President's Message
I am looking forward to our upcoming 14th Annual Hospitality Luncheon on May 19th that will be held in the Vista Ballroom at McCormick Place, Chicago, during the National Restaurant Show. This luncheon will honor four exemplary individuals who have made many significant contributions to the Illinois hospitality industry.
The 2009 J. Patrick Leahy Lifetime Achievement Award recipient is Joe McInerney, President & CEO of AH&LA. IHLA's 2009 Ambassador of Hospitality Award recipients are: Tom Loughlin, Vice President, Hilton Hotels; Kevin Brown, President, Lettuce Entertain You Restaurants; and John Osmanski, President, Amber Creek Vacation Rentals.
Congratulations to all of our deserving recipients! We expect over 450 people to help us honor and recognize these outstanding award winners.
|
|
|
|
|
AH&LA's 2009 Legislative Action Summit
On March 16-17th, 2009, IHLA Officers and Board of Directors members gathered in Washington, D.C. for the American Hotel & Lodging Association's (AH&LA) 2009 Legislative Action Summit to discuss important issues with key lawmakers related to the hotel and tourism industry.
IHLA member attendees met with lawmakers such as Senator Durbin and Senator Burris to discuss key industry issues like card check, tourism funding, and the importance of encouraging business travel.
IHLA thanks all members who were able to attend this important trip to continue to protect, promote, and educate legislators at both the local and national levels about our industry.
Caption for photos (below): IHLA Officers and Board of Directors members and Government Relations staff at AH&LA's 2009 Legislative Action Summit.
|
|
IHLA StayGreen Press Conference Launch a Success!
On Monday, March 23rd, 2009, IHLA officially launched its current two StayGreen environmental programs (Green Energy & Recycling/Waste Minimization) at a press conference held at the Palmer House Hilton at 10:30am.
About fifty to sixty attendees arrived to support the successful initiative, and media such as USA Today, Illinois Radio Networks, and Chicago-Splash.com were also involved. Speakers at the event included IHLA Board of Directors Chairman and President of First Hospitality Group, Bob Habeeb; Board of Directors Member and General Manager of Hotel Monaco, Nabil Moubayed; Hotel Manager of the Palmer House and leader of their green team, Todd Temperly; President & CEO of IHLA, Marc Gordon; and Deputy Commissioner of Energy & Sustainable Business of the Chicago Department of Environment, David O'Donnell.
The event continues to be a successful promotional intiative for the StayGreen programs, as almost 200 websites across the U.S. posted the press release on their sites, including AOL Money, which attracts 15 million viewers per day. 40 media outlets across the country and around the world viewed the news release, as well as Scott Erhardt of Candlewood Suites was interviewed by Peoria-based CBS TV affiliate WNBD. WJBC radio in Bloomington also ran the StayGreen story.
IHLA would like to thank all speakers, attendees, and especially the Palmer House for their tremendous support of both the StayGreen Recognition Programs, as well as the press conference. The hype about the programs continues to go viral and build each day.
If your hotel has not yet become a part of the StayGreen program(s), please contact Jill O'Neill at joneill@illinoishotels.org or at (312) 346-3135 x226 for more information.
Criteria and verification forms can also be downloaded on IHLA's website, www.stayillinois.com in the Members Only section. To do so, go to the website, click on "IHLA Members," then the Members Only pull-down button. simply fill in your email, and the site will email you your password to you so you can enter the Members Only section (or fill in your password right on that webpage if you already know it).
Once you are in the Members Only section, on the left-hand side of the page in green writing is a "StayGreen" button/link. If you click on this, you will be able to view all information about the current two programs, as well as obtain criteria forms and verification forms to sign up.
Photo Captions (below): Attendees at IHLA's March 23rd StayGreen Press Conference; speakers Bob Habeeb, Nabil Moubayed, Todd Temperly, and David O'Donnell; City of Chicago's David O'Donnell speaking to press conference attendees in front of StayGreen statistics and banner showing that 20% of IHLA member hotel rooms are StayGreen rooms!
|
Council of Chicago General Managers Meeting
On Tuesday, April 7th, 2009, IHLA held its Council of Chicago Hotel General Managers meeting at Hotel Monaco in downtown Chicago. The featured guest speaker was Brian Caffarelli of Chicago 2016 Committee.
Mr. Caffarelli discussed the recent IOC visit and thanked local hotel members for their tremendous help with the accomodations component of the IOC presentations. He went through the many successful highlights of the venue tours that the Chicago 2016 Olympic Committee presented to the IOC, as well as a special dinner at the new modern wing at the Art Institute. He also commended Chicago hotels and businesses for their strong support with putting up Chicago 2016 signage across the city supporting Chicago's bid for the games.
Mr. Caffarelli closed his discussed by showing a venue DVD, showcasing where each 2016 Olympic sport would take place in Chicago, as well as took questions from meeting attendees.
Marc Gordon informed attendees about upcoming IHLA event updates such as IHLA's Hospitality Games on April 14th, the Hospitality Awards Luncheon in conjunction with the National Restaurant Show at McCormick Place on May 19th, the IHLA Educational Foundation's "Pony Up for the Kids" on June 19th, and June events with both AH&LA & IHLA such as the Women in Lodging and Under 30 Gateway event.
Marc also thanked the Palmer House and General Manager, Dean Lane, for their help with IHLA's StayGreen Recognition Programs' press conference on March 23rd, as well as he thanked all members who came to the Legislative Action Conference in Washington, D.C. Marc concluded the meeting with both national and local legislative issues updates.
The next GM Meeting will be held on Tuesday, June 2nd, 2009, at the Sofitel Chicago Water Tower, 20 E. Chestnut Street.
Photo Caption: Brian Caffarelli, Chicago 2016, guest speaker at IHLA's GM Meeting on April 7th, 2009.
|
|
Reduce Workers' Compensation Claims!!
Your monthly Risk Management Tip from FGMK Insurance Agency, Inc.
An important part of managing your hotel or motel is to ensure the health and safety of all your employees. We have a risk management tool that will help you decide how likely it is that an incident will happen and how severe the impact of the incident could be. This is known as a 'risk assessment'. In order to meet their legal obligations under occupational health and safety laws, employers must perform a risk assessment for all tasks that have the potential to harm the health or safety of employees. This must be done in consultation with employees who are involved in the work being assessed.
To make sure you fulfill your obligation for a safe workplace, you need to become aware of what can cause harm and then take action to make sure no one is at risk at your workplace. You should ask yourself the following questions as part of the risk assessment process:
Do you talk to your employees about safety issues? Yes □ No □
Do you encourage your employees to report safety problems? Yes □ No □
Do you have an OHS policy that clearly specifies how health and safety will be
managed at your workplace? Yes □ No □
Have you developed safe work procedures so employees, such as housekeepers, know how to do their job properly and safely? Yes □ No □
Do you supervise employees to make sure the safe work procedures are
effective and are followed? Yes □ No □
In the hospitality industry, housekeepers perform some tasks that have a high risk of causing injury.
The most common ones are:
ˇ Bed making/changing
ˇ Cleaning bathrooms
We can make the Risk Assessment process an easy one for you!
Call Marilyn Brodsky at (847) 964-5315 to request your FREE Risk Assessment worksheets for Cleaning Bathrooms, Bed Making/Changing and we also have a generic form available you can customize for any other employee tasks where safety is a major concern.
|
Member News
Stefanie Hrejsa of the Days Inn Chicago in Lincoln Park
has been named General Manager of the Year!
At the recent annual Days Inns Worldwide Conference in Orlando, FL, Stefanie Hrejsa was named General Manager of the Year 2008 out of over 1,700 Days Inn Property Managers! Criteria for this award included property RevPar index compared to Smith Travel Research averages, guest service complaint ratios, hotel quality scores, and much more.
Stefanie Hrejsa started her hospitality career in Germany and has been the General Manager at the Days Inn Chicago since 1997. She has overseen a complete redevelopment of the property and is involved in every aspect of managing this hotel and building. Consistently outperforming its competition, the hotel is an award-winning European boutique-style hotel located in Lincoln Park/Lakeview in Chicago. Stefanie leads a long time staff that believes in clean rooms and friendly service.
Days Inn Chicago in Lincoln Park Earns Chairman's Award for Quality the 10th Year in a Row!
The Days Inn Chicago at 644 W. Diversey Parkway announced that it has been awarded the coveted Days InnŽ Chairman's Award for Quality for the 10th year in a row, which places the hotel as one of the highest quality properties in the Days Inn system.
To be eligible for the award, which is given annually to a select number of properties throughout the United States and Canada, a property must pass its quality assurance evaluations with outstanding marks in all categories, including both service and cleanliness. Evaluations happen twice a year and cover up to 550 individual items.
"The Days Inn Chicago represents the very best of what the Days Inn brand has to offer," said Ken Greene, Days Inn brand president. "I commend the staff for their efforts and consider each of them to be ambassadors of the brand."
"This is a great honor for our hotel and a direct result of the hard work of our wonderful staff," said Stefanie Hrejsa, the hotel's general manager.
|
|
Calendar of Events
May 16-19, 2009 - National Restaurant Show, McCormick Place, Chicago
May 19, 2009 - IHLA Board of Directors Meeting, Hyatt McCormick Place, Chicago & IHLA 14th Annual Hospitality Luncheon, Vista Ballroom, McCormick Place, Chicago
June 2, 2009 - Chicago Council of General Managers Meeting, 8am, Sofitel Chicago Water Tower, 20 E. Chestnut Street
June 19, 2009 - IHLA Educational Foundation's "Pony Up for the Kids", 1:30pm - 6:00pm, Arlington Race Course
June 22-24, 2009 - AH&LA Convention, Hilton Chicago, 720 S.Michigan Ave.
July 14-15, 2009 - IHLA Board of Directors Summer Outing, Lincolnshire Marriott Resort, 10 Marriott Drive
August 4, 2009 - Chicago Council of General Managers Meeting, 8am, Odyssey at Navy Pier
August 18, 2009 - IHLA 21st Annual Super Golf Classic, Harborside International, Chicago
|
|
Archimage Architects, LTD.
Ms. Sheryl Stevens, Owner
Architecture - new construction, additions, renovations, interior architecture, green design (member of U.S. Green Building Council)
Commercial Real Estate Specialists, Inc.
Mr. Merl Mercer, Hotel Brokerage Specialist
Members of Hotel Brokers International giving CRES Affiliate Offices and Capabilities of Listing & Selling hotels worldwide.
Eastman Development Corporation
Ms. Diane Green, Director of Operations
Land development, outlots, economy and mid-size brand hotels, with 100% minority ownership
Habitat Corporate Suites Network
Ms. Yvette Fox, Office Manager
Provides full-sized, fully furnished apartments for all your housing needs. They offer corporate apartments in numerous convenient locations in downtown Chicago and the surrounding suburbs.
|
New Hotel Members
Bloomington-Normal Marriott Hotel & Conference Center
Ms. Heather VanVoorhis, General Manager
Frontier Lodge, Jerseyville
Ms. Stephanie Beemer, General Manager
Super 8 - Jerseyville
Ms. Stephanie Beemer, General Manager
The Whitehall Hotel
Ms. Cassie Yen, General Manager
| |
IHLA Educational Foundation News
SAVE THE DATE!
PONY UP FOR THE KIDS III
HELP RAISE FUNDS FOR IHLA EDUCATIONAL FOUNDATION SCHOLARSHIPS!
WIN...Big on June 19th, 2009 to help benefit the Educational Foundation and network with Chicago's finest in the hospitality industry!
PLACE...Your reservations today to ensure you're in a front row seat in our perfectly suited Governor's Room! Individual tickets at $200, or spacious tables of 8 at $1,500.
SHOW...You're a true supporter of education by attending this luxurious event, featuring a lavish endless buffet by Levy and premium libations. Perfect for your associate outing!
Your afternoon also includes admission to the Park, a daily racing guide, private teller, and abundant televisions in our exclusive Governor's Room, not to mention exhilarating thoroughbred racing with a true Horseracing Professional on hand to provide winning selections and betting strategies.
Friday, June 19th, 2009
1:30pm - 6:30pm (Post Time: 2:30pm)
Arlington Race Course
2200 West Euclid Avenue, Arlington Heights, IL
Watch for your invitation to reserve your place at the "Finish Line." Questions? Call Jennifer at (312) 346-3135 x233 or jchase@ihlaef.org.
*IHLAEF is a 501 (c)3 organization. Donations from outside the Hospitality Industry are tax-deductible to the fullest extent allowed by law for charitable donations.
HOTEL EMPLOYEE APPRECIATION GRAND SLAM GROUP OUTING
Tuesday, July 7th, 2009 vs. Cleveland Indians - 7-11pm
Specially priced White Sox tickets
On this special night the White Sox are offering specially priced tickets to hotel employees, their families, and friends.
We hope you will enjoy cheering on the Sox with fellow hotel associates! This is our way to celebrate you - for all you do to welcome millions of visitors to Chicago.
Tickets normally priced at $42, $38, $37, $27, and $23 are available for $21, $19, $18.50, $13.50, and $11.50.
Diversity Works
Did you know...
...that 80% of recent growth in the Chicagoland area has been due to increases in the Latino population?
...that the U.S. Asian population is expected to double by 2050 - and the Latino population will triple?
...that developing the talents of your diverse employees is a smart business decision that can affect your bottom line?
Budget and time are tight now, yet there are simple ways to increase your associates' morale and engagement. Work to bridge the language and culture barriers by finding out about your associates' culture and by learning a few words in their language to show them you care. These are also key points to ensure outstanding customer service in helping our international guests feel welcome.
For suggestions on other ways to help engage your multicultural workforce and interact with diverse clientele, contact Jennifer Chase at IHLAEF at jchase@ihlaef.org or Jill Bishop at Workforce Language Services at jill@workforcelang.com. Watch for our rescheduled session on being a Cultural Detective...
| |
|
