NATIONAL REPORT—Whether it’s celebrating an anniversary, receiving an award, earning a certification, debuting a new product or expanding the business, hotel companies and vendors achieve new milestones on a daily basis. Here’s a look at recent accomplishments:
Remington Hotels Hosts Leadership Conference
Remington Hotels recently hosted its Leadership Conference, an annual event bringing together more than 350 of its field and corporate office leaders, as well as partner sponsors to mark successes and to set the vision for the year ahead.
The theme of the conference—held at the Hilton Orange County/Costa Mesa in California—was “Evolve.” The management company highlighted three large hotel acquisitions in the past six months. The company revealed plans that respect the foundation of the past while creating forward-thinking future goals.
“For nearly 25 years, we have cultivated our annual leadership conference to be a time for our leaders to inspire and be inspired,” says Sloan Dean, COO with Remington Hotels. “The event is a healthy mix of celebrating accomplishments and strengthening connections. With 88 properties now in our collection, Remington looks forward to a strong continued evolution, particularly as each of these leaders return to their locations invigorated to evoke passion among their teams, ultimately thriving in 2019 and beyond.”
Remington unveiled a new associate company tagline during the conference, “Remington – Where Passionate People Thrive,” with the #RoomToThrive hashtag supporting the concept. The initiative seamlessly transcends from associates to guests, built around the idea of evoking enthusiasm in all interactions and designed to create an even greater guest experience at Remington hotels.
Attendees also took part in the inaugural Remington All Star Games, pitting 16 teams against one another in fierce battles of volleyball, disc golf, Nerf dart archery and survivor games, ultimately culminating in an obstacle course gauntlet.
More than a dozen hotels and their respective leaders were lauded during the gala awards dinner. Notable awards during the conference included the following:
- Director of Sales of the Year – Heather Lamb, Renaissance Palm Springs Hotel
- Select Service General Manager of the Year – Tiffany Scott, Courtyard by Marriott Wichita at Old Town
- Full Service General Manager of the Year – Chandler Vadhera, Dallas/Fort Worth Airport Marriott
- Bennett Award, marking the associate who best epitomizes the culture of the company and leading with the Remington ‘5 Guiding Principles’ – Hassan Majd, Remington Corporate SVP of operating performance and improvement
- Hotel of Year – tied between Dallas/Fort Worth Airport Marriott and Dallas Marriott Suites Medical/Market Center
“Remington’s philosophy includes honoring the achievements of all of our leaders,” said Dean. “It is a joy each year to recognize and showcase those individuals and hotels which have exceeded expectations, and it is even more remarkable to watch how these triumphs motivate other hoteliers in the year ahead.”
Wyndham Hotels & Resorts Named One of the World’s Most Ethical Companies
Wyndham Hotels & Resorts has been recognized as one of the “2019 World’s Most Ethical Companies” by the Ethisphere Institute, a leader in defining and advancing the standards of ethical business practices. This distinction marks the first global accolade for the company.
“In our first year as a new public company, today’s recognition as one of the World’s Most Ethical Companies is continued reaffirmation of the inclusive, values-driven culture instilled in our team members by our former parent, Wyndham Worldwide,” said Geoff Ballotti, president/CEO of Wyndham Hotels & Resorts. “Strong ethics are the foundation of our corporate culture, with integrity being one of our company’s core values.”
The World’s Most Ethical Companies designation recognizes those companies that align principle with action, work tirelessly to make trust part of their corporate DNA, and, in doing so, shape future industry standards by introducing tomorrow’s best practices today.
“Companies with effective compliance programs not only make good ethical decisions, but Ethisphere’s research demonstrates that they also outperform their peers,” said Paul Cash, general counsel/chief compliance officer with Wyndham Hotels & Resorts.
“Our ethical business practices foster great experiences and brand loyalty for our guests and for Wyndham Rewards members, as well as our Wyndham Hotels & Resorts team members,” added Samantha Vaughan, group VP, corporate compliance/chief privacy officer.
Maintaining a strong focus on ethical practices is part of Wyndham Hotels & Resorts’ social responsibility commitment. Some of the company’s activities and accomplishments include the following:
- Creating a diverse and inclusive place to work and do business through its values-driven culture of ethics and integrity
- Developing new training programs and awareness initiatives to provide tailored guidance for corporate and hotel property-based team members on acceptable business conduct standards and how to weave compliant and ethical decision making into everyday business
- Working to protect human rights by providing hotel owners and franchisees training and awareness tools to identify human trafficking in partnership with the Polaris Project and ECPAT-USA
HSMAI Names Hotel Sales Professionals of the Year
The Hospitality Sales and Marketing Association International (HSMAI) has named Amy Champagne, director of sales and catering with Antlers Hotel, and Laura Dinu, director, groups and meetings, global sales Americas with IHG, as HSMAI Hotel Sales Professional of the Year Award recipients.
Champagne will be recognized as the Hotel Sales Professional of the Year in the on-property category. Dinu has been selected as the above-property Hotel Sales Professional of the Year Award recipient.
Both will be honored with the awards at HSMAI’s Mike Leven Leadership Conference, March 18-19, at The Broadmoor in Colorado Springs, CO.