When you're ready to come back, we will be here, waiting for you.

We are still here, and a lot of hotels are still open.  Regrettably though, some hotels have temporarily closed their doors and some hotel employees have either been laid-off, furloughed or have lost their job.  For those of us who remain, we are doing our best to provide the best service we can, given the current situation.  For the hotels that are open, there are less staff to interact with, and certainly less amenities to enjoy.  But we are here, and we will do what we can to protect our guests and keep them safe.

There are many different reasons why someone chooses hospitality as their profession, maybe it was to have the opportunity to travel, to meet new people or they went to school for hospitality management because they thought working in a hotel would be fun and interesting. Maybe their reason was that they wanted to have a positive impact on someone and to be the best part of someone's day.

Whatever their "why" is, this is what we love to do, and it is a big part of who we are.

What we do, at the most basic level, is to provide comfort, convenience and relaxation to those guests' that stay with us. But we do more than provide a comfortable bed and fancy amenities.  We provide people a place where they feel safe and that they can even call home, be it for one night or seven nights. We are there to celebrate milestones like a birthday, anniversary or a wedding, and to give empathy, comfort and compassion when times are tough.

We welcome people, all people, and treat them as we would treat our families and friends.

But our purpose for doing what we do is something that is deeper within us. 

Our guests bring out the best of us; the best part of us. Our smile is sincere and when we say "have a great day" we genuinely mean it. How many of you have waited for an elevator in a building, office tower or condo and when the doors open you put out your hand in a non-verbal way to say, "you first".  How many times have you held open a door and said "after you" to a complete stranger? Being "hospitable" is more than just a job requirement, for us it is a part of our nature and it is who we are.

This industry brings the best out of us and the interactions that we have with our guests everyday reaffirm that.

The number of guests staying at our hotels may have declined and for the next few weeks that number will still be low.  But our guests will return. It will take time, but that time will come.

Yes, they will come back, and they will be back for a few reasons, comfort, convenience, location or amenities. But most importantly they will come back because of you. They will come back because of who you are and what you do. They will come back because of how you made them feel, and that feeling and that emotion is priceless.

We welcome everyone, and treat everyone like they are family, and that is the reason why our guests will come back to us.

So, to all our guests, when you’re ready to come back, we will be here, waiting for you.

Todd M. Noftall

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