Holiday Inn Express & Suites in Albany wins Torchbearer Award
Holiday Inn Express & Suites in Albany recognized for quality, customer satisfaction
From Staff Reports
ALBANY — Out of more than 5,300 qualifying hotels in the InterContinental Group, the Holiday Inn Express & Suites in Albany was one out of 120 recipients of the 2017 Torchbearer Award in the Americas.
The award is given to select hotels for achieving the “highest levels of excellence in all aspects of operation from quality to customer satisfaction.” This now means the hotel has been recognized as a top percentage hotel within the IHG network of hotels.
This year was the first year for the Albany Holiday Inn Express to qualify and it was their first win ever since the hotel’s opening three-and-a-half years ago. The Holiday Inn Express won the award in February but has now just received their trophy to be displayed in the hotel.
Officials with the Holiday Inn Express said they have always aimed to qualify for this achievement and has put that desire into achieving complete customer satisfaction.
“This was our ultimate goal from the beginning,” Linda Davis, general manager at the Holiday Inn Express, said. “We’ve always wanted to win this award.”
The Torchbearer Award is the IHG’s most prestigious award. The Holiday Inn Express & Suites in Valdosta won the award in 2016. Davis said the Albany hotel was the only southwest Georgia hotel in the network to receive the Torchbearer Award.
“It is my pleasure to award the Holiday Inn Express & Suites, Albany Georgia to one of the foremost hotels in our industry,” Elie Maalouf, chief executive officer for IHG, The Americas, said. “This hotel embodies the heart of our brand promise and continues our story to make our 12 brands well known and loved by guests around the world.”
The winners are chosen based on the quality of the hotels, and from feedback on guest surveys. Officials said the Holiday Inn Express stayed above 90 percent guest satisfaction from the hotel’s survey results.
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