PRESS ROOM

How do you make a 1% difference?

In a quest to find Park Inn and Park Plaza employees that exemplify the 1% Difference motto - that is, it's more important to do 100 things 1% better, than it is to do one thing 100% better - the Park Inn & Suites in Rockville, MD fits the bill.

Guided by an enthusiastic General Manager, Jim Hoyt, the property used its creativity to implement several 1% differences for a group of 40 teachers and principals from Great Britain who travel to the U.S. several times a year and stay for about a month.

"While we tend to focus our energy on the basics of offering great service in a well-maintained hotel with clean rooms and comfortable beds - it's the extra things we do for our long-term guests that keeps them coming back," said Hoyt.

For example, Hoyt said he placed special fruit baskets in each room of the U.K. group with a note attached that said, "Welcome to America." The baskets were decorated with red, white and blue ribbons and were adorned with the British flag.

While this was an extra special touch, Hoyt said the group was spending alot of time and money at the hotel, and he knew there was a possibility they would return if they were treated right. "The baskets made a huge impression, and sent a stream of folks to the front desk to say how much they appreciated the gift."

In addition, the group expressed a need for Internet access to retrieve e-mail messages and documents from home. In response, Jim arranged for the group to use the hotel's computers in the sales office after business hours.

"In the morning, I found notes of appreciation taped to the computers from the people who used them the night before. One note said, 'everyone here is courteous, but you make us feel like we're home.' For a General Manager, it doesn't get any better than that," said Hoyt.

Hoyt went on to say that they also placed random courtesy calls to guests' rooms to make sure everything is satisfactory. "When we call, we ask them if everything is okay, and if not, we want to fix it as quickly as possible. The guests usually respond with surprise that we'd take the time to check on them."

These little gestures have yielded big results for the Park Inn & Suites Rockville as the hotel has been awarded the British group's future business of four visits over the next year. "I knew this group made multiple trips to the area each year. My goal was to have them select the Park Inn & Suites Rockville as their home-away-from-home. We're living proof that a little effort goes a long way," added Hoyt.