The Winner's Circle ~ March 2010

Choice hotels honours its top hotel performers for 2009

Lobby of the Quality Suites Oakville, one of 26 Gold Hospitality Award winners

TORONTO—Choice Hotels Canada (CHC) has honoured its top performing hotels with a 2009 Gold Hospitality Award. A total of 26 hotels received the company’s highest level of recognition and over 280 Canadian hotels were eligible for the award.

Nine hotels in Quebec won the award along with eight from Atlantic Canada, seven from Ontario and two from Western Canada.

A Gold Hospitality Award is a clear demonstration of a hotel’s operational strength and commitment to hospitality excellence. Recipients were judged upon results of Choice Hotels Canada’s comprehensive selection criteria, which included an evaluation of guest surveys, third-party quality assurance audits and guest complaints logged.

“Given all of the challenges the Canadian hotel industry faced this year, achieving a 2009 Gold Hospitality Award is truly a remarkable achievement,” says Tim Oldfield, managing director of franchise performance, Choice Hotels Canada. “I am extremely proud of our hotels that remained committed to customer service and brand compliance. Their hard work was clearly evident and their passion for operational excellence was unmistakable.”


2009 Gold Hospitality Winners:
The nine Quebec winners include  Comfort Inn, Alma; Comfort Inn, Laval; Comfort Inn, Mont-Laurier; Comfort Inn, Rivière-du-Loup; Comfort Inn & Suites, Saint-Jérôme; Comfort Inn & Suites, Shawinigan; and Quality Inn, Matane; Quality Suites, Drummondville; and Econo Lodge Montmorency Falls, Boischatel.

The eight winners from Atlantic Canada are: Comfort Inn, Bridgewater, NS; Comfort Inn, Fredericton, NB; Comfort Inn, Gander, NL; Comfort Inn, Halifax, NS; Comfort Inn, New Glasgow, NS; Comfort Inn, Sydney, NS; Comfort Inn Airport, St. John’s, NL; and Quality Inn & Suites Bayer’s Lake, Halifax, NS.

Ontario had seven winners: Comfort Inn, Sturgeon Falls; Comfort Inn, Brockville; Quality Suites, Oakville; Comfort Inn, Kitchener; Comfort Inn, Chatham; Comfort Inn, Midland; and Comfort Inn Toronto Northeast, Markham.

The two winners from Western Canada were Comfort Inn South, Winnipeg, MB and Quality Inn & Suites, Lethbridge, AB.



FERDIE interior design award for Montreal Airport Marriott

MONTREAL—The FERDIE Awards (Les Prix Interieurs / Ferdie, the design prize awarded to the best in interior design on the Quebec scene) recently honored the Montreal Airport Marriott for its exceptional interior design.

The new luxury hotel won first prize in the Hotel Design category.

The award acknowledges the local design firm of Moureaux Hauspy, who worked closely with Marriott International, Inc. to create a full-service flagship Marriott that is a departure from the expected.

Located atop the new U.S. Departures Terminal at The Montreal-Trudeau International Airport, the hotel opened to the public in August 2009. It is the first Marriott-managed property in Quebec.



Motel 6 Phoenix on the rise

DALLAS, TX—Motel 6’s “Phoenix” design has been named winner of the 2010 Travel + Leisure Design Award for Best Large Hotel.

The winning design, developed by Priestmangoode of London, is Motel 6’s first new prototype in 12 years.  It is both chic and efficient, is fresh and modern, while staying true to the brand’s no-frills values.

The “Phoenix” design features wood-effect flooring, ambient lighting, settee area for two, and a 32-inch flat-screen TV.
 
The settee area, situated in the corner of the room, was designed to encourage and allow for interaction between guests, whether during meals, discussions or games.

The modern bathroom features double doors, black granite counter top with a vessel/raised sink, a walk-in shower and a large vanity area. The pedestal bed allows for storage of luggage under the bed and allows for easy cleaning access and visibility.

Motel 6 unveiled the “Phoenix” prototype in 2008.



SilverBirch donates $93,000 through Friends in Need

VANCOUVER, B.C., January 28, 2010 - SilverBirch Hotels & Resorts, one of Canada’s leading hotel management companies, donates over $93,000 to local charities across the country as a part of their Friends in Need program.

Running during the December holiday period, the annual Friends in Need promotion offers travellers discounted room rates at 24 hotels across Canada managed by SilverBirch Hotels & Resorts.  

From every room booked, a $10 donation went to charity.  Since the program was launched in 2000, dozens of charitable and community organizations such as The Red Cross, The Calgary Women’s Shelter and Ottawa’s Crime Stoppers have benefited from over $913,000 raised over the past ten years.



St. Regis gets the limelight

VANCOUVER—The hotel that calls itself “Vancouver’s Best-Kept Hotel Secret” is now in the limelight.

After only one year in operation following  a complete $12 million renovation, the St. Regis Hotel placed in the top 10 Hotels in Canada in two separate categories: “Best Hotel Value” and “Best Hotel Service” in the recently released 8th annual TripAdvisor Travelers’ Choice awards.



Striking gold by going green

CHILLIWACK, BC—The Coast Chilliwack Hotel has struck green gold winning the 2009 City of Chilliwack Green Business Award.

The hotel was recognized for its pioneering environmentally-friendly programs that have helped reduce the hotel’s carbon footprint and contributed to the quality of life in the Fraser Valley.

“We’re extremely honoured to be recognized for our environmental initiatives,” said Joey Beltrano, Coast Chilliwack Hotel General Manager.  “The team at the Coast Chilliwack Hotel really took this sustainability program to heart and ran with it.”

Since it opened last August, the Coast Chilliwack Hotel established a purchasing policy eliminating the use of unnecessary chemicals, Styrofoam and plastics wherever possible.  Fabric in the uniforms worn by staff at the front desk is made from 70 per cent recycled pop and water bottles, and disposable products such as in-room coffee spoons are made from potato starch.  All cleaning products used in the hotel are eco-friendly and wherever possible food products are purchased in the Fraser Valley to support local businesses and reduce transportation costs.  

Hotel employees have placed major emphasis on recycling and composting to recover paper, cardboard, glass, tin, organics and other materials that were once destined for the landfill.  In the hotel’s kitchen, staff routinely separate non-biodegradable waste from organic waste that can be composted.  Approximately 32 litres per month of used cooking oil from the deep fryer is recovered and donated to a local company that uses it for animal feed.

The end result has been a dramatic reduction in waste heading for the landfill. Today, over 90 per cent of the hotel’s waste is either recycled or composted.

When Coast Hotels & Resorts originally bought the Chilliwack property last year, the hotel had a 100-yard trash compactor which was taken away and replaced with a six-yard bin.  “Most hotels our size have two six-yard bins that they have emptied twice a week,” said Beltrano.  “We’re having a hard time filling one six-yard bin once a week.”  The compactor room now serves as a recycle/compost area.

Other green initiatives include: replacing old water heaters with Energy Star rated models,  installing energy-efficient lighting and low-flow toilets and shower heads in all guest rooms.