This week’s Partner News is highlighted by Spirides Hospitality Finance Company providing a $4.1 loan to a SureStay Collection hotel in Texas, Outrigger Kona Resort and Spa adding two executives to its leadership team and Curator Hotel & Resort Collection choosing React Mobile’s safety device platform. Read about all that and more below.
Spirides provides $4.1M loan to Texas SureStay
Spirides Hospitality Finance Company has provided and the borrower has officially closed a $4.1 million loan to refinance the existing mortgage debt of the Pearl of the Concho, SureStay Collection by Best Western in San Angelo, TX.
The 164-room hotel, located in the heart of the downtown historic, is a full-service, midscale, family-centric hotel that was first built as one of the original Holiday Inn, which features a very large indoor recreational atrium with swimming pools, mini-golf, game tables, a video game arcade, and a restaurant and saloon. The hotel also offers a meeting room section that has its own entrance from the outside.
The terms of the financing arranged by Spirides Hospitality Finance Company for this mortgage debt refinance include a 25-year loan term and amortization, a favorable rate of interest and minimal prepayment penalties. The loan was funded by a Southeast U.S. headquartered bank.
Outrigger Kona Resort and Spa reveals leadership team
Outrigger Hospitality Group has made two management appointments at the Outrigger Kona Resort and Spa—the 22-acre oceanfront property on Hawaii Island that is slated to reopen under the Outrigger brand this month. Steve Solberg will be the resort’s general manager and Christine San Nicolas, who has been with Outrigger for more than two decades, will be director of human resources.
Solberg, who will be responsible for all aspects of resort operations for the property, was general manager at Outrigger Guam Beach Resort for nearly six years. Before that, he was GM of the Renaissance Grand St. Louis. Prior to that, he spent seven years with PCH Hotels and Resorts.
San Nicolas was director of human resources (HR) at Outrigger Guam Beach Resort since 2016 and last year moved to Oahu as senior director, human resources, in Outrigger’s corporate office. Before moving to the HR department, she was a director of finance for Outrigger.
Curator Hotel & Resort Collection selects React Mobile
React Mobile and Curator Hotel & Resort Collection have signed a partnership agreement that enables hotels in the collection to use React Mobile’s safety device platform to keep their employees safe. Hoteliers within Curator can deploy React Mobile’s GPS geolocation and Bluetooth beacon technology to provide accuracy to locate an employee in distress.
Participating Curator members can equip their employees with a discreetly wearable LTE panic button device that can quickly be tapped when help is needed. Each button has its own unique employee identification. Small battery-operated Bluetooth beacons in each room provide the employee’s location. The alert and location are sent over the local LTE network to the hotel’s security network so the management team knows exactly who needs help and where. While the alert is active, the system tracks the location of the employee in real-time.
React Mobile’s cloud-based platform enables Curator hotels to customize the software and integrate with other systems already in use. The React Mobile Dispatch Center will configure a hotel’s response team and notification lists, actively monitor beacons and buttons for connectivity and battery life, issue alerts, update responders in real time, and track and log all alert history.
AAHOA presents advocacy award to Bijal Patel
Bijal Patel, chairman, California Hotel & Lodging Association (CHLA) for 2020-2021 has been awarded AAHOA’s Political Forum Award for Advocacy.
Presented during AAHOA’s 2021 national convention held in Dallas, the award recognizes Patel for guiding numerous successful advocacy initiatives on behalf of hotel owners during “the year of the pandemic.”
An especially notable achievement was the defeat of Proposition 15 on last November’s election ballot in California. This victory prevented an increase in property taxes for business owners in the state that was projected to be double or triple or higher of current rates.
AAHOA’s Political Forum Award for Advocacy is presented once a year to an individual who helps advance the interests of hotel owners through political involvement and government affairs.
Hotel Du Pont marks 110 years with brand refresh
Wilmington, DE’s historic Hotel Du Pont, a PM Hotel Group property, is marking 110 years since its groundbreaking in 1911 with a new visual identity, refreshed brand and website relaunch to accompany several recent key hires across its events, catering and guest services departments.
Philadelphia’s WFGD Studio worked closely with hotel leadership and PM Hotel Group to create a refreshed brand identity that conveys the hotel’s modern sensibility, luxe amenities and approachable style.
According to PM Hotel Group, the new design takes its cues from the details of the building, grandeur of the spaces and the history of the hotel. The balance of white space, a limited color palette and vintage-inspired typography help create a modern branding system for the luxury property. A collection of marks from the new visual suite have been thoughtfully incorporated throughout the guest experience, from leather coasters to new key card suites, menus and more to deliver a reimagined and engaging guest journey,