THE WINNERS’ CIRCLE July 9, 2019

Easton’s Group raises more than $20,000

TORONTO — “Final numbers in we raised 20,000!!!!!” according to Reetu Gupta, president and CEO of The Easton’s Group of Hotels and The Gupta Group. Easton’s Group, The Gupta Group and Rogue Insight Capital teamed up with MLSE LaunchPad during the NBA finals to support Toronto Youth.
The initial goal of $10,000 was met in the first four days. By mid-June, the total was close to $15,000. And now the total is $20 grand. Congratulations!

Hilton Clean the World to recycle 2 million bars of soap

MCLEAN, Va. — Embassy Suites by Hilton, Hilton Garden Inn, Hampton by Hilton, Homewood Suites by Hilton and Home2 Suites by Hilton are rolling up their sleeves for the Clean the World Challenge.

The brands are challenging hotel owners and team members to collect bars of soap left behind by guests to be recycled into 2 million bars of new soap by Global Handwashing Day on October 15. At press time, the total stood at 1,324,692 bars.

Clean the World Foundation, the world’s largest non-profit organization to recycle discarded hotel soap will distribute the recycled soap to communities in need in 127 countries around the globe.

Algonquin students come second in the world

OTTAWA, PARIS — Three Algonquin College Bachelor of Hospitality and Tourism Management students took home second place in Take Off!, a global hospitality competition held in Paris last month. Their ground-breaking concept for the hotel room of the future — a highly customizable, multi-sensory, AI environment — impressed the judges.

Brielle Pelletier, Yuxiang Jiang, and Tsvetan Stanchulov — also known by their team name “Cultures United” — won the chance to compete against over 500 worldwide competitors with their pitch on how Artificial Intelligence can enhance the experiences of hotel guests. As finalists, they presented their concept to Accor’s top hotel management.

Here’s an excerpt from the team’s initial pitch: “Imagine paying $400 a night for a hotel room looking directly across into an ugly office building. What if it were possible to get your dream view while you were anywhere in the world through an AI in-room atmosphere control. While sitting in a stressful meeting, transform your hotel room into a tropical paradise through lighting, floor to ceiling imagery, temperature, sound, humidity and scent. Atmosphere control will allow the guests to experience a more personalized and relaxing stay.”

When asked about the project, the team shed some light on the inspiration behind this initiative.

“E-Atmosphere is a concept that was created out of real life experience,” said Jiang. “We were sitting in a conference room and asked, how much more productive can we be in this scene?”

“The idea of this year’s competition was to improve the guest experience through AI and technology,” said Pelletier. “What we noticed in research was that [AI] took away guest experience by removing human interaction. Our inspiration was to stay away from that type of artificial intelligence, and create something that would enhance the experience in the room.”

It was important to the team that the project maintain the aspect of human value. “We don’t want to take away jobs from the hotel industry,” the team stated. “We don’t want to see our industry fail from technological disruptors.”

Raptors NBA spending updates from Moneris

As Toronto Raptors fans mourn the departure of Kawhi Leonard, let’s look back on how Canadian spending in bars and restaurants increased (YoY) during the entire course of the NBA Finals Games and the Championship Parade. Spending highlights (YoY spend) from MonerisMetrics, an insightful Canadian spending indicator powered by Moneris, are available below.

During the games and after, from 7 p.m. to 2 a.m. EST, spending in downtown Toronto was up 30 per cent; in the GTA it was up 34 per cent; and across Canada it was up 19 per cent.

The majority of locations saw their peak in the final hours of the games (11:00 p.m. EST): in Canada as a whole it increased by 69 per cent; in Downtown Toronto by 101 per cent; in the GTA 115 per cent; in Vancouver 94 per cent; in Calgary 75 per cent; in Edmonton 97 per cent; and in Montreal a whopping 216 per cent.

ROOM8 (pronounced roommate) design competition

PARSIPPANY, N.J — Super 8 by Wyndham has announced a dream opportunity for young, aspiring designers with the launch of its first-ever ROOM8 Design Challenge.

Centred on re-imagining a traditional hotel suite, the challenge looks to bring a fresh perspective to shared hotel accommodations and invites creative applicants to submit original design renderings for what will eventually become the brand’s new ROOM8 (pronounced roommate) room concept.

The winning candidate will have the opportunity to refine and evolve their initial design alongside interior designer and TV personality Alison Victoria and will receive a $10,000 design fee upon successful completion of the project.

The final concept will then be brought to life with a commercial-grade assortment from Wayfair Professional, Wayfair’s specialized program for business customers, before being piloted at select Super 8 hotels across the U.S. and Canada.

From now through July 20, applicants can visit www.super8.com/ROOM8 to learn more and submit their formal application. The challenge is open to all aspiring designers, with experts in co-living—college students, graduates and urbanites—highly encouraged to apply.

Guest love grows at HIEX Mississauga Toronto SW

MISSISSAUGA, Ont. — The Holiday Inn Express and Suites Mississauga Toronto Southwest is proud to share that it has achieved the Highest Guest Love Growth in Canada for 2018. Out of 184 hotels their team is proudly #1!

The team at the hotel has focused on providing above average service to guests and making memorable experiences that guests obviously value. Their appreciation of this service is shown in high guest satisfaction survey scores.

“As a part of IHG (Intercontinental Hotels Group), we know that it takes laser-focus to create a hotel culture that delivers consistent and memorable brand guest experiences, this is what we call Guest Love,” said Mark Jones, director of sales and marketing for the hotel.

In 2018, Easton’s Group of Hotels completed a $3.5 million renovation and rebrand to Holiday Inn Express and Suites Mississauga Toronto Southwest. The hotel features the brand’s newest design solution, which was created to meet the evolving needs of the brand’s target guest. The design features an appealing combination of fresh, energetic and engaging elements, creating a distinctive style that is evident at every touch point of the Holiday Inn Express brand experience.

Congratulations to the team, management and Easton’s Group of Hotels for being a part of making this a great hotel that guests obviously love!