The Ritz-Carlton Lodge, Reynolds Plantation

Completing all 99 holes of golf may pose a tough challenge for groups visiting The Ritz-Carlton Lodge, Reynolds Plantation in Greensboro, Georgia. But thanks to Southern hospitality and The Ritz-Carlton brand of luxury, everything else comes easy.

Guests settle into 251 indulgent guest rooms, including six two- and three-bedroom lakeside cottages and a four-bedroom, three-story Presidential House with formal dining for 16, a game room, and private pool and patio. Gatherings of up to 600 people convene in two ballrooms, nine conference rooms of various sizes, and an array of outdoor venues. Everything from the open-beam ceilings to the antler chandeliers and stacked stone fireplaces reflects the natural beauty and traditions of Georgia’s historic lake country.

With offerings like team building on the greens in period golf garb, elegant barbecues serenaded by an orchestra, and tailgate parties complete with the local high school’s cheerleaders and marching band, the full-time conference team ensures meeting experiences well beyond expectations. But for some the memories start with games on the five championship golf courses designed by Rees Jones, Jack Nicklaus, Tom Fazio, and Bob Cupp. Others focus on Lake Oconee, known for housing more fish per square acre than any other bass-fishing lake in Georgia.

Still more focus on Ritz-Carlton’s world-class spa, fitness center, and five food and beverage outlets, especially the signature restaurant, Georgia’s Bistro, where the campfire outside ends each day with complimentary s’mores.

Meetings Within Reach

There are no hot dates at this time. Posted Jul 10, 2009 by Elite News Team
Subscribe - RSS Feed Resort Packages - Peace of Mind and Reconnect - featured this summer

Greensboro, GA, June 1, 2009 - In a year when change is the new normal it's natural to feel apprehensive about taking a vacation. The Ritz-Carlton believes a vacation should relieve stress, not cause it. That's why The Ritz-Carlton Lodge has introduced two enticing vacation packages to provide you with more than just your money's worth - your memory's worth - with a selection of offerings which are not just about spending less, but experiencing more. The range of value added options are designed to encourage travel from May 1-September 30, 2009.

New this year is the Peace of Mind package. Inclusive features are deluxe room accommodations, full American breakfast for two served in Georgia's Bistro, the resort's signature restaurant, daily internet access and local phone calls, overnight parking, and Ritz Kids special activities program for two youngsters. In addition to all of these extra perks and privileges, the Peace of Mind package offers the option of three nights for the price of two; five nights for the price of three; and a week for the price of only four nights. Starting at $263 USD, The Peace of Mind package is tailored to take away the worry of added charges.

Coming back for a second season is the very successful Resort Reconnect package. Included in the package is: Deluxe accommodations, full American breakfast for two in Georgia's Bistro or through In-Room Dining, and a $50 resort credit. The credit may be accumulated over the length of the stay to cover such special amenities as spa, shopping and dining charges, but may not be applied against the room rate or golf services. Resort Reconnect starts at $229 USD per night.

The Ritz-Carlton Lodge, Reynolds Plantation is a AAA Five Diamond resort, providing guests legendary Ritz-Carlton service highlighted by gracious southern hospitality. The Lodge is recognized as one of the "Greatest Hotels and Resorts in the World" by Travel + Leisure (2009 T+L500) and is named one of 50 Top Resorts in the U.S. by Zagat (Zagat Survey 2009). The 251-room Lodge is secluded on the sparkling shores of Lake Oconee in Greensboro, Georgia, with 99 holes of golf designed by the greatest architects of the game, Mobil Four-Star-rated Spa with southern-inspired service and exclusive Lodge adventures from fishing for large mouth bass to horseback riding and canoeing.

AH&LA Recognizes 11 Hotels for Innovative Environmental, Service, and Diversity Programs

Posted Jun 25, 2009 by Elite News Team
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Chicago, Illinois, June 24, 2009-The American Hotel & Lodging Association (AH&LA) today announced the winners of the AH&LA Achievement Awards, part of the annual Stars of the Industry Awards, which honor stand-out initiatives at hotel properties. In a ceremony held during the AH&LA Summer Summit at the Hilton Chicago, these awards, which have been awarded annually since 1966, distinguish individual hotels that have developed outstanding programs, events, and campaigns. Winners were chosen for awards in the categories of Good Earthkeeping, guest relations, outstanding community service, special events (one-time event and ongoing), as well as exceptional diversity initiatives.

The 11 winners this year include:

The Orchard Garden Hotel in San Francisco, California, won the Good Earthkeeping award, small property category (150 rooms or more), for making sustainability its guiding philosophy from the day of its ground-breaking. As the first hotel in the state of California to earn LEED certification, its developers even selected the site location based on its proximity to public transportation and used building materials extracted or manufactured locally to build 77 percent of the hotel. Guest rooms feature recycled products, energy management, and recycling programs that function with or without active guest participation, and the whole property saves energy costs by making use of natural daylight in 82% of its occupied spaces. The hotel is constantly looking to improve upon their already succinct eco-friendly processes and engage their guests in sustainability measures, doing so based on environmental and in-depth consumer research.

Sheraton Seattle Hotel in Seattle, Washington, is the winner of the Good Earthkeeping award in the large property category (less than 150 rooms). The Sheraton's green strategy focused on three major areas: building infrastructure and physical enhancements; associate awareness and involvement; and guest participation. Several successful green initiatives include giving guests the option to opt out of housekeeping service in exchange for a $5 gift certificate or 500 Starwood points; creation of a "compost only" associate cafeteria where all food waste and debris from meals is 100 percent compostable; use of green cleaning products in guest rooms and meeting rooms; and a 25 percent public transportation subsidy for associates. Energy and water conservation measures have saved more than 4,800 Kwh of electricity annually, and through these and other initiatives, the Sheraton was able to reduce their energy index by 21 percent in the program's first year and recycle approximately 12 tons of materials each month.

Sleeping Lady Mountain Retreat in Leavenworth, Washington, won the award for Outstanding Community Service, small property category. The hotel, which won last year's AH&LA Good Earthkeeping Award for a small property, has adopted a philosophy of encouraging its employees to be active in the community and donating to needy organizations. In addition to implementing an annual employee food drive, the property also hosts a variety of events including a Special Olympics cross country ski event; the "Chicks on Sticks" event, which raises money for breast cancer research; and a recycled art show that earns funds for a local recycling group's initiatives.

Doubletree Hotel Tulsa at Warren Place in Tulsa, Oklahoma, earned the Outstanding Community Service award for a large property. The hotel's employees, known as the CARE Committee, made a dedicated effort to help those in need all over Tulsa in 2008 via donations to local food banks, participation in the local American Heart Association Walk, time spent beautifying the campus of their adopted school and educating students about sustainability, and assisting their long term non-profit partner, the Hospitality House of Tulsa, which provides home-like lodging and support services for families of patients in Tulsa for medical care. The Doubletree's hospitality extends overseas as well. After donating a stay to a soldier in town on unexpected leave from Iraq, the employees wanted to spread the goodwill to those in his unit who weren't able to take the leave. They sent 10 dozen of their famous Doubletree cookies to his grateful company.

The West Inn & Suites in Carlsbad, California, the winner of the Guest Relations award, small property category, opened in May 2006, and has already been ranked the area's #1 property in terms of guest reviews for the past two years. West Inn & Suites has gone above and beyond to offer unique amenities for their diverse guests: free shuttles around town, complimentary Wi-Fi, celebration amenities, specialty packages, free milk and cookies, and even automated bed-time stories for their younger guests. Courteous and timely responses to guest questions - sometimes before they are even asked - also contribute to the flood of thank you notes and positive guest comments and reviews the property has received.

Sheraton Atlanta Hotel in Atlanta, Georgia, is the winner of the Guest Relations, large property, honor, because of its new convenient guest feedback system, as well as the high scores it's been recording. This property is among the first in the nation to benefit from real time text and audio reporting of guests' spoken feedback, allowing knowledge and resolution of customer issues before they leave the property. The guest feedback system has been found to help raise satisfaction scores, reduce recovery costs and heighten employee morale. The result gives managers unique opportunities to reward consistently outstanding employees, as well as discover, prioritize and resolve key trends in service delivery. The unbiased guest perspective provides a powerful tool for employee behavior "course corrections" and the ability to segment and track comments on the Internet.

Sanctuary Camelback Mountain Resort & Spa in Paradise Valley, Arizona, is the winner of the Special Events, ongoing, small property award. Seven years ago, the Sanctuary decided to get creative to keep guests and locals coming through their doors during the hot summer months, and heighten awareness of their high-end culinary expertise. The Saturday Lunch & Learn program was born, with cooking demonstrations and wine and cocktail pairings adding a dash of education to a delicious three-course lunch. Executive Chef Beau MacMillan leads the sessions, which also draw in notable culinary "guest stars," including accomplished chefs such as Ming Tsai and Andrew Knowlton from Bon Appetit magazine. Kicking off seven years ago in a first session that had about 30 attendees, Lunch & Learn now averages between 60 and 100 participants each week of both locals and out-of-town guests. Not only has this program gained rave reviews and favorable press, it's also garnered estimated revenues of about $30,000 to the property during its slowest season.

The Ritz-Carlton Lodge, Reynolds Plantation in Greensboro, Georgia, won the Special Events, ongoing award, large property category, for their annual Lighting of the Lodge event. This is the property's annual benefit for the Greensboro Dreamers, an organization that empowers children in low-income communities to achieve higher education. It's also a huge celebration of the holiday season for the property's guests and local community residents. A live nativity scene, petting zoo, the "largest gingerbread in the south," live music, and 1.5 million white lights set the stage for visitors. The icing on the cake each year is Santa's surprise arrival - which has been by hot air balloon, hang-glider, and on the back of a Marine Corps 7-ton truck. He joined more than 2,500 visitors last year, who in turn year raised $38,000 for Greensboro Dreamers and other local charities. This annual event has become one of the most well-known and well-attended events in the region.

The Red Lion Inn, in Stockbridge, Massachusetts, earned the Special Events, one-time only, award for small properties. The Red Lion Inn has gotten creative with a little bit of history, bringing Christmas to life during their "Stockbridge Main Street at Christmas," inspired by the famous Normal Rockwell painting. More than 100 wreaths adorn each guestroom door, harpists play "Silent Night" in the main lobby next to a blazing fire, and even a giant candy castle in the main dining room reminds guests of sugar plums. This celebration also extends beyond the hotel doors, engaging local businesses with tours of the Inn and the area's other historic homes and B&Bs. A holiday street festival takes place outside the property's doors, making this the Berkshire's unofficial holiday kick off event. Before the inception of this event, hotel occupancies during this time were relatively slow. Now the event draws in guests putting the property at 100 percent occupancy, and stimulating local businesses.

The Gaylord Opryland Resort and Convention Center in Nashville, Tennessee, is this year's winner in the Special Events, one-time only, large property category. The Gaylord Opryland's Christmas spirit earned them this honor for ICE! Featuring how the Grinch Stole Christmas. To help celebrate the famous book's 50th birthday, the Gaylord hired a team of world-renowned artists to chisel away at several million pounds of ice. The result was a one-of-a-kind, interactive ice sculpture featuring all the favorite characters in Who-ville, on display for almost two months. The popular attraction boosted group sales to the highest they'd been in six years, and increased sales at the retail store next to the attraction by 29 percent, not including the 30,000 cups of gourmet hot chocolate visitors purchased. The event created a major media buzz nationally, especially when Dr. Suess' widow toured the exhibit. Even those who may not have attended the celebration reaped the benefits - the Gaylord used this event as an occasion to donate Grinch books to local libraries and adopt a dog from a local animal shelter to be the Grinch's best friend Max in press events.

The Mandarin Oriental Washington, D.C. is the winner of the Prism award for diversity. This property creates a workplace where employees are able to break down the socioeconomic barriers in their personal lives. In 2008, the hotel took the initiative to create a truly motivated and synergized workforce through a community center concept called the Colleague Resource Center (CRC). This center takes into account how an employee's personal life and external influences impact team unity and, in turn, the guest experience. The new CRC provides a convenient location where employees can obtain life skills they may not have access to on their own, such as Weight Watchers, yoga, fitness, budgeting, computer classes, credit awareness courses, and language software programs. As a result, the hotel has seen gender, racial, and religious differences melt away and employees begin to relate to one another in new ways and find new common ground.

Many of AH&LA's partner state associations choose their own property award winners, which are submitted to the association for national judging. Making the decisions in this year's competition were Bob Craycraft, vice president of industry relations for the American Resort Development Association; Phil Hayward, chief communications officer for the National Recreation & Parks Association; and Pat Maher, owner of The Maher Group, LLC, and AH&LA's green consultant. The awards ceremony was sponsored by U.S. Foodservice.

For more information on AH&LA's Stars of the Industry Awards program and a full list of this year's property and employee winners, please visit www.ahla.com/stars. To contact any of the winning properties, contact Jessica Soklow, AH&LA manager of media relations, at (202) 289-3153 or jsoklow@ahla.com.

Serving the hospitality industry for nearly a century, AH&LA is the sole national association representing all sectors and stakeholders in the lodging industry, including individual hotel property members, hotel companies, student and faculty members, and industry suppliers. Headquartered in Washington, D.C., AH&LA provides members with national advocacy on Capitol Hill, public relations and image management, education, research and information, and other value-added services to provide bottom line savings and ensure a positive business climate for the lodging industry. Partner state associations provide local representation and additional cost-saving benefits to members.

Contact
Jessica Soklow
(jsoklow@ahla.com)