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On Memorial Day Weekends hotels are generally slow with business.
However, that wasn’t the case this year at the Holiday Inn
Express Eagan. We were swamped with an unusually large number of
walk-ins and were down to under 1 0 rooms left to sell on Saturday
night. Unfortunately, we had several air conditioner units that
decided they wanted the weekend off, and yes, it was hot!
I
had nearly exhausted all my options as our full-time maintenance
person was out of town until Tuesday and the engineer at the Hilton
Garden (across the street) was also unavailable. We called several
people and resorted to other TPI hotels for help. I called Scott Schmidt at the Holiday Inn Express Golden Valley and told him
our situation. He immediately took charge and gave me the cell phone
number to their engineer. I called Juan
Calderon and explained what was happening. Immediately he
said, “Well, I live in Medicine Lake, so it will be about 45
minutes before I can get there. Can you give me the directions?”
ABSOLUTELYI!I Juan came to our rescue and tried to fix about I 0
HVAC units in our guest rooms. It was awesome that he was willing to
drive all the way to Eagan to help us. KUDOS to Scott and Juan for
being so incredibly helpfull!
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Submitted by Amanda Singer
(Assistant
General Manager -
Holiday Inn Express Eagan)
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Adam Lillico, Perkins
Red Wing - Assistant Kitchen Manager, went above and beyond the call
of duty. As Adam was leaving work, he noticed an older couple
looking under the hood of their car. He became curious and went over
to investigate. After discussing the problem with the owner of the
car, Adam laid down on the wet, slush covered parking lot to check
underneath the engine area. He quickly detected the problem and
made the needed repairs. The car started perfectlyl The couple was
very grateful, and Adam even turned down a cash reward saying “It
was no problem”. This is truly an example of the attitude we want
to show each and everyone of our guests.
A Fish Story to Believe It was the weekend of the fishing opener and
Mr. Jones and his family were staying at the Holiday Inn Willmar.
After a long day of fishing Mr. Jones returned to the hotel with an
ample supply of fish. Some fish were worthy of telling stories
about, however, the fish he was most proud of was the smallest
caught—the one caught by his five year old son. Mr.
Jones was glowing with excitement about his son’s
catch. When Mr. Jones was a child, he fished a lot with his father
and when he caught his first fish, his father prepared it for him
for dinner. Wanting to do the same for his son, Mr. Jones was put in
an awkward position, as staying in a hotel makes it difficult to
carry this through. Mr. Jones thought he would take a chance and ask
the hotel staff for help. |
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He
knew they were busy and there was a 1 hour wait for a table in the
dining room, but it was worth asking. Mr. Jones asked the Hotel MOD
if there was any way we could make this special occasion possible.
The MOD and the Sous Chef worked together to prepare and deliver
this special meal to Mr. Jones’s son with no waiting time at all.
Mr. Jones was ecstatic with the outcome and praised the staff for
their service. I’m sure we will be serving the Jones’s for
generations to come.
One
evening in February, Willmar had freezing rain. The next morning the
Hotels Maintenance Team bought 2 cases of windshield washer fluid
and helped remove ice which was built up on all windows of cars. All
the guests were very appreciative of what we did for them to get
them on their way.
Comfort
Inn Wilimar recently had a couple staying at their hotel due to a
fire that claimed their home. Everyone on the staff pitched in a
brought them what they needed to be comfortable for their long stay.
Maintenance people took it upon themselves to go over to the Days
Inn to get extra lamps, chairs, a credenza and refrigerator, and set
everything up. They were so impressed with the service, the couple
mentioned the hotel in an editorial sent to the local newspaper.
TPI
VISION STATEMENT:
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