Holiday Inn Denver Lakewood - Employees of the Month

Employees of the Month selected for the Holiday Inn Denver Lakewood - January and February 2009.

January 2009 Employee of the Month

Jose Gonzalez-Calderon

Jose has worked for the Holiday Inn Denver Lakewood (www.hilakewood.com), a newly renovated hotel near Denver, Colorado, for almost 1 year. He's a Chef at the all new Sporting News Grill restaurant (www.snglakewood.com).
Jose has been an asset to the team and is a leader in the kitchen. Jose's Manager George looks to him for leadership and consistency. Jose had created some of the delicious meals on the Sporting News Grill menu.

February 2009:
Robert Cunningham

Robert has worked for the Holiday Inn Denver Lakewood for 2 years. He's a Maintenance Tech for the Holiday Inn and is definitely an employee you want to keep. He does his job well and efficiently and this is his second employee of the month award - with the first coming back in July 2008. Robert is always willing to help out a hand wherever and whenever needed. He has had several star awards from guests and piers. "Not my Job!" is not in Roberts vocabulary.

Elitch Gardens - book early

Elitch Gardens Denver, CO opens next month, and the Holiday Inn Denver Lakewood has got an exclusive package and room only rates available now! Book your Elitch Gardens vacation early this year.
Elitch Garden Hotel Package
Rates start at just $179 and include room accommodations in our newly renovated guest rooms, as well as 4 tickets to Elitch Gardens (previously Six Flags) Amusement Park in Denver, CO.

The Holiday Inn Denver Lakewood is a newly renovated hotel - top to bottom, inside and out - boasting the exciting new Sporting News Grill restaurant/bar. We are excited to be partnered again this year with Elitch Gardens. The hotel does offer free transportation to the light rail - a great way to get around the Denver, CO area.

We're Thinking Green this St. Patty's Day, Are You

We've definitely been thinking 'Green' lately. Not necessarily in regards to St. Patrick's Day - but in regards to conservation and our impact on the environment here in the Denver area. As you know, we've been under a major renovation and have been looking for ways to be more 'green'. Here are some of our recent conservation efforts:

• Recycling program: including cardboard, aluminum glass, paper, plastic, ink cartridges
• Using recycled glass, paper, plastic products as a standard
• 'Conserving for tomorrow' linen and towel use - asking guests to reuse their towels and linens rather than daily washing to reduce water consumption
• Energy Efficient Lighting: we have replaced 2000 light bulbs with higher efficiency lighting. Every exit sign in the building was replaced with a LED model rather than neon (85% more energy efficient); our Holiday Inn sign will also be LED. Our guestrooms have a LED nightlights so that our guests can find their way to the bathroom at night, without leaving the bathroom lights on all night. (AHLA studies show that a tremendous percentage of guests do leave the lights on at night when staying in hotels)
• Equipment - we just installed a new 300g washing machine that uses less water and requires significantly shorter drying time than any comparable machine on the market
• Any new appliance we purchase must be Energy Star rated.
• Occupancy sensors: we've begun installing 'back of the house' occupancy sensors to automatically turn lights out when a room is entered and turn them off when the space is unused.
• Low flow shower-heads - our low-flow shower heads are more energy efficient, yet still give good water pressure for the guests shower
• Low Flow toilets - we have begun replacing existing toilets with low-flow toilets, starting with public areas and looking to move into guestrooms
• During our renovation, we have gone to extraordinary measures to keep the items being replaced out of the waste stream by donating them whenever possible. We contact metal recyclers anytime we dispose of metal products that can be recycles.
• Kitchen - we even recycle the grease used in the kitchen - it's turned into biodiesel fuel.
• We are negotiating with our food vendors to deliver the same amount of product in half the number of trips to the hotel.
• All serving utensils and banquet/restaurant napkins and tablecloths are reusable.
• We use pitchers of water rather than bottled water for banquet events
• Ozone System - we are studying the possibility of installing an ozone system in the commercial laundry that will significantly reduce water and gas consumption.
• ERV System: We are evaluating an ERV system for the kitchen exhaust and the guest room exhaust system.
• Training - we have implemented ongoing training for employees on 'being green'

So this St. Patty's day -- in addition to WEARING green, start THINKING green -- what can you do to be a little friendlier to the environment, whether or not you live in Denver, Colorado.

Find out more about our Holiday Inn Denver by visiting our website.

St. Patricks Day Parade in Denver and Dinner for 2

It's almost St. Patty's Day! Don't miss the Parade in Downtown Denver on March 14 - includes floats, clowns, pipe bands, high school marching bands, irish step dancers and much much more. The Route: south on Blake St to 17th St, turn west to union station nad turn north on Wynkoop - the parade ends behind Coors Field.

Why not make an event of it -- watch the parade and enjoy our Dinner Package: includes accommodations just outside of Denver in our newly renovated hotel and dinner for two (including appetizer, entree's and dessert) all for just $119! www.hilakewood.com

Let the blogging begin - Holiday Inn Denver Lakewood

We have been anxious to share the news of our new hotel renovation and this is the perfect venue to do that! The Holiday Inn Denver Lakewood has a new look -- complete renovation of the interior (including guestrooms, meeting rooms, exercise facility, lobby/front desk and new restaurant) and exterior. We are gorgeous and we know it!
In July 2008, we opened our new restaurant - Sporting News Grill Lakewood - featuring 16 flat screen TV's. Come and look again at our Holiday Inn Lakewood!

All New Holiday Inn Denver Lakewood

We are excited to introduce to you the all new Holiday Inn Denver Lakewood -- we have just completed a multi-million dollar renovation over the past 2 years --including all guest rooms, public areas including lobby, excercise room, meeting rooms and a brand new restaurant (Sporting News Grill ) - and we've just completed the exterior renovations and landscaping -- we are beautiful and we know it! Next -- we are participating in the Holiday Inn brand re-launch -- upgraded standards of service and amenities, a 'scent' and music, as well as new signs and logos... you'll see them all here!

We'll let you know how we are progressing, in the mean time, check us out online: http://www.hilakewood.com/ - we have some great rate offers going on now, including AAA rates for as low as $72, as well as breakfast inclusive rates for only $5 more than our Best Flex rates -- and if you are a skier, be sure to check out the Winter Park Ski package.