Kindersley’s Suburban Extended Stay Hotel Awarded Platinum Award from Choice Hotels
Years of dedicated care and attention were fully recognized last week as Choice Hotels Canada presented the Suburban Extended Stay Hotel in Kindersley a Platinum Award, ranking this hotel in the top 3% in Canada.
Every year Choice Hotels Canada places only 12 awards across the nation; giving fierce competition to over 300 contending hotels. Of all recipients of the prestigious platinum and gold awards this year, Kindersley was the only stop in Western Canada.
Brendan Gibney, Senior Director of Choice Hotels Canada, came to Kindersley on Thursday to present the award to the Suburban Hotel staff. In celebration of the event, the Suburban Hotel served a hot dog/burgher meal and cake to attendees. A few staff members added to the jovial mood by donning on dinosaur suits.
Impressed by the energy of all involved, Gibney made the following comment: “The level of engagement in the staff and the community is phenomenal. Kindersley is my last stop and the 12th award I’ve presented this year, and this is the first time I have ever encountered this much energy. I mean, we have T-Rexes outside right now.”
Gibney noted that the energy in the community and in the staff members has played a big part in bringing the Suburban Hotel so far. “This is what makes a hotel: when a hotel and the community form a bond, that is success right there.”
Gibney addressed the staff members and managers before officially handing the award to the hotel managers, Courtney Lindsay and Carol Ardell. As general manager for the past several years, Lindsay noted that the Platinum award is an accomplishment on an individual, staff and community level.
First arriving at the hotel over three years ago, Lindsay found herself acting not only as a general manager, but also as a policies and procedures manager. “I saw that some things needed to be changed, so I changed them.” Lindsay recalled that these changes weren’t always well received. “But I knew that in order to become one of the best, we had to do the tough stuff.”
Lindsay created a cheerful and energetic atmosphere for her staff, and studiously hired dedicated and skilled individuals. Once she had the team she wanted, she budgeted and arranged circumstances to keep her staff happy and busy, even during break up, which is a challenging time for many businesses in Kindersley. Lindsay’s hard work and positive enforcement of all policies now has a huge pay back with this recognition from Choice Hotel Canada.
On the staff level, each individual has created a strong work ethic, and a high set of standards for themselves. For example, when Choice Hotels was carefully screening all nominees, they hired a 3rd party inspector to access eight, randomly selected rooms for cleanliness. After the inspection was over, Kindersley’s Suburban Hotel had a cleanliness rating of 98.3%, effectively setting a new record for Suburban hotels across the world.
Community wise, the extended stay hotel has enjoyed steady business and community involvement since its opening a few years ago. As a way of saying thank you, the hotdog/burgher meal served on Thursday was donated by the Suburban Hotel and all proceeds went straight to the Kindersley Big Dippers. “What is important to the community is important to us,” concluded Lindsay.
The award season isn’t over for the Suburban Hotel, as on June 21st, Lindsay received an email, notifying her that the hotel had just received its second TripAdvisor Certificate of Excellence. Booking.com also has yet to announce its winners, so the celebrations may just keep happing at the Kindersley Extended Stay Hotel.
Image Source: Mallorie Rast/Kindersley Social
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