels is the reason for this achievement.  The team is much more than just the sales person.  While they are the lynch pin, the manager taking advantage of pricing opportunities, the desk clerk upselling and the revenue manager effectively predicting demand all contributed to these kinds of results.

Lodging Host hotels are experiencing a 6.2% increase in REVPAR year to date through the end of December.

Lodging Host Hotel Corp reported strong Second Quarter 2011 results across it’s portfolio on managed properties.  “Second quarter results for 2011 continued the up tick that we reported at the end of the first quarter of this year for our managed hotels.  Results for our properties under management seem to be escalating as Summer arrives with June results in double digit increases.” said Kevin P. Hilchey, President of Lodging Host.

“These results seem to be attributable to an increase in Leasure Travelers.  With Summer upon us it seems that Joe & Mary Consumer, who have been controlling expenses during the last two years of recession, are finally taking a vacation.” speculated Denise Arnold, Corporate Director of Marketing for Lodging Host Hotel Corp. “The encouraging thing, so far, is that corporate business, that showed a slight rebound last year, is maintaining it’s last year levels amid media talk of a double dip in the recession.  Add to that there is no addition of rooms to the markets that we serve, and we may be looking at the early stages of the ability to drive Average Rates in the coming year.” Ms. Arnold continued.

“Looking at the preliminary results for the first ten days of July, we are expecting a good July in markets with a leasure component.” added Mr. Hilchey. “All of this makes me hopeful that the hotel economy is one again showing signs of strengthening.”

Lodging Host recently announced that its properties ended the first Quarter of 2011 up “substantially” from 2010 revenues. According to Kevin P. Hilchey, President of Lodging Host, “same store” sales were up double digits from 2010 for the first three months of the year.

“We believe this is the beginning of a “Recovery Year” for the hotel industry.” according to Denise Arnold, Corporate Director of Marketing for Lodging Host. “I think that professional hotel management companies will recover first. We spent 2010 in an intense sales effort identifying those companies that would lead the recovery and making sure our people cultivated contacts with them.”

Hilchey agrees with Ms. Arnold, “Sales and Marketing is the key. It separates us from the rest of the pack. Some companies play at a sales effort. With us it the main focus. We have the systems in place, we staff the positions, we budget the funds, carry out the Sales Blitzes and with Denise, have the supervisor in place to make sure that the sales effort is pulled off. There is a reason that our hotels use aggressive competitive sets and achieve REVPAR yields consistently higher than the competitors.”

In July of 2010, Lodging Host Hotel Corp entered into a contract with “Clean the World” for a test property, The Holiday Inn Express in Marshall, TX.  Clean the World collects used soap, shampoo and lotion products from the hotel industry to be reprocessed and distributed, at no cost, in third world countries to needy people.  The managers liked this charity because it accomplished a number of goals at one time:

- It allowed the hotel employees to reach out to those in need while creating a donation credit for the ownership

- It allowed the hotel to be more “Green” as it will take hundreds of pounds, per hotel, of hazardous materials out of landfills each year

- It was a program that all of the employees in the hotel could embrace and participate in

- There was little to no operational cost to the hotel outside of a small amount of time actually used in the recycling effort

 Louis C. Christian III, General Manager of the Holiday Inn Express in Marshall, TX, discussed the charity with his employees and volunteered to be the test hotel for the program. The test program will ran until October of this year, 2010 when the General Managers, at their Fall meeting, reviewed the results of the test presented by Louis and determined it was the charitable program the company had been looking for.

Contracts were executed with each of the Lodging Host properties in late December and supplies began being distributed right after the first of the year.

“My children, who have joined me in the company, have really stressed to me the the need to be environmentally conscious and have reminded me that part of our duty on this Earth, is to think, each day, about what we can do to help those in need.” according to Kevin P. Hilchey, President of Lodging Host Hotel Corp.  “I am sure they got that they got those attributes from Charlotte, my wife.” he added.  “This initiative just makes common sense to us.”

At the recent gathering of Lodging Host Hotel Corp the awards were given for General Manager of the Year, Department Head of the Year, and Employee of the Year. I should warn everyone now that this was a Halloween costume party, so the pictures will look…unusual.

The General Manager of the Year winner was Cathy Montreuil, our hotel manager at the Comfort Suites La Porte, TX. This is the second time in her years with Lodging Host that Cathy has taken home this honor.

The Department Head of the Year winner was Lydia Yanez, Executive Housekeeper at the Comfort Suites La Porte, TX. (Two from the same hotel may be a first. Congratulations Comfort Suites La Porte.)

The Employee of the Year winner was Cheryle Harden of Hampton Inn Hillsboro, TX. This honor involves both a plaque and a prize of a trip to either Las Vegas or Disneyland for two and spending money. We here at Lodging Host hope she enjoys her trip.

Congratulations to all three winners.

Cathy Montreuil receives her General Manager of the Year plaque

Cathy Montreuil receives the Department Head of the Year plaque for Lydia Yanez

Manager Lloyd Quinn accepts the Employee of the Year plaque for Cheryle Harden