15 Years of Excellence

By Melinda Gray
melinbrya3@yahoo.com

Celebrating another year of excellence, the Hilton Marco Island Beach Resort & Spa has been honored for a 15th consecutive year with the AAA Four Diamond Rating. The AAA/CAA Four and Five Diamond Ratings are the travel authority’s highest designations for hotels and restaurants which offer guests personalized attention and a wide array of amenities in a luxurious locale.

“This is a great honor to have won this prestigious award for 15 years in a row while being a part of this amazing team. This shows the dedication of all our staff to provide quality and friendly service to our

valued guests on a regular basis,” said Mac Chaudhry, general manager at the Hilton Marco Island Beach Resort & Spa.

AAA inspectors enjoy a unique opportunity to identify emerging trends in the hospitality industry while visiting approximately 1,200 hotels and restaurants every week. Recently, they’ve noticed hotels and restaurants applying a much more personalized approach in order to enhance guest comfort and satisfaction.

An experienced, highly-qualified staff is essential in providing the kind of customer service upscale hotel guests expect. Larger hotels faced with the predicament of responding to individual needs often restructure their practices by utilizing social media to boost the experience

as travelers research, book and talk about their stay.

The Hilton Marco Island Beach Resort & Spa has taken this approach as well. A meeting of the minds held immediately after the award presentation kicked off with each present staff member reading aloud one or more reviews taken from various internet travel sites, affirming what’s being done right as well as any concerns guests may have voiced.

Representing the cream of the hospitality industry’s crop, AAA/CAA Four Diamond establishments make up 3.9 percent of the total 59,000 AAA/CAA-Approved and Diamond Rated hotels

and restaurants throughout the U.S., Canada, Mexico and the Caribbean. Five Diamond Rated establishments total just 0.3 percent. Florida is home to 145 hotels and 63 restaurants that earned the coveted Four and Five Diamond Ratings during the past 12 months.

“Four and Five Diamond hotels and restaurants are committed to providing every guest with a personalized experience and attentive service in comfortable, high quality surroundings,” said Rick Whiting, AAA director, Hotel Sales & Packaging, The Auto Club Group. “These establishments consistently exceed the expectations of the most discriminating traveler — the AAA inspector. We are proud to have these dedicated businesses in our region.”