Tune in to the inaugural installment of the Suite Spot: Road Trip series! 

In this episode the Suite Spot takes a drive to SpringHill Suites Jacksonville Beach Oceanfront to meet with Area General Manager, Alex Reitter, and Area Director of Marketing & Sales, Samantha Pritchard. 

Alex and Samantha give viewers an inside look at the property’s signature restaurant, The Sand Bar, and why this hotel needs to be the next destination on all traveler lists.

Ryan Embree:
Welcome to Suite Spot, where hoteliers check in and we check out what’s trending in hotel marketing. I’m your host, Ryan Embree. Hello everyone. Welcome to another episode of The Suite Spot. This is your host, Ryan Embree. If you’re listening to us or watching us on our YouTube channel, you’ll see that we are not in our content creation studio in Maitland. We have hit the road for a new series, the Suite Spot Road Trip, and we are here at the Spring Hill Suites, Jacksonville Beach, Ocean Front. And I’m here with two wonderful guests joining me today, general Area General Manager Alex Reitter, and Area Director of Sales and Marketing, Samantha Pritchard. Alex. Samantha. Thank you so much for hosting us on the Suite Spot at your beautiful ocean front property.

Alex Reitter:
We’re happy to have you. Thanks for coming out.

Ryan Embree:
Very excited to be here. As it is, Suite Spot tradition. One of the coolest thing about hospitality, we were talking about off camera is just our, the history, the DNA that gets built over the years. Maybe different brands, different management companies that you’ve been a part of. Everyone has a unique story, but it all leads us back to people serving people, right. That that’s why we love hospitality. So love to hear maybe your backgrounds in hospitality and what let you here to a brand new property, which we’re gonna talk about here shortly. Alex, we’ll go ahead and start with you.

Alex Reitter:
Okay. Well, thanks Ryan. Thanks for coming out. Of course. Again. So, yeah, I think I have an interesting start in Hospitality fell into actually start out on small cruise ships. Intercoastal, I’m not even sure if you knew that Samantha.

Samantha Pritchard:
No. New Skills.

Alex Reitter:
So it was definitely a interesting start. You know, uh, intercoastal cruising, seven night trips up and down the, uh, east coast after college. You know, we did trips in Maine, Chesapeake Bay, all the way down to Florida. It was, you know, amazing experience. But when you’re working six to eight weeks on a boat, nonstop, you kind of look for other options. And hotel kind of was a natural fit for me. From there, I’ve had a chance to actually work a courtyard down the street from this Spring Hill. And then actually a little time in the Florida Keys, uh, most recently in a Marriott in Durham, North Carolina. The weather got a little cold. It snowed a couple times on us, and we said, let’s get back to Florida. So excited to be here. And excited to work with Samantha. I’ve only been here a couple months and ready to get the ball rolling.

Ryan Embree:
Well, I think you’re our first guest that has got their hospitality start. I’ve, I’ve heard behind the front desk I’ve heard bellman. I don’t know if I’ve ever heard on a cruise, so that’s very, very cool. But it’s a story that resonates probably with a lot of our hotel audience, and listeners sometimes just kind of jumping from place to place. But again, people serving people, hospitality. Samantha, you’ve had kind of a different journey here. Talk to us a little bit about that.

Samantha Pritchard:
Yeah, so I started my hospitality journey in the Convention Visitor Bureau with Visit Jacksonville. It was, it was some of the best years just learning the business, being around people that have been doing it a long time. So then I left the CVB and went out as a director of sales. So my first job on property was a director of sales, just from some of the hotel connections made during that time there. So jumped in at a Courtyard brand, had the privilege of opening a beautiful new residence in downtown Jacksonville, which is a cool market. And then come out here to the beach also at the courtyard that Alex mentioned down the street. Started out here in that, in that hotel, and then now here at the Spring Hill as well in Fairfield. So it’s a good, good reach.

Ryan Embree:
It’s such a unique perspective. I’m sure you got being on the other side too, and probably serves you right now in your role, uh, as director of sales and marketing. And we’re gonna talk about this, this new property just over a year old, but it feels brand new in here. You know, one of the, one of the things I first noticed when you come up from the elevator, um, if you’ve ever been to like one of those all inclusive resorts and you get walk into a lobby, you see the ocean behind you, whoever the architects were for, for this project did a fantastic job of doing that. But talk to us a little bit about being kind of a newer property, how you establish yourselves in this market, but also kind of look towards the future and what you can do. Because you’re trying to obviously get, get a, a story and a name out there. Samantha, we’ll start with you.

Samantha Pritchard:
Yeah. So I think with this property, as you mentioned, it really sells itself. I’m really privileged in that way. You come off that lobby and you go, whoa. Yeah, this is a Spring Hill. I say that all the time. Yeah. I think kind of the strategies to grow the business when you’re new is visibility builds, you know, credibility and then executing it well with the team, which Alex and the team do a beautiful job of when I book it, when they come on site, they get what they expect. So that’s what the consumer’s looking for, what the guests are looking for. Getting in front of key decision makers in town. You know, a lot of our clients aren’t necessarily out at the beach. They’re more inland or in a drive market to us. So that’s kind of a unique way, um, to have to target them. I can’t just kind of roam about looking for clients that way. I need to go on the internet prospect that way and invite them out to experience the hotel. Absolutely. Once they experience it’s usually pretty easy.

Ryan Embree:
And I’m sure we’re gonna talk about in a little bit, I’m sure social media certainly helps you too, because like I said, it’s very picturesque coming into that lobby. Alex, talking about being GM, you’ve been, you know, a couple different places. What is it like kind of managing a, a newer property like this and making sure it hits those expectations that Samantha was talking about?

Alex Reitter:
So, I mean, I gotta say upkeep is always a challenge on, especially on this beach front, but I think it’s really just dealing with the staff and setting expectations and goals. Customer service is obviously high on our list, again, they’re walking in, they already have the, you know, it’s a, it’s a hundred, you know, this is great. Like they’re already coming back. We just have to supply what they want, get what they need, be available to assist them. I think that’s kind of, you know, makes it easy.

Ryan Embree:
Yeah. Absolutely. Well, and for those that are watching us on YouTube right now, if you can see, we are just a baseball throwaway right now from the pier and the beach. Paint a picture for maybe those travelers that haven’t been to this area of what they can expect, you know, outside of just having the beach right here, here, because on this side or on the other side rather, uh, there’s tons of stuff to do, right, Samantha?

Samantha Pritchard:
So there’s plenty of things to do. What I like to tell people is you can either walk, bike, or hop in the car. You have choices. Within our area, we’ve got 10 to 12 dining options along with the beautiful sandbar that we’re sitting in right now. Our ocean front restaurant that is one of the top rated restaurants in the area. You can just hop out the front door and have everything at your fingertips similar to the all-inclusive resort that you mentioned. So it’s a nice kinda unexpected thing. We’ve got a Starbucks on site too, so you don’t have to go far for your morning, you know, wake up that people are used to. So you can really create a weekend or a stay that you can remember by starting your day with a beach walk, going out to grab a bite to eat at a local restaurant, and then also have a stay here. So, where else can you do that in a big metropolitan city?

Ryan Embree:
Absolutely. And Alex, you said originally from this area, you’ve returned back here. When they kind of introduced this project to you, you saw where the location was, what stood out to you?

Alex Reitter:
Obviously the location is perfect. I mean, why not? You know, ocean front hotel, beautiful oceanfront hotel. So it was a win right away. I have some family in the area, so that also was important for us. So we’re like, let’s, let’s get back to Jacksonville. It was sad when we left. I never wanted to leave, really, but I think I had to for newer opportunities and to challenge myself. And so I wanted to come back for another new challenge and see what we can do with this property. I think pushing the level, pushing the service culture is gonna be exciting for this property. Super family friendly location. Spring Hill’s a unique brand includes free breakfast, so ocean front property, you got the free breakfast in the morning, you can go to the beach for the day, go do something to eat for lunch or, you know, and then come back and have dinner here, get the kids to bed. It’s really a great, you can’t beat it for a family. I think of younger kids. If you have a small dog, bring it with you. ’cause we have, you know, a lot of pets as well. So, um, it’s all in one package, I think.

Ryan Embree:
Yeah, I mean, bustling, everything bustling at breakfast this morning when we came down here and you hosting us, you know, we’re gonna talk about the spacious rooms and everything that Spring Hill Suites brand has to offer. And again, why that makes kind of perfect blend of, you know, that that hot term in hospitality – bleisure right now that I think people love and hate at the same time. But in 2025, especially a newer property like this, it really comes down to embracing and getting the community involved in something like this. And I’m sure being that this is one of the newer projects, hotel projects in, in a while in this area, it was really easy to get, you know, the community really hyped about this. And you’ve gotten that local support, like you were saying, Samantha, with this restaurant here. Talk to us about how you have kind of approached from a sales and marketing position of making those community ties in a really short period of time.

Samantha Pritchard:
Um, and one thing we, I wanted to mention about the prior thing is this hotel is very approachable, as Alex mentioned, it’s family friendly. You can also come here for a corporate meeting and it’s very approachable. No one feels stuffy. You don’t have to wear a jacket in our restaurant. You don’t have to, you know, put on, you know, closed toed shoes clearly to come to come into the restaurant. You know, it’s very approachable and I think that’s where the traveler is trending. Right now is wanting to be able to, like you said, bleisure, do both, and feel really comfortable doing so. To answer your question about how we get the community involved is we want to have events and activations on property. Where they look to us is, what is the Spring Hill have going on for Valentine’s Day? We just wrapped up two seatings for a beautiful dinner here on the ocean. We activate kid activities, you know, we’re looking, doing maybe pool events in the summertime. Just really creating different activities where the locals can engage. Jacksonville Beach really thrives on local involvement in local pools. So when the hotel was built, some of the locals went, wait a minute. That’s different than, than the norm. But I think we’ve proven ourselves to be a viable and thriving business that, that serves our locals as well as our guests out of the area.

Ryan Embree:
And I think that’s important. Right. I mean, we saw a big shift, Alex, when, you know, obviously the pandemic happened a couple years ago, and I think people started to look a little bit closer to home and saying, what have I not explored in my area? So having a new property like this, what are you seeing right now? Are you kind of hearing feedback from a lot of out of towners? Are you seeing a lot of locals at the property?

Alex Reitter:
So, a little still new, but I mean, we are in a perfect location because Jackson International Airport’s a great size, but the drive market is, you know, Atlanta, not far, Georgia, you know, it’s all to the beach. It’s a great location. Good highways to get here. I 1095. Uh, so the drive market’s easy. The beach is great. And again, all the offerings of Jacksonville from the Jaguars, which disappointing year, but after I go into that come back. But yeah, I mean, you know, great golf area, great golf community. There’s, you know, other, you know, top golfs in town, you know, some other cool events in the area that you can go to different arenas.

Samantha Pritchard:
Yeah, festivals are a big thing in Jacksonville Beach where we really do well. Going into peak season on Saturday, just this weekend we have the Seawalk Music Festival. Locals all flood out. I think our Starbucks might get hit that first thing maybe the next morning as well. People come into town for those things. Supergirl Surf Pro is an awesome national surf competition we have in November. What a gift. Like, it’s November a quieter time here at the beach, and we have this massive national surf competition out back at the pier. So it really can vary. It looks different every single day. What we have come across my desk come across, you know, the hotel. But it’s neat to see kind of how the locals embrace that as well as our guests.

Ryan Embree:
Well let’s talk about some of those events that might be held at the property because one of the benefits you were talking to me again about is the versatility of this, right? I think it goes back to that theme of this isn’t your average SpringHill Suites been open, you know, newer property, but I’m sure you’ve hosted, you know, a ton of events and meetings and groups. Can you share any examples of really that versatility and how maybe groups have come in here and used the space differently?

Alex Reitter:
We just emptied out this space this past weekend. So every table and chair was pulled out and we had to bring in more because we had too big of a group kind of book. And we thought it was gonna be a little bit smaller. And then it just kept growing and growing and team came together.

Ryan Embree:
Good problem to have sometimes, right?

Alex Reitter:
You know, it was a great opportunity for the team, but hope we won’t do too many of those. But we’re, you know, I remember if it works for the property, it works for the group and they wanna do it, we’ll pull everything out and give them the space. And they had a great event. Team had fun putting it on, you know, pulling out all these tables and chairs isn’t fun, but they had a positive attitude and we took, got the job done and it was, I think it was fun.

Samantha Pritchard:
Seeing the team, I think since I’ve joined, joined the hotel now six months ago, fully, it’s really neat to see the team be able to push the boundary of what a Spring Hill does. And like I mentioned to you when we first talked about coming on the podcast is, Hey, we’ve got a great pool patio. Could we fit 30? Well, what if we do this? Or what if we, and just collaborating with them and getting their buy-in on it. It’s been really beautiful to see, like Alex said, we’re taking every single table and chair out on a Saturday morning at 10:00 AM Is that what they wanna be doing after two events the night prior? Maybe not. But it’s so encouraging to me as a sales leader to be able to say, we can do this because I have the teams backing. One creative thing that we’ve gotten into lately is we take our corner suite meeting spaces up at the front corners of the building facing inland, we pull the furniture out again, you see a theme, we pull the furniture out of the rooms and we can set it up in a U-shape for up to 15 to 18 people. And it’s amazing how many corporate folks, you know, you think they want a stuffy boardroom with a big boardroom table, and I’ve sold properties like that in the past, but when they walk in and they see that beach view, or they see kinda the unique setup, but they can come in here for lunch, all of a sudden it’s not a hurdle. And people think like, well, I’ll never buy that. It’s a guest room. There’s a bed in there. How do we, how do we sell that? And mostly clients are just happy to be at this property and, and they pay rental and our team can service it with coffee breaks and lunch breaks as you would at a regular conference room. Um, so that’s been neat to kind of push the envelope and, and it’s been a profitable change for us.

Ryan Embree:
I mean that’s, uh, another shift, you know, kind of talking about again, traveler preferences and, and experience business travel. You know, maybe they’re not seeing each other as much in the office, but a trip out to, you know, Jacksonville Beach for a corporate meeting doesn’t sound too bad, It’s true. And, and being able to do, you know, a, a multitude of things. Meet in the, uh, meet in, uh, a, you know, makeshift meeting room and then come over here to the sand bar and, and have a drink afterwards. So really, I think being in that flexible space, that versatility of having a property like this really sets you up for success. Because any event planner can come in here and really get creative with your team and say, this is the type of vibe we want. Listen, we love your location. Right? We’ve already talked about that. How can we make this work? And, you know, I think it’s those hotels that are, have a listening ear and are open to those ideas. And, and typically that happens with newer properties, right? You know, sometimes there’s just restrictions with an older property it was like, we literally can’t do this. We can’t, you know, host this many people in this space. Um, but having a property like this really, really helps you do that. Uh, we talked a lot about what there is to do outside of the property, obviously, again, with the beach right here. But certainly when you’re talking about the 2025 traveler experience, you talk about what’s on property, right? Because it’s more than just what happens outside. It’s no longer four rooms in a bed. You know? Talk to us a little bit about this restaurant that we’re, we’re in here and maybe some of the other amenities, Alex, that you have on property.

Alex Reitter:
Yeah. So, I mean, awesome restaurant. You obviously can’t beat the view, love the surfer club. You just gotta get that out.

Ryan Embree:
Sure. And you can watch it. I was having dinner here yesterday and you, you can just watch people surf. I mean, it’s like almost people turn on their TVs to watch it. You got that. Live action right there for you.

Alex Reitter:
Yeah. And even all the live action at the beach is always fun in Jacksonville, no matter what. So it’s not even just a surfer. It gonna be an interesting time out here. So, but yeah, I mean, great. Many of great full service restaurant, full service bar, everything’s, you know, can’t say enough how good the staff does on the service in the guests and the presentation we present on the food.

Ryan Embree:
I can personally attest to that having, uh, been at the restaurant last night and having a mahi sandwich and, uh, enjoying a nice cocktail as well. So, and you can’t beat that ambiance that you, that you’ve set up here. So on the way through Breakfast, Fitness Center, Samantha, some of the other amenities.

Samantha Pritchard:
Sure. So, we’ll start with the fitness center ’cause I’ve got an exciting update for you on the fitness center. So the fitness center, as you can see is large. We’ve got six or eight treadmills in there. There’s plenty of space to move around with that plenty of space. We also noted maybe we have an opportunity here to build a meeting space. Always looking for, always looking for an area for main space. Sure. Um, so with a being as large as you might have seen, or you can see on our website, we are looking at maybe sectioning off about half of that space. We’ve got an approval for Myriad to do so to create a meeting space for up to 20 to 25. So we’re finding that that’s a need in the market. We have the data to prove it, really like to look at the data in the market and say, this would be something that would be really beneficial for us. So we’re hoping this will start maybe later in this year, early next year. We’re, um, in kind of design plan right now to make that happen. So that’s exciting. The, the fitness center will still be a great resource, but just wanted to note that. Um, we’ve got our onsite Starbucks open each day, you know, all the way through. It serves our locals as well as our guest. Sandbar is mentioned. Um, having a restaurant at the beach that’s open at lunch is a unique thing for Jacksonville Beach. Most people have to leave their hotels where we even get guests from other hotels that come and enjoy lunch here and go, whoa, this is, and I, I joke, I call it chicken, all chicken. There’s no chicken all chicken here at the Sandbar. They make everything from scratch. They do a really beautiful job with the sauces each day and coming up with nice Caribbean, you know, style menu or beach style menus. So really something unique here.

Ryan Embree:
Well, we’ve, yeah, we’ve talked about it, Samantha, about how F&B is really impacting the traveler’s experience and how that is, you know, a good or a bad experience can make a break or stay, but it really sounds like you know, breakfast, lunch, dinner and then work it off at the fitness center.

Samantha Pritchard:
Or out back at the beach. Your choice.

Ryan Embree:
So, um, you know, really, really a lot to do here across the country. Maybe hotel’s falling out a little bit, uh, you know, from that winter season gearing up for spring break, maybe looking at those 60, 90 occupancy reports and, and getting really excited about or scared.

Alex Reitter:
A little bit of both.

Ryan Embree:
Exactly, with those travelers coming in. You mentioned it before about how travelers are starting to look at the Spring Hill saying, know, what are they doing, you know, this season or holiday as you gear up for spring break. Um, Samantha, we’ll start with you kind of how, how, how are you and the team getting ready? Any events going on, uh, that you’re particularly excited about?

Samantha Pritchard:
So our high season kicks off a little bit before spring break. We have the privilege of being just a couple miles from the players’ championship golf tournament out in Edra. So we are projecting, you know, sold out numbers over that time. We have some corporate folks that have bought out the restaurant for two days and for the morning. I mean, we’ve really kind of kick off into a, a high gear right out the gate in March. Um, and then spring break will open up, as we mentioned, some of we’re more of a family destination. You’re gonna see probably, you know, families with two or three kids enjoying the pool, enjoying the restaurant, maybe rather than the typical spring breaker you might imagine. Right. We really try to protect that environment for our guests there too. Um, going into April, you know, wedding season weddings with between Sandbar as a space between the hotel as a destination, and then also three or four beautiful wedding venues within walking distance to us. Um, weddings really start to kick off into April and May. And then summertime we’re, we’re in it. 4th of July is a citywide event out here. I mean, there’s bikes miles across, you know, the first street that where we sit on the bar is slamming and, and then we blink and we’re in the fall. So, that’s our plan.

Ryan Embree:
That’s how it usually works. Alex, as, as gm, um, area gm, you also have a Fairfield, as well in this area. Talk to me about how you approach the busy season with your team. What are you guys doing to get ramped up?

Alex Reitter:
Get ramped up? Yeah, so I mean, obviously just kind of starting to build that team, make sure everything’s in place, you know, housekeeping’s obviously always a challenge, but we’re ready. Actually right now, we’re actually in a really good spot. I think our team, everyone feels comfortable. Our front desk team is ready to go as well. Just, you know, moving those pieces together, just make sure everyone’s excited. Taking the time to, you know, let’s detail out right now. We’re getting ready. You know, late checkouts are always an issue with the oceanfront property, so we’re already diving into that to be practicing how we’re gonna manage it. Make sure, you know, if people are late, you know, who’s gonna cover it, getting the room clean, how are we gonna manage those people, the guests waiting. And so kind of figure out those little details right now while we have the chance where it’s not go, go, go yet, because it’s gonna be there in a second. Oh yeah. And it be like, why didn’t we do this two months ago?

Ryan Embree:
We talk about it as a little bit, you know of a nice little stress test for, for a hotel before that really busy season happens. And I think it does Samantha, for your job. It really shows what people love about the property. So, you know, that stuff starts to really amplify up. So you can start saying, oh, people are loving the fact that we’re within walking distance of this wedding destination. Let’s really start to market this. Or on the GM side, you know, maybe those minor issues that you’re seeing at 75, 80% occupancy, that that could dialed up to like a problem when there’s, when it’s a full house. Right? So trying to kind of suss out and figure out issues and things that people love about the property. So when you have all that, that traffic come through, you’re making the most out of that season. I wanna talk about, you know, this the, at this course, the Suite Spot when we started it digital marketing podcast. And, you know, especially with being a newer property, that’s probably you, you know, Samantha, one of the most powerful ways that you can really get going. And, and then again, I mentioned it before that picturesque view when you walk in through the lobby, I’m sure that does some great things for your job to try to get the, the amplify Hey, we’re here, we’re the SpringHill Suites. Uh, we’re new and we’re here to welcome you locals and, and travelers. But talk to us about the importance of building a social foundation. I follow you guys on social media, have a great, you know, uh, strategy there. Talk to us about that social strategy and the, the crucialness of building a social community.

Samantha Pritchard:
Sure. Um, we’re really blessed with a great e-commerce team that supports us on properties. You can imagine doing this and selling the property. We really need good folks behind the scenes to help with that. We have both a food and beverage team that e-commerce team that handles that and a property team. So we’re lucky with kind of those layers there. But the big importance is consistency, as I’m sure you hear all the time, and then being able to stay relevant. So we’ll be sharing, we make sure that multiple days don’t go by without posting. We’re collaborating with the right people when we have events out back at the pier, are we cross sharing each other’s posts? That’s an easy low hanging that any hotel can do, whether you’re off the interstate or on the ocean or in Alaska. Great tech. You can cross share great tech, you know, posts and other content that others are using. It doesn’t have to be such a heavy lift of like what does social look like for us? Like, we can lean on other key partners. Visit Jacksonville, is a great partner too. They have a media kit that they can give to us as hoteliers to help with some of that content creation while we’re not reinventing it.

Ryan Embree:
Yeah, no, absolutely. And, you know, I think, uh, that’s a great tip of, of sharing. Uh, I always say maybe not every hotel has a beach, but every hotel has a sunset. Right. You know, and, and typically has a, has a a, a place where you can watch it, take a picture of it, share it, but having, um, involvement from, you know, not just one person on your team, but your entire, entire staff, that’ll help. And then hopefully you get some user generated content with travelers sharing all that good stuff. You gotta be social listening. We talk about that all the time on our, on our podcast as well. If you’ve got some great, you never know who’s on your property, right? You could have an influencer or micro influencer, um, sharing a picturesque view of, of the, the beach there. You wanna make sure you got your ear to the ground in interacting with that. Alex, on, on your end, you know, the other piece of digital marketing, obviously reviews, right? Super important. I’m sure you’re, you’re in there and listening to that feedback. Talk to us about kind of your strategy with, with getting reviews, especially with a newer property, right? Like it’s great right off the bat ’cause you get a lot, Hey, this is a brand new property, but still trying to generate reviews. Here we are a couple, you know, a year and a half into this property trying to generate reviews to keep things fresh, relevant, consistent like Samantha was talking about.

Alex Reitter:
Yeah. So, um, one thing I’ve always done is so many times we hear a guest tell the front desk or tell myself even like, oh, this was a great stay. I love my stay. And that’s the end of it. Like, it’s gonna end there, right? The guest, the guest told me he doesn’t need to go online and post it. And I’m like, oh, thank you so much. We appreciate it. Can you please go online and, you know, take that if you don’t mind, take the moment. We’d love to hear you share it online. If you get the Marriott review, we’d love to have you fill that out. So I think that’s where it starts with, you know, informing the guest. Because a lot of guests, oh, I told the general manager, I don’t need to tell anybody else. But now if he had a problem, he will tell everybody and tell me and Samantha probably you. So, yeah. So that’s one side of it. And then I think the other side of it is we have to be responsive as a team. And, uh, what I, my approach has been I can’t do it all myself. I need, I need help. So I like to get my whole team involved, the whole front desk team. So Janez is responding, Hunter’s responding at different sites. So each one has their own site that they kind of manage. And then I think for the guest, it’s kind of cool, oh, hunter, I read your response to whatever guest, you know, and now that there’s almost a relationship checking in, like, you know, hunter. Yeah. You know Janez and you’re not even at the hotel yet. So I think that’s kind of another cool verse if I respond to them all, or even I think some GMs possibly have admins respond to them all, but it’s their name, which I don’t think’s real we don’t wanna see. Everyone doesn’t wanna see my name or that’s my opinion.

Ryan Embree:
Yeah, I think it keeps that content also in the eyes of your team members too, where as you might be saying something of, Hey listen, you know, we’ve had a couple people talk about, you know, the check-in process and they’re not very happy. Versus now you’ve got multiple team members involved. Seeing that and maybe making a change there to kind of help with that. But also, you know, we tend to think or reviews, like you were saying on the negative side, but also that, that good feedback right. Of praising the team, that also is a big confidence builder in your team members where they get excited to work and you know, service the next guest in line.

Ryan Embree:
Yeah, take ownership. Yeah. I love it. Such team building is a really, really great with that. So I’d like to end the episode, uh, you know, talking about your positions and kind of what’s best case scenario when, when the traveler leaves checks out of the Spring Hill Suites Jacksonville Beach, right? So, Samantha, as we’re marketing people, right? We love kind of talking about that. What what do you want to get out there about the SpringHill Suites to maybe travelers that have maybe considering coming to Jacksonville Beach?

Samantha Pritchard:
Sure. Give Jackson a little chance. I say that a lot. It’s, people hear things or I’m not sure about her. I drive through it a lot. Headed to the big Orlando stop in Jacksonville or Jacksonville Beach specifically and, and see what the area has to offer. There’s really something for everyone as we touched on. There’s the water, there’s water sports, like kayaking and getting involved in that ecosystem. Great dining choices. And then of course you have a beautiful hotel you can, can choose to stay at. So I would say give Jacksonville a chance and, and I think you’ll be really pleasantly surprised.

Ryan Embree:
Tons of events, both locally and on site as well. Again, opportunity for our hotel audience and Suite Spot listeners to follow, on social media so they can keep track of all those events going on in the local area. Alex, GM again, you, we just talked about it. Guest feedback. So important. What is your best case scenario when somebody checks out here at the SpringHill Suites?

Alex Reitter:
I think we want them to come back. I mean, I hope that’s what they’re feeling is I don’t know why they want it. And if they, you know, if they’re not happy with their stay, we wanna know why and, you know, we wanna fix it. That’s kind of my, my thought process. We’re honest people and I think we take care of our guests and we want them to think we’re the number, we’re the number one hotel in this area. Like, there’s no doubt about it. Like, so the location’s awesome.

Samantha Pritchard:
The staff is friendly.

Alex Reitter:
We’re excited to be here.

Ryan Embree:
It’s been, it’s been a great stay and experience that we’ve personally had from the Suite Spot. So thank you for hosting us. As we wrap up, any final thoughts on today’s episode? Thank you. So thank you so much again for hosting.

Samantha Pritchard:
Yeah, it’s a pleasure to have you guys out here. I love, you know, just being able to reach out to you and say, Hey Ryan, we really have something special here in Jacksonville Beach. I know it’s a Spring Hill. I know it’s in Jacksonville. How do we get you out here, you know, to experience that? And I think it’s a culture chain, you know, going on with Alex joining the team here, you know, a couple months ago, we have an opportunity to really shift to a yes culture. You see the views, you see the restaurant, the food’s amazing, we talked about all those things, but it matters about how our staff and make you feel when you leave. What do we wanna have happen? We want you to tell someone how amazing the Spring Hill in Jacksonville Beach was and tell someone about it. A review is great, but when you tell someone that the culture was different, I think we have a really something special here.

Ryan Embree:
Yeah, absolutely. Word of mouth. Still the most powerful thing today. And again, you know, we can’t say it enough. Thank you for hosting us here. We had an incredible experience here at the Spring Hill Suites, Jacksonville Beach, Ocean Front, and encourage everyone to come see for yourself. Again, have that picturesque shared on social media and tag the property. Because I’m sure, Samantha and Alex would love some more of those social media pictures.

Alex Reitter:
We would, we’d appreciate it

Ryan Embree:
Thank you so much, for joining me today and thank you for listening to The Suite Spot. We’ll talk to you next time To join our loyalty program. Be sure to subscribe and give us a five star rating on iTunes. Suite Spot is produced by Travel Media Group. Our editor is Brandon Bell with Cover Art by Bary Gordon. I’m your host Ryan Embree, and we hope you enjoyed your st