Hospitality Leadership

Alumni Achievements

by

The success of our alumni is extremely important. Throughout the year, many of you receive awards and recognition for accomplishments in your hospitality careers. The HRA department would like to recognize these achievements. Whether it is an individual award or team award, we want to know. If you would like to submit an accomplishment for a future newsletter, please email Katie Tucker.

 

DoubleTree Hotel Springfield Wins National Awards

DoubletreeDoubleTree by Hilton recently recognized top performing hotels of 2013. Out of 370 locations globally, DoubleTree Hotel Springfield was awarded two awards including the prestigious Crystal Cookie Award. DoubleTree Hotel Springfield, an O’Reilly Hospitality Management property, is under the leadership of Brian Inman. He joined the hotel in December 2011 as general manager and is a 1987 graduate of the HRA program at Missouri State. In addition to Brian, there are multiple HRA alumni and current students that work for the hotel and O’Reilly Hospitality Management.

The Crystal Cookie Awards, one of the highest awards to be received, are awarded to those properties that best demonstrate the DoubleTree by Hilton CARE culture through outreach efforts, both as a hotel and individually, to the local community. The DoubleTree Springfield was presented with The Crystal Cookie Award: Teaching Kids to CARE Award. In addition to this award, they also received the Environmental Care Awards-Outstanding Achievement Award.

In 2013, the hotel donated/raised over $23,500 to the local community and participated in over thirty community outreach events including:

  • CARE committee planted 500 tree saplings along Wilson’s Creek to help with the erosion of the creek banks.
  • Twenty-four bicyclists participated in the Bike MS 150 – 150 mile bike ride and raised $3000 to benefit the MS of the Ozarks.
  • The hotel raised $2500 for Adopt a School allowing them to purchase school supplies, coats, hats, socks, winter coats and 70 pairs of brand new shoes.
  • The hotel participated in Breast Cancer Foundation of the Ozarks’ 5% Focus Day. Five percent of the hotels revenue for the day was donated to the Breast Cancer Foundation of the Ozarks, raising $3000 for the organization.

 

Source: http://news.doubletree.com/index.cfm/newsroom/detail/26535

 

Springfield, MO CVB Wins International Advertising Award

Sammie SpringfieldIn February the Springfield, MO Convention and Visitor Bureau was awarded a Platinum Adrian Award at the 57th Annual Adrian Awards in New York City for a 2013 marketing campaign. Part of the CVB team is alumna Dana Maugans. Dana, Director of Sales, graduated from the HRA department in 1987. As Director of Sales, she ensured the campaign targeted and reached the appropriate audience.

The campaign featured a sock monkey, known as Sammie Springfield. Sammie was the city’s “spokesmonkey.” Nearly 400 meeting planners received two packages from the CVB with the first being a high-quality coffee table book featuring Sammie enjoying the sites, hotels and meeting facilities in Springfield. A few weeks later, the meeting planners all received a Sammie Springfield sock monkey. Sammie then invited and hosted a select number of the recipients to a familiarization tour of Springfield.

More than 1200 submissions were received for the Adrian Award. Hospitality Sales and Marketing Association International awarded 46 Gold Adrian Awards in Advertising, 87 in Digital Marketing and 130 in Public Relations. From these Gold Award recipients, the Platinum winners were then selected.

 

Source: http://issuesandinfo.com/2014/02/cvb-wins-international-advertising-award/