August 24, 2015
Updated Hotel Near BWI Airport Welcomes Travelers to Baltimore With Fresh New Look
At the TownePlace Suites Baltimore BWI Airport, Residential Comfort Meets Contemporary Style
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February 27, 2014 14:55 ET
Carousel Group Welcomes Crystal Beach
OCEAN CITY, MD–(Marketwired – February 27, 2014) – The Carousel Group announced today that they have added a fifth hotel to their portfolio. The 79 room Crystal Beach hotel is located in the heart of Ocean City on the boardwalk at 25th Street. The property is owned by El Capitan, LLC. The addition of this hotel brings the company’s management portfolio in Ocean City to 782 units, including rooms and condominiums.
“We are thrilled to welcome Crystal Beach to the Carousel Group,” said Michael James, President of Hospitality Partners and Managing Partner of the Carousel Group. “This hotel’s location, right in the heart of the downtown area, allows guests to enjoy everything this city has to offer. Just the location itself is a great amenity,” James said. “It’s probably on the nicest part of the Ocean City Boardwalk.” Located on the boardwalk at 25th Street, guests of the hotel will enjoy easy access to the beach, restaurants, attractions and nearby amusements.
Guest rooms feature spectacular views of the ocean and boardwalk and are fully equipped with efficiency kitchens, refrigerators, microwaves and balconies. The hotel offers an outdoor swimming pool, improved complimentary high speed wireless access and easy beach and boardwalk access.
This is the fifth hotel for the Carousel Group and the eleventh for Hospitality Partners, the management company.
For more information or to make a reservation, contact the Carousel Group reservations directly at 800-641-0011 or visit the hotel online at http://carouselgrouphotels.com.
About Hospitality Partners-Founded in 1986, by Mike Dickens, John Vernon and Fred Palloni, Hospitality Partners is a privately owned hotel management company with a broad range of experience operating Marriott, Hilton, IHG, boutique and resort hotels in the Mid-Atlantic region as well as in consulting and asset management. For the locations of Hospitality Partners’ hotels and additional information, visit www.hospart.com.
About the Carousel Group-The Carousel Group has five properties with 782 hotel rooms and condominiums in Ocean City Maryland to make your vacation memorable. Properties include the historic Carousel Resort Hotel and Condominiums, located at 118th Street, Atlantic Oceanfront Inn, located at 45th Street, Coastal Palms, located at 120th Street, Bonita Beach located at 81st Street and the newest addition to the portfolio at 25th Street, Crystal Beach.
Carousel Group adds Crystal Beach Hotel
The Carousel Group hotel management company kicked off 2014 by adding the 25th Street Crystal Beach Hotel to its list of properties.It’s the fourth consecutive year the group’s expanded, said Managing Partner Michael James. The Carousel Group also manages the Carousel Oceanfront Hotel & Condominiums on 118th Street, the Coastal Palms Inn & Suites on 120th Street, the Atlantic Oceanfront Inn on 45th Street and Bonita Beach Hotel on 81st Street.
It added the Crystal Beach Hotel Jan. 1st of this year, giving the company a Boardwalk presence.“It’s just a really nice mix of properties for Ocean City,” James said. Carousel is managing the 10-year-old Crystal Beach Hotel in conjunction with its owners, the Fidanza family. While the partners have been “changing some things around,” they’re waiting until 2015 to do any major overhauls in conjunction with a next-door addition, James said.
The Fidanzas also own the neighboring Riviera Motel, a much older building. Though nothing is official yet, they plan to expand Crystal Beach by adding a new building where the Riviera now stands, making way for about 63 new units to add to the 79-unit Crystal Beach building, James said.
“We’re still in the planning stage,” Crystal Beach Owner Frank Fidanza said. “We just know that we will be, at some point, rebuilding.” His family began discussions with the Carousel Group in 2013, hoping to grow their mid-sized hotel business.“We are a family-run hotel and we decided we want to get with the times,” Fidanza said. “In order to do so, we need to go forward with someone with more knowledge in the marketing aspect.”
The family chose the Carousel Group because of their group mentality, he said.James called the change a “win-win.”“For them, it brings in a professional team with professional marketing and extends their reach,” he said. “From our perspective, adding a hotel on the Boardwalk was a perfect fit.”
The 25th Street location provides access to amusement, restaurants and even movies on the beach while keeping the hotel shielded from the brunt of the Boardwalk noise, James said. “Just the location itself is a great amenity,” he said. “It’s probably on the nicest part of the Ocean City Boardwalk” — something Crystal Beach takes advantage of with its oceanfront swimming pool and balcony views. The hotel will reopen soon for Presidents’ Day weekend with improved high-speed Internet, flat-panel TVs, new sofa beds, a fresh coat of paint and a revamped website. All of the changes are set to match the 2015 update, when Crystal Beach and the Riviera are slated to undergo renovations in concert.
See the hotel’s new website at www.crystalbeachhotel.com.
Visit www.carouselgrouphotels.com to learn more about the Carousel Group.
The Sixteen Annual Benjamin E. Cooper Awards-Courtyard by Marriott Chevy Chase
In 2008, the management staff of the Courtyard Marriott Chevy Chase approached Friendship Place in search of a way to give back to the community. Little did we know that was the beginning of a long lasting, dynamic, fulfilling partnership. Beginning that year and every year since, Courtyard has donated the food, set up and service at our annual Friends and Neighbors Breakfast-serving more than 400 guests each year and helping Friendship Place raise more than $1million.
But the caring creative hotel team, headed up by General Manager Jim Carroll and Operations Manager William Baptiste didn’t stop there. They have continued to find new ways to support our mission. They have hosted Help the Homeless Community Walks and a luncheon to introduce other businesses to our work. And, they have bec0me a valuable partner to our AimHire program, offering job-readiness workshops and employment opportunities to participants.Three years ago, Jim joined our Board and has put his expertise to work as a member of the event-planning team of the Development Committee, providing advice, guidance, and hands on work for our special events-everything from negotiating with vendors to planning the site set-up.We look forward to many more years of partnering with the Courtyard Chevy Chase to end homelessness in our community.
NEWS RELEASE
The Crossroads Inn at Quantico Receives the Marine Corps Food and Hospitality Excellence Award for 13 Years in a Row
The Temporary Lodging Facility is recognized by military leadership for excellence in hospitality
Quantico, VA, August 29, 2013 – Crossroads Inn is awarded the U.S. Marine Corps Food and Hospitality Excellence Award for 13 straight years. Awarded by the Base Commander Colonel David W. Maxwell, this honor was created to formally acknowledge and validate non-appropriated fund food and hospitality establishments that achieve the highest degree of excellence in customer service and operations.
Although the hotel has received this recognition several years in a row, “it is just as much an honor today as it was 13 years ago,” says Almaz Dawson, General Manager. “Every day, I see our team pull together and work very hard to offer top notch service.” “This award,” Dawson says, “is also a testament to how consistent and dedicated our team is in providing the best customer experience to each and every guest that comes into our doors.” Dawson proudly adds, “Our mission is to take care of Marines, Sailors, military personnel and their families through Hospitality. We serve those who serve us!”
The Crossroads Inn is the only temporary lodging facility (TLF) on a Marine Corp installation managed by a privately owned hotel management company. Since opening day in May 1997, Hospitality Partners, a Bethesda, Maryland based hotel management company, has managed The Crossroads Inn. “We’re especially proud of our team members at Crossroads Inn,” says Michelle Emley, VP of Operations, Hospitality Partners. “It’s inspiring to see our associates take such pride in their work and go the extra mile to make the guests feel special. It is even more meaningful to see their efforts recognized by customer they serve,” says Emley.
In addition to its standard hotel amenities and services, The Crossroads Inn offers an array of promotions and activities to enhance the guest experience. In a partnership with The Clubs at Quantico, the TLF offers discount rates during special occasions, such as the Marine Corps Birthday Ball. Each year, in recognition of Veterans Day and the Marine Corps Birthday, guests are invited to a cake and coffee celebration in the lobby. Once a quarter, they host a cookout and ice cream social, another example of how the staff and management express their appreciation to their guests. During Easter, families with children participate in an Easter Egg Hunt and on Christmas Eve, Santa Claus hangs Christmas stockings on the doors of every guest. From their “green” linen reuse program to their promotions and activities for its guests, The Crossroads Inn continues year after year to strive to deliver an excellent guest experience to keep their guests coming back again and again.
About Crossroads Inn at Quantico
Opened in May 1997, Crossroads Inn is a 71,000 square-foot, 144-room, temporary lodging facility (TLF) located on the U.S. Marine Corps Base in Quantico, Virginia. Service members with military ID, their sponsored family members, and Department of Defense (DoD) civilians traveling on official orders are eligible to stay at this hotel.
March 22, 2013 Ocean City Today
Hospitality Partners to Manage Another Ocean City Property-Bonita Beach
January 1, 2013-Michael James Named President/COO
January 1, 2013 BETHESDA, MD-Hospitality Partners, a Bethesda based hotel Management Company, announced that Michael James has been named President and COO. Mr. James will be taking the leadership reigns from Michael M. Dickens who has been President of the company since its inception in 1986.
Mr. James has over 30 years of hospitality experience in managing a wide array of hotels, both independent and franchise, including Sheraton, Guest Quarters Suites, Embassy Suites, Doubletree and Marriott. Mr. James joined Hospitality Partners in 1989 and spent a decade in the Washington D.C. area as General Manager of several properties in the District and Northern Virginia. With the company’s acquisition of the Carousel Oceanfront Hotel and Condominiums, Mr. James was named Managing Partner of the Ocean City, MD resort in the spring of 2000. In 2011, Mr. James was instrumental in expanding HP’s resort presence as a partner in the purchase and repositioning of Atlantic Oceanfront Inn and Coastal Palms Inn & Suites. Both properties now operate under the umbrella of the Carousel Group.
Mr. James serves as President of the Governor’s Economic Development Committee for Ocean City, and is currently on the Board of Trustees for Atlantic General Hospital, Ocean City Chamber of Commerce, Ocean City Tourism Advisory Board and the Industry Advisory Board for the University of Maryland, Eastern Shore. Mr. James served as Chairman of Maryland Tourism Development Board from 2003 through 2007.
Michael James said after the company announcement, “I have worked with this talented group for more than 24 years, and I am very excited to lead this company as we focus on creating the best possible results and experience for our associates, our hotel owners and of course, our guests.”
About Hospitality Partners
Founded in 1986, by Mike Dickens, John Vernon and Fred Palloni, Hospitality Partners is a privately owned hotel management company with a broad range of experience operating Marriott, Hilton, IHG, boutique and resort hotels in the Mid-Atlantic region as well as in consulting and asset management.