Larkin Hospitality’s most recent construction project is the building and renovation of what currently is the White River Inn & Suites.  The entire staff ‘down south’ cannot help but be excited on a daily basis as we witness major developments within our work days!

Located directly across the parking lot from the Holiday Inn Express & Suites will soon sit a beautiful new hotel filled with suites which could accommodate an entire family.  As of late, my job consists of doing new and exciting things which I had not yet experienced in this industry.  Just last week AllisynMarthers and I were looking through pieces of art to decorate the walls of the new guest rooms!

Our current clientele is also enjoying the almost hourly changes to our building.  Our 37 rentable rooms are filled with many long term guests excitedly anticipating the chance to stay in one of our new suites.

Needless to say, with all of the developments occurring I become easily distracted looking out the windows day dreaming of what it will be like to sit in a brand new hotel!

Sarah Benedict Crispim

Welcome to the Dark Side

Since we started this blog we have embraced it as an opportunity to tell you all how much we love our jobs and where we live.  Working in the hospitality industry in Vermont is like putting sugar on ice cream; it just doesn’t get any sweeter. The hotel industry does, however, have a dark side…and sometimes that dark side is hysterical!

Running a hotel is like inviting a few hundred strangers into your house every night and hoping they all respect your property and use their manners the way you would.  By and large we have overwhelmingly positive guest experiences. Occasionally, however, there are guests who cause trouble and our staff is left with the consequences…and the stories!

There was, for example, the sorority group that I convinced the General Manager to take as I was sure college age girls away on a trip and under a school’s name would handle themselves with dignity and restraint. Wow, was I wrong. Their late night alcohol infused merriment involved among other things police assistance, detox, and sparse clothing.   One of my favorite guest stories was of the irate guest whose blonde wife found long dark hair in his hairbrush. He accused our housekeeping staff of brushing their hair with it. When our GM asked if it was possible that the hair belonged to the man, the guest responded “that is impossible since I am bald”, begging the question of why he needed a brush in the first place. Finally, I will offer the story of the guest who was livid to discover that, in his opinion, we had lost his reservation. In an attempt to calm him down, our desk staff thought to call other Holiday Inn’s in other Burlingtons around the world and found that the man had mistakenly made an online reservation at the Holiday Inn in Burlington Ontario. Upon our explaining his error, he demanded we reimburse him for a long distance call to Canada to cancel his reservation there.

We cannot always control what guests bring to our doorstep, but we can and do learn from the experiences. Our well trained staff works hard to ensure that no matter what the circumstance, our guests are comfortable, safe and content.  In the coming months we look forward to sharing with you more funny stories since at the end of the day if it is going to happen we surely learn something…and we share!

Dina Townsend

Director of Sales

Get Here & Get Out

I hope I am not alone in saying this, but my favorite time of year is finally here.  As much as I love the winter here in Vermont with snowboarding, skiing and sledding, I prefer spring and summer.  The green mountains come to life and show us all the beauty they possess. Who can ask for more?  For me this time of year means time to get outdoors and enjoy some of the greatest things in life including hiking, kayaking, and one of my favorites, biking down the Burlington bike path.  

Typically I start at Oakledge Park and ride the Island Line Trail through the downtown waterfront passing the skate park, dog park and North Beach all the way up to Colchester.  The 12.5 mile ride sounds long, but it has so many sites along the way that you really just forget how you got to the end and sort of wish it hadn’t ended.  Have no fear though, if you didn’t pack your bike with you there are rental places along the way like Local Motion or Ski Rack both in Burlington. 

If biking is not your thing you can skate/blade your way all along the waterfront. Skates are also available for rent at the Ski Rack, or just take a causal walk if it suits your needs.  Check out http://www.champlainbikeways.org/  for more details on the many bike paths that Burlington has to offer.  I hope you will come and enjoy the many sites along your ride as I know I have.

Stacy Germond

General Manager

Holiday Inn Express

..And All That Jazz

Finally the snow has stopped and spring has sprung – everyone all together now–jazz hands!   What could be a better way to celebrate the sun and warmth than with the Burlington Jazz Festival June 3^rd through the 12th?  Just a 5 minute drive to the heart of the festival, Comfort Inn & Suites is the perfect accommodation for this wonderful Burlington event. 

Whether you live here year round, like we do, or you are just visiting, Jazz fest will transport you to a whole other world -to a place where music, incredible food and drinks seem never ending and no matter how hard you try, you can’t keep your feet still, That’s what becomes of our very own Church Street. 

Indulge your ears, eyes and mouth with a treat and after that pamper your body with a clean and comfy bed where the last thing that you’ll hear as your head hits the crisp pillow is the remnants of your favorite jazz musician sc-sc-sc-scatting into the dark. 

With legendary artists like Herbie Hancock, Bearquarium and Poncho Sanchez, and incredible food and drink from Leunig’s Bistro, Three Tomatoes and the Farmhouse Tap and Grill, this festival is a great way to start your summer. 

We love hearing our guests’ stories from their downtown festivities and we love that we get to play a part in their total Jazz festival experience.  For great Jazz you come to the Jazz festival and for divine comfort you come to the Comfort Inn & Suites.      

John Cammarano

General Manager

Comfort Inn & Suites

Not Everything is What it Seems

This week, I learned a lesson in irony and snap judgment worthy of sharing. Several times I have noticed trash in our parking lot.  As a company, we work diligently to keep our property fresh and welcoming and it’s disappointing to watch guests carelessly toss trash on the property’s grounds.  Upon seeing the litter I have thought to myself, ‘how can it be that guests feel it is acceptable to dispose of their refuse so irresponsibly?’  


This Monday, as I made my morning Starbucks run, I noticed someone in front of me open their car door and toss two Starbucks cups on the ground, presumably making space for their new cup of coffee.  They continued by throwing empty wrappers right next to the discarded cups. As the offending driver left the scene, I noticed the car’s plates were Vermont issued and recognized the driver as someone I see almost every morning at Starbucks. This was a fellow Vermonter and a local resident!  My theory that all Vermonters keep their state clean and care about a litter-free community was now full of holes. Irony.This past weekend residents of our area engaged in Green Up Day, a long standing tradition here where residents donate their time and energy picking up the trash along our roadways and open spaces that has been exposed by the melting snow.  As Green Up Day comes to a close each year, neon green trash bags stuffed full dot street corners all over town, ready to be picked up and properly disposed of.  I have thought to myself, ‘this is the Vermonter spirit - taking care of our community and working together to keep it clean. I wished that more of our out of town guests had the same outlook’. Snap judgment.

Early this morning as I came to work preparing to write this blog, I watched two of our guests get out of their car -with Massachusetts plates- walk out of their way toward new litter someone had left overnight, pick it up, toss it in the receptacle, and go into the hotel.  They walked up to the desk, checked into their room and made no mention of their good deed in the parking lot.  I was impressed and humbled!

The moral of the story? It doesn’t matter where we are from and regardless of our different beliefs, attitudes or values, keeping our communities and planet green and clean is, and must be, a shared mission in which we all play a critical role.

Michael Sheeran
Area Manager
Larkin Hospitality

A Proper Spring!

Take a look around, what do you see?

If you're lucky enough to be in Burlington, VT, you'll see the vibrant greens of grass and trees, the bright blues of the clear, sunny sky and depths of Lake Champlain, the rich reds and warm oranges of sunrises and sunsets. ...A proper Spring!

There are many ways to enjoy the beautiful weather and variety of outdoor settings throughout the region, but we all so often get trapped indoors and miss out. So this Spring, when you come to town, definitely take time to appreciate the fine shopping downtown on Church Street or at the outlets in Essex, but don't forget about strolling the beautiful Waterfront Park or rowing the lake on a kayak from the Community Sailing Center, walking the grounds of Shelburne Farms or the Shelburne Museum, taking a day cruise on the Spirit Of Ethan Allen or enjoying the lush greens at one of the many public golf courses and country clubs in the area.

Spring is everywhere around you in the beautiful Lake Champlain region. Be sure to enjoy it!

Stephen Churchill

Social Media Director | Larkin Hospitality

There Is No Offseason

As the Director of Sales for four busy hotels, I spend the majority of my day on the phone. For the better part of the year, a large percentage of my phone conversations are with sports teams looking for hotel accommodations. Our area is home to several annual sports tournaments many of which can be found under the events listing sections of our hotels’ websites. 

With seven hotels in the Burlington area alone, I typically have plenty of rooms for teams that meet both their needs and budget.  On rare occasions, teams playing in exceptionally large tournaments will call late in the game and we are unable to house them.  In these events, I take tremendous pride in being willing and able to share clear and solid area information to assist in helping them find lodging elsewhere in town.  I have even directed groups to neighboring towns and to spectacular, hidden gems where demand may be less overwhelming, but amenities and natural beauty are plentiful.

I routinely share industry tips with these teams to not only help them find suitable housing presently, but to help them plan ahead for the next year or tournament, because  I feel one of our cornerstones has to be educating the guest on not only our area, but also on our industry. Many of these teams travel all year long, spend a fortune on travel, and bear the burden of collecting hotel information, disseminating it among team members and then following through to be sure all families on their rosters have booked. In providing these teams and parents with more than just the bare, essential details pertinent to their current booking needs, they’re better served in all their travel endeavors in the future and are able to make more informed decisions, saving them money and, more importantly, saving them time.

I’ve made it one of my highest priorities to make that entire process as easy as possible for them and, while most of the time I am able to accommodate them, when I am unable to, I take pride in knowing they leave the experience better armed for future success.  I understand firsthand how expensive sports travel can be and, at the same time, I also understand how valuable their tournaments are to our area, both fiscally and culturally, so making the process less stressful is always a top priority of mine.  In the end, I suppose I could spend less time on the phone were I not to put the guest experience first, but that is never an option here in the Larkin Hospitality Family. When you call upon us, you expect the best, and we take pride in knowing that is exactly what you’ll get. 

Dina Townsend

Larkin Hospitality Group