On The Move

Angelica Paradise: Angelica is a GSR promote from Inn #075 Boston Southborough. She will become the AGM of the Red Roof PLUS+ Boston Framingham location #068/3821. Angelica joined us back in May 11, 2010 as a third generation employee at the Southborough Inn, following in the footsteps of her grandmother and mother. Angelica is also a recent COE winner, again following in the footsteps of her mother Gisela, who was also a previous COE winner. She will be a great addition to the R1 team and we look forward to her putting her stamp on her new hotel.

Mike Edwards: Mike is a GSR promote from the Red Roof PLUS+ Mt. Pleasant location. He will become the GM of the Red Roof Inn-Hilton Head location #148/3638. Mike joined us back in November of 2020 in Maintenance, and prior to RRI he previously held managerial roles with Sunrise Wheel Group, Automax and Office Depot. We are excited to have Mike at this location as he brings a much-needed eye for quality and preventative maintenance and has already been busy moving the needle at HH. Mike is also a Marine Corps veteran!

Michael Smith: Michael is returning to the RRI West family as the GM of the Red Roof Inn-Rockford, IL location #035/3620 (where he was originally from 2015 to 2018!). While away from us, Michael took the opportunity to gain other hospitality experience by joining Residence Inn for a year and then moving to a large Travel Pilot Center as a GM. However, he found the work-life balance and the success he gained at Red Roof was missing in his other roles and took the opportunity to return to Rockford and continue his positive track record for employee engagement and guest service. Michael also has a military background, previously serving in the Army National Guard for many years.

Kara Raygor: Saving the best for last, we found our new Floating GM! We are thrilled to welcome Kara Raygor to the WEST Operations team! Kara will be covering inns with open management positions as well as handling other task force duties. Kara comes to us with tons of TASK FORCE experience, GM Experience, HR Experience, Accounting Manager experience and Sales and Banquet manager experience, with a variety of Brands like Hampton, Doubletree, Hilton Garden, Homewood, and Hotel Equities. Hailing from Spartanburg, SC, Kara started April 25th with her training down in Naples. In just that short time, I can already tell you she is people focused and cares about her employees.

OPEN Positions:

Phoenix GM and AGM: We’ve got 2 positions in the Phoenix market. Surely someone out there wants to capture that Phoenix sun and embrace all that the Phoenix market has to offer? Whether you are a GSR who is ready to take that step to be a GM or a GM who’s ready for a change of pace… Head south, west, or even southwest to Phoenix and begin your new career path. Know of someone in the business who’s looking? Refer them to us!!

St. Louis AGM: Join Ebony Jenkins, one of our newest and most energetic GMs we have at RRI West. If you have a desire to learn and energy to spare… then Ebony wants to chat with you!

HR Update

Just some HR tips and updates for you this month!

FMLA

As a reminder, the Family Medical Leave Act is available for any employee who meets the following eligibility requirements:

• Out of work for more than 3 days due to a personal or family illness, medical need or other similar situations.

• Has been with us for at least 12 months (does NOT need to be consecutive)

• And has worked at least 1250 hours

That’s a LOT to remember!! So – the easiest thing to do is when you have an employee out for more than 3 days – just email us and ASK for a Leave of Absence Request Form! We can then understand who it is, why they are out and if needed, inform the employee of their rights under FMLA!

Paid Time Off

As stated in the employee handbook, PTO is paid out at a MAX 8 hours per day or 40 hours a week, regardless of what their work schedule is. This means, that even if you have an employee who “normally” works 4@10 hour days a week instead of 5@8hour days a week, their daily limit is still 8 hours. We have recently seen some GMs putting in 10, 11 or 12 hours on a given day. These PTO days will automatically be corrected during the payroll process, so make sure you are helping our payroll team out by only adding in 8 hours per day.

Terminating Employees Timely

It is very important to keep up to date on your current employee database. This means, making sure you are terminating those employees who no longer work for you. Some reminders on why we ask that you do this:

• You pay a UKG fee for every employee that is showing as active in your system. That means it is costing you money to keep employees in the system who don’t really work there!

• An employee who doesn’t work for you but is not terminated in the system and has earned paid time off sitting in their bucket may be entitled to that PTO under state law. If we don’t know to pay them… we are putting our company at risk.

• An employee who doesn’t work there anymore but had benefits is still able to potentially use those benefits if they’ve not been termed in the system. This is also potentially costing you money!

COMING UP! 401K Open Enrollment starts June 1st.

This is the mid-year opportunity to make changes to your 401k plan, increase your contributions, decrease your contributions, change your investment options, etc. Additional info will be coming soon.

RRIW 401k Open Enrollment Memo.pdf

Download PDF • 167KB

It’s National Tourism Week - May 1st through May 7th!

Did you know that every year, the first week of May, we celebrate National Tourism Week? National Tourism Week is an annual tradition for the U.S. travel community. It’s a time when travel and tourism professionals across the country unite to celebrate the value travel holds for our economy, businesses, communities and personal well-being. President Ronald Regan signed the Proclamation in 1983 establishing the salute to travel in America.

According to the US Travel Association, prior to the pandemic, the U.S. travel industry experienced 10 straight years of growth due to the strength of the domestic leisure travel, domestic business travel and international inbound travel segments. Travel was a significant economic driver in every region of the country, representing 1 in 10 jobs and generating a travel trade surplus.

What a great time to thank all of our guests for traveling and staying with us!

This is also a great time to:

Reconnect with your local Chamber of Commerce and/or Convention and Visitors Bureau.

If you’re already a member of one or both organizations, when was the last time you personally contacted them? Being a member is more than being listed on their website. Many of these have opportunities to network, learn, or market your property. If you would like to join, be sure to check with your RVPO about pricing.

Join a Chamber of Commerce and/or Convention and Visitors Bureau.

If you aren’t already a member, now is a great time to look into a membership. Be sure to check with your RVPO about the cost of joining. These organizations have lost some members due to the financial crunch of the pandemic and shuttered businesses and they may have some great pricing available. Do some research and find the best fit for your inn. If you’re in a smaller city, you might benefit from a regional or county Chamber instead of one with a handful of small business members.

Visit Demand Generators

Even if you pick one this week, we encourage you to go say hello and drop off business cards and rack cards if you have them. Thank them for their partnership. Ask about upcoming events. Join their mailing list so you know what sort of events might be happening there. If you make your presence known regularly, they might recommend your hotel over the ones who didn’t bother to reach out.