Transforming a Hotel Lobby into an Art Gallery

Posted on December 17, 2015May 24, 2018 by Innisfree Hotels

Innisfree’s Modern Contemporary Children’s Art Gallery

The stylish, social lobby of the Hilton Pensacola Beach has always been beautiful – with bright whites and cool blues like harbingers of the water and sand just beyond its back door. In 2015, it became even more beautiful when the Hilton created a children’s art gallery in Pensacola Beach, Fla., displaying work by students from Dixon School of the Arts.

Visiting artists-in-residence to Dixon from Atlanta, Ga., Lisa Puzon and Shaughnessy Johnson had been sponsored by Innisfree Hotels to attend a workshop on arts integration with the Florida Alliance for Arts Education. While there, Puzon says, they were particularly inspired by one museum featuring children’s work from summer art camps.

Realizing there were no children’s galleries in Pensacola, the two suggested to Hilton General Manager Gina Dudley that the hotel lobby would be a wonderful venue for displaying such work.

And the walls went up.

The first exhibit features four projects from the 2015-2016 Dixon school year: Photography, Ink & Paper, Wire Art and Nail Art.

“The students have been studying the elements and principles of art,” Puzon says. “These projects were designed to provide ways in which they can express them through different art forms.”

The Hilton has provided an important place for Dixon students to showcase their incredible work. As the hotel installed the exhibit, guests were inquisitive – watching and asking questions, and even taking photographs of their own.

“Everyone was amazed that 4^th through 8th graders created the work,” Puzon shares. “The Innisfree Gallery for Children has made a great impact by connecting hotel guests with a school from an underserved community and creating a bridge through the arts.”

All proceeds from the sale of artwork benefit Innisfree Hotels’ ongoing fundraising efforts for Dixon School of the Arts, a project of significance to Innisfree’s Corporate Social Responsibility Program, The Hive.

“Innisfree has sponsored us as resident artists to teach at Dixon School of the Arts for the past four years,” Johnson explains. “Each year we witnessed the students showing increased confidence and higher self-esteem, alongside growing aptitudes and advancing skill levels.”

View Innisfree’s Modern Contemporary Art Gallery in the lobby of the Hilton Pensacola Beach. Learn more about our work with Dixon School of the Arts here.

Innisfree Hotels Breaks Ground on Embassy Suites by Hilton

Posted on December 16, 2015May 24, 2018 by Innisfree Hotels

180 All-Suite Hotel Marks New Flag and Market for Florida-Based Hotel Management Company

On Wednesday, Dec. 16, 2015, Innisfree Hotels joined real estate developer Jim Bridges of JEBCO Ventures, Inc., to break ground on the Embassy Suites by Hilton in Sarasota, Fla.

“The Embassy Suites is an upscale hotel located in a very sophisticated city,” said Julian MacQueen, founder and CEO of Innisfree Hotels. “The Hilton reservation system should provide an excellent platform to compete in the market.”

With a location within walking distance of Main Street, one of Sarasota’s most vibrant areas, the 19-floor, all-suites hotel will feature the following amenities:

180 suites
Complimentary cook-to-order full breakfast
Complimentary Evening Manager’s Reception
Outdoor pool and whirlpool located on an 8^th floor atrium with an unobstructed view of the city
8^th floor, pool-level bar
Sauna
Fitness Center
24-Hour PC and Mac Business Center
Gift/Sundry Shop
A 200-seat full service restaurant
10,000 sq. ft. of 9^th-floor meeting space

“This hotel introduces Innisfree into another market in which the peak travel seasons are opposite our Northern Gulf Coast based hotels,” MacQueen stated. “Innisfree is very familiar with other Hilton hotel brands, and we are looking forward to operating this Embassy Suites.”

Jim Bridges is the developer and owner of the Embassy Suites by Hilton project. A successful developer of real estate for more than 40 years, his experience ranges a variety of project types including high-rise residential, mixed-use development, freestanding retail, neighborhood retail centers, luxury residences and apartment buildings.

JEBCO’s first hotel development, the Embassy Suites by Hilton will be designed and engineered by Parker Walker Group Inc. and built by Kellogg & Kimsey, Inc.

An Inspection Story

Posted on December 15, 2015May 24, 2018 by Innisfree Hotels

By Harlan Butler, Past President, Innisfree Hotels

Back in Topeka, before Innisfree was established, we had a hotel near Purdue University in Lafayette, Indiana. Running that hotel was one of the finest General Managers we could ever have hired. He was young and energetic and made all his percentages – cut costs, understood his margins, was excellent in every way … presented himself perfectly, nice suit, he did it all.

But when it came to franchise inspections, even though this was a beautiful hotel in great condition, he always made bad scores. I would go and look around and think, “This is a winning hotel, why is this happening?”

At that time, the inspectors used to just walk in without notice, and the next morning was your inspection. I vowed the next time I was going to be there. Sure enough the inspector came and I was called. I drove from wherever I was, waaaay into the night to get there.

I arrived before the inspection, and I accompanied the General Manager.

The inspector would go around the room and see things and mark them down.

He’d say:

“This tile was cracked, you need to fix this.”

And our fine GM would say:

“If you think that’s bad, let me show you THIS!” (And he’d lead him to something entirely worse.)

Then he would lose two points instead of one. He just couldn’t understand what he was doing. Somehow, he thought by showing the inspector something worse, it would overshadow the minor flaw.

From then on, we could never let him go on inspections.

We simply had to look at all his positive attributes, and this was one thing he just couldn’t learn.

MORAL OF THE STORY? Focus on the good.

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ABOUT ‘BACK IN TOPEKA’
In order to have a great future, we must celebrate and learn from our incredible past. The Innisfree Hotels story began in Topeka, Kansas. So when the folks who were around back then start a story with ‘Back in Topeka,’ we know it’s time to listen. These are tales of the challenges, of the laughter and tears that come with building a company like ours. That’s the sentiment behind this blog series, a chronicle of days gone by at Innisfree Hotels – and a map to get us where we’re going.