EDMONDS, WA—Being an owner/operator as well as a third-party manager, The Hotel Group (THG) deals with various forms of insurance, from employee health coverage to property insurance and business continuation coverage. However, the one form of coverage that’s top of mind for its president, Douglas Dreher, these days is health insurance. “It’s the one that has consistently been the most troublesome because we’d like to be able to have full-family coverage for all our associates, whether they work at our focused-service or full-service properties,” Dreher said. “But it’s just too expensive. Costs continue to increase and it’s a real challenge for us.” THG offers individual coverage to all associates, regardless of level, with a variety of plan options and co-pays. Some property locations pose a more problematic environment than others. In some small markets, for example, you might not have an HMO option. For its full-service properties, THG links to the plan that was developed by the American Hotel & Lodging Association. “It works for the full-service properties because the number of employees at the property has to be over 50,” Dreher noted. “It’s more cost effective than some alternatives and we’re able to offer better coverage for the family.” Dreher and his management team take pride in being as customer friendly as possible in responding to associates’ questions about their health coverage. “We want to be sure we have an effective system in place for answering these questions because health concerns are a hot button for just about everyone,” Dreher said. Accordingly, health coverage is a huge employee priority. Yet Dreher doesn’t believe that providing health insurance in and of itself gives THG a competitive advantage in the marketplace. “I think it’s expected today,” he explained. “A possible exception might be at the economy or budget tier of the industry.” However, providing better coverage and covering more family members could certainly qualify as a form of competitive advantage. “The quality of the coverage,” Dreher said, “is what would differentiate us from the competition.”