A new member of the corporate team Here is the question: Why would the general manager of a hotel where he worked for 15 years make the move to work for another hotel as director of Sales, making what many would deem a lateral move, but some may consider a rung down on the corporate ladder?And here is the answer: Because that person is savvy enough to know that his new company is built on a founda-tion where those who excel and go above-and-beyond become prime can-didates for advance-ment within the organization.This is the very reason John Argonish made the move across town in 2012 from the Courtyard by Marriott in Scranton, PA to the Linchris owned and operated Hilton Hotel. And since John was recently named Corporate Director of Sales & Marketing, it would be hard to argue that John made the right move.“I had heard a lot when I was working for Marriott about how Linchris had a philosophy of promoting from within, rewarding those employees that stood out,” says John. “You hear about it at industry conferences, sales group meetings, and other places where people within the industry gather. And I knew the time was right be-cause I was looking for a new chal-lenge. And moving from a hotel with 1,000-sq.ft of meeting space to one that had 26,000-sq.ft. just fit the bill.”

Linchris Sabbatical Program Helps GMs Re-Energize

The world is all about re-ener-gizing. We plug in our phones and re-boot our computers; why

should our bodies be any different? Linchris Hotel Corporation under-stands this need, which is why it launched its GM Sabbatical Program many years ago. This program allows general managers to take a fully-paid three month period away from their jobs in order to re-energize and take a step back from the hectic pace our industry dictates.

The most recent general managers to take advantage of this unique benefit are Glen Vuillemier, General Manager of the Holiday Inn Miami Airport West, and Steve Gordon, General Manager of the DoubleTree by Hilton, Andover, MA.

Since joining Linchris in December 2010, Glen was well aware of this unprecedented corporate program, but the rigors of the job kept him from taking advantage of it until this past summer. And when you’re coping with the logistics over the past two years of working in Miami and your family living in Massachusetts, the opportunity to spend three months with them is not taken lightly, nor is it taken for granted.“I spent most of the time with my family, which was great because we had not seen a lot of each other over the past two years, what with the job and a recent hip replacement I was laid up with,” says Glen. “My family lives near the ocean, so this was a great opportunity to spend some quality time on a boat, relaxing and just catching up on things, like watching my daughter play field hockey at school. Then I made a list of things to do, although after awhile I was running out of things to do,” he adds with a laugh.

Bob Anderson, Senior Vice President for Linchris, says Glen was more than deserving of his time off. “Glen has been willing to travel to help work with both chal-lenged and new hotels in the Linchris portfolio,” says Bob. “His sabbatical coming on the heels of his most recent assignment in Miami was perfect timing. I visited Glen at his home when he still had a month left of his sabbatical. When I left I couldn’t help feeling jealous of how relaxed he was during our conversation. Glen is a great family man and a handyman. He put his sabbatical time to good use.”For Steve Gordon, General Manager at the DoubleTree by Hilton in Andover, MA, the Linchris Sabbatical Program held the opportunity to travel and explore new places, something that had been on his radar since he joined Linchris in November 2007.

THE L INCHRIS INNSIDER IS A PUBLICATION OF L INCHRIS HOTEL CORPORATION269 Hanover Street, Unit #2 • Hanover MA 02339 • 781-826-8824 • www.linchris.com

“John” continued on page 4

John Argonish

(L-R) Danielle Otolo, Steve Gordon, Kathy Martin

Glen Vuillemier

Andres Betancourt

“Sabbatical” continued on page 3

Summer 2017 Holiday 2017

2

A Message From Chris

L ast month we held our general manager conference

in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. While there, I was reminded that it was in 1987, two years after I went off on my own to start Linchris, that I had my first general manager confer-ence. The attendance consisted of three people, the “executive team” of Linchris (me) and the general managers of the two hotels I was operating through Linchris, a 99 room Ramada Inn in Concord, NH and a 148 room Sheraton Inn in Williamsport, PA.

New General Manager, Shon Tucker, weathers Hurricane HarveyMother Nature is a relentless and unforgiving creature, and one of her most devastating offspring is a full-blown Category 4 hurricane. This is what Shon Tucker, General Manager of the Hyatt Place in Houston, TX faced when he joined the Linchris Hotel team on July 22, a mere four weeks before Hurricane Harvey barreled into the hotel. And he remembers it well.“Harvey hit land on August 26 and it was a full-blown tropical storm, dumping 50-inches of rain on us and closing the airport,” Shon recalls. “We immediately moved all guests to the upper floors, leaving the bot-tom floor empty in anticipation of flooding, to the point where we even drained some of the water out of our pool. We also used sandbags wherever possible to hold back some of the rising water.”Shon notes that the hotel had spouts of power flickering off and on during the storm, and the hotel began to run out of supplies. “In an effort to ensure the guests were taken care of, I left with the hotel shuttle van to go secure food for the guests and staff, not knowing when resources would be available again. A decision had to be made, so I chose to ensure we would at least have temporary resources,” he says.Shon was quick to say that getting through this crisis, and keeping all the guests and staff safe, was a true team effort. “There were five members of my staff who pretty much stayed in the hotel for five days, sleeping in shifts, and making sure our guests were well taken care of in this trying time,” says Shon, who cites Gallery Hosts Summer Davis, Johnny Dosia and Keith David, as well as Shuttle Driver Tameka Hartwell and Night Auditor Tangee Hernanez as the key team members who helped him and the hotel’s guests to weather this nasty storm. “These folks would stay up 16-18 hours to make sure things were taken care of, to get people what they needed, to do housekeeping, to help people rebook their flights, whatever was needed,” says Shon. “And when it was over, I told them they all did a great job, but let’s not ever do it again,” he adds with a smile.

Summer Davis- Gallery HostJohnny Dosia- Gallery HostKeith David- Gallery HostTameka Hartwell- Shuttle Driver

Tangee Hernanez - Night Auditor

‘Tis the season for givingA tip of the hat to Sheryl Barrett, General Manager at the Hilton Garden Inn, Plymouth, MA for being named the Massachusetts Elk of the Year for her commitment to various charities supporting the community.The Holiday Inn Express, Springfield, VT, continues its commitment to assisting the local community at holiday time. For the past five years the hotel employees have helped get food donations together by participating in

Sheryl Barrett “Tis the season” continued on page 4

We met that afternoon in a small conference room. That evening we walked two blocks to a nearby restaurant for dinner and the next day we all returned to our regular duties. After this year’s meeting, we took everyone on a two day team building cruise to the Bahamas.

All this made me realize and truly appreciate how far that we have come as a company and how grateful I am to all that have made this success possible.

Several of the attributes that make us a strong company is our commit-ment to developing and promoting our team members from within as well as our sabbatical program, both of which are highlighted in this issue.

Finally, I would like to extend my best wishes to all for a happy holiday season and a healthy new year!

L-R Keith David, Shon Tucker

L-R Johnny Dosia, Shon Tucker, Laquane Anderson, Summer Davis

3

Congratulations to Ryan Connors, named the new General Manager at the Holiday Inn, Salem, NH. Ryan was previously the Night Manager at the DoubleTree by Hilton, Andover, MA. We also send a high five out to Nick Fisher, who was recently named the Regional Direc-tor of Sales for all Linchris Vermont properties, as well as the Hampton Inn, Littleton, NH. Nick previously served as Director of Sales & Marketing at the Hampton Inn, Burlington, VT. “Nick not only has Hampton Brand experience, which is beneficial to one of the hotels in his region, but he has a wealth of knowledge and contacts within the market that made him the ideal choice for this position,” said John Argonish, Linchris’ Corporate Director of Sales & Marketing.The Hilton Garden Inn, Plymouth, MA, has announced two promotions. Shelby Piche is the new Executive Housekeeper, having been pro-moted from Front Desk Agent at the DoubleTree by Hilton, Rockland, MA. Congratulations also to Tracy Aylward, who has been promoted from Night Auditor to Front Office Manager.

New Promotions Announced

Tracy Aylward

Ryan Connors

Nick Fisher

Shelby Piche

“Sabbatical” continued from page 1

Steve started his sabbatical in June of this year. After spending the first month just re-laxing at home, Steve and his wife embarked on a three week excursion driving across the state of California, through the picturesque towns of Monterey and Carmel, and eventually driving over to Yosemite State Park, with stops in Reno and Lake Tahoe, Nevada. Adds Steve, “And one of the best things was when I returned from all that travel, I still had four weeks to relax.”“Steve is a great GM and is very deserving of his sabbatical,” says Nick Pancoast, Senior Vice President of Operations. “Last year Steve took the former Wyndham Andover through a major renovation and seamlessly transitioned the hotel to a Dou-bleTree.”“The two purposes of the sabbatical program is to allow our long term General Man-agers a chance to spend time with their families and recharge their batteries, but also to grow our leadership from within,” says Nick. “Both of these missions were accom-plished with both Steve and Glen’s sabbaticals.”

For Glen Vuillemier, the responsibility of running the Miami property fell to his Assistant General Manager, Andres Betancourt. And although Glen says he felt leaving his hotel for three months was a little “unnerving,” he also knew it was be-ing left in great hands. “Andres did a terrific job while I was away,” says Glen.”

For Steve Gordon, it meant passing the baton for three months to the capable hands of Kathy Martin, the hotel’s Director of Sales, and Danielle Otolo, who serves as the property’s Accounting Manager. “Both Kathy and Danielle did a tremen-dous job in running the day-to-day operation, and they did it as a team,” points out Steve Gordon. “I had absolutely no worries that things were being taken care of.” Nick Pancoast agrees; “Kathy proved during Steve’s sabbatical that she was ready to be a General Manager.”

Linchris General Managers had a full day conference in Fort Lauderdale, FL com-plete with a Patriots Tailgate Party to share their New England-based pride. Follow-ing the conference, the GMs then took a two-day cruise to Nassau, Bahamas where they enjoyed a very competitive morning of Beach Olympics with pre-assigned teams. This was a great event to bring everyone together for a little team-building fun. Overall, everyone had an absolute blast and Robb Moskowitz did an incredible job of planning the entire event.

Fun in the Sun

4

a food drive and donating it all to the Springfield Family Center. Many of the em-ployees at the hotel are animal lovers, so every year the hotel collects donations for the Springfield Humane Society. And this year the team decided to also do a drive for Toys for Tots .The Holiday Inn LPGA, Daytona, FL partnered with the Calvary Christian Center in assisting to feed families who could not afford Thanks-giving dinner over the most recent holiday. The hotel held a Canned Food Drive, collect-ing canned goods donated by team members and also served as the distribution center for the meal distribution, where families in need came to pick up their Thanksgiving dinner, complete with all of the trim-mings, from turkey to stuffing and vegetables.

(L-R)-- A member of Calvary Christian Church, Alex Basso (F&B Manager), Sharron Wren (Server), Benjamin Crowder (Front Office Manager) and Savannah Morris (Executive Housekeeper). In front of Sharron Wren is her daughter, Lilly, who also volunteered to help in the cause.

To the RescueAround 2:00 am on September 23, a guest at the Shera-ton Tampa Brandon Hotel, Tampa, FL, came to the front desk and said that there was a guest crawling around on the 3rd floor and he appeared to be drunk. It turns out the guest was actually having a diabetic emergency. While waiting for the ambulance, Gary Vanfleet, a Night Auditor at the hotel, comforted the gentleman until paramedics could ar-rive. The paramedics came and were able to stabilize the man. The family of the gentleman contacted Bob Anderson at the corporate office to recount the story and credit Gary for saving the gentleman’s life. The Sheraton Tampa Brandon recognized Gary for his efforts at the next employee rally. Great job, Gary, and THANK YOU!

Kathy Germano

Future HotelierCongratulations to Heather Hayes, Guest Services Agent at the Holiday Inn Express, Springfield, VT, on the birth of her son, Axton, who was born on Octo-ber 13. We also send out our best wished to Olga Maxwell, who works in the front office at the Inn at Middletown, Middletown, CT, on the birth of her daughter, Sophie, who clocked in at 7-pounds, 8-ounces. Coincidentally, mother and baby were both born on August 25.

Heather Hayes, Nate Hayes, son Cyrus and baby Axton

Olga Maxwell, husband Tyler, daughter Natalie, and baby Sophie

Gary Vanfleet

Welcome to Our Newest CitizenThis past September Kathy Germano, Executive House-keeper at the Inn at Middle-town, Middle-town, CT, became an American citizen. Kathy has been with the Inn since May 2005. We congratulate her on her new status.

Fitting the bill is putting it mildly, as John’s time spent at the Hilton earned him numer-ous industry awards. When the Scranton hotel was sold, John spent a short amount of time as the General Manager of the DoubleTree by Hilton in Wilmington, DE. But what he had accomplished in Scranton did not go unnoticed to a company that rewards excellence. In February of 2017, Linchris named John its Corporate Director of Sales & Marketing. And one of the first things he did was help organize this year’s Sales Conference; an event he says was extremely successful.“We were able to take a more proactive approach to keep our sales efforts in line with the new technology we see every day,” says John. “It’s allowed us to make our information more accessible with programs like Smart Sheets, as well as increasing our digital presence.”John Argonish took notice of Linchris’ desire to promote from within and hasn’t looked back since that day he made the decision to change jobs in 2012. And he sees it happening all around him. “All you have to do is look at someone like our 2016 Employee of the Year Gianfran-co Saltalammachia, who started out as a bartender with Linchris and has just been named Director of Sales at the DoubleTree in Rockland, MA,” John points out. “It shows that great companies reward good people. That’s how companies grow talent.” And no one knows that better than John Argonish.

“John” continued from page 1

“Tis the season” continued from page 2