Marquette’s Country Inn & Suites hotel named Hotel of the Year

A popular Marquette hotel has been honored by its company as one of the best hotels for service and performance in the chain.

The Country Inn & Suites in Marquette has been presented with the Hotel of the Year and Global Hospitality awards from Carlson Hotels. Carlson has more than 1,060 locations in 77 countries, including brands like Radisson, Country Inns & Suites, Park Inn, Park Plaza and Regent.

The awards were given to hotels within the Carlson chain that showed outstanding performance in a few key areas: employee engagement, guest satisfaction, revenue generation, and economic performance.

“We knew we were in the running for Hotel of the Year, but we didn’t imagine we had a shot at Global Hotel of the Year as well,” says Country Inn & Suites General Manager Gail Anthony. “Bangkok, Berlin, and Belgium, and then there we are. It’s all because of one little idea–Be good to the guests.”

Besides Marquette’s Country Inn & Suites, the other three winners were the Radisson Blu Hotel in Berlin, the Park Inn Liege Airport in Belgium, and the Park Plaza Sukhumvit in Bangkok.

Anthony says the hotel succeeded on several levels to win the award, including guest satisfaction, employee satisfaction, meeting Carlson expectations, and finally, producing good financial results. She attributed their success in all these areas to the staff’s approach of “outrageous kindness,” thinking of the guests at every turn.

“In this economic environment, you have to work extra hard to secure these relationships,” Anthony says. “The one question we always ask ourselves is, ‘What’s good for the guest?’.”

Hubert Joly, president and CEO of Carlson, praised the hotels as living up to the highest expectations of the company.

“These hotels are great ambassadors for our brands and are aligned with the vision we have for our hotel business as part of our Ambition 2015 strategy,” he said in a statement.

The 84-room Country Inn & Suites also has received the President’s Gold Award and the Friends Hosting Friends brand service awards annually since its 2006 opening.