Star Treatment
Hotel chain gives local Sheraton top national prize
by Amy Christian
It’s a David and Goliath kind of story: A small Sheraton hotel in Augusta, certainly nice but not very flashy or trendy, goes up against all its brothers and sisters in the Starwood Hotels and Resorts chain. And when those properties include representatives from hotels like Westin, Aloft, Element, W, Four Points by Sheraton and St. Regis, you might think Augusta wouldn’t stand a chance.
You’d be wrong.
Last April, during the chain’s national meeting, Augusta’s Sheraton, located on Stevens Creek Road, was awarded the No. 1 Starwood hotel under 500 rooms in North America in 2011.
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So out of all these hotels, we were No. 1, which makes a big difference,” said Director of Sales Teressa Varela. “We’re definitely proud of our hotel and all the staff that takes care of the property and has allowed us to win this award.”
And it wasn’t an easy one to win, either. The hotel had to exceed brand standards, which means it had to offer guests a top-of-line fitness center, powered by Core Performance, as well as The Link, powered by Microsoft.
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It’s our version of a business center that has computers, internet, fax, scanners,” Varela said. “We avoid calling it a business center because it has a television that people can watch, books and magazines they can read, and games they can take up to the their rooms.”
The third brand standard is perhaps the most luxurious: the sweet sleeper bed.
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It’s a seven-layer bed that is draped with 300-count sheets and the guest has a choice of having either a feather down pillow or a hypoallergenic pillow and blanket,” Varela explained. “The pillows are so popular that people have started asking to buy them, so we’ve started selling them online.”
Once they met the brand standards and the parent company analyzed their online customer reviews, the Sheraton met its toughest challenge: a “secret shopper” evaluated his (or her) experience from start to finish, beginning with that first phone call to make a reservation. And Varela pointed out that, when the visitor arrived, he wasn’t just checking to make sure the room was clean (although he did); that person did everything from ask for a gym in a bag and a sweet sleeper pet bed at the front desk to speak to a member of the sales staff about renting meeting space.
The hotel is known for the great food at Prime 1079 Steakhouse and its clubby atmosphere, which Varela said certainly helped their scores. They weren’t the only pluses, though.
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The restaurant helps us out tremendously,” she explained, “as well as being a full-service hotel. You don’t find many full-service hotels, especially in Augusta.”
A full-service hotel, she went on to say, is one that offers room service, a restaurant open for all three meals and catering.
Employee training, both through Starwood and Newport Group, which owns seven hotels in the Augusta area, is what Varela and the management at the Sheraton believes really carried them to the win.
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We’re very fortunate to have a great team that really cares,” she said. “This hotel goes out of its way to recognize employees for a job well done and to make sure everyone knows they belong and that they’re appreciated. I have no doubt that we’ll be able to give the other Starwood properties a run for their money next year.”
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