Lee Belfield, general manager of The Hotel at Kirkwood, stands in the couryard. PHOTO/DAVE DEWITTE
There’s a tight link between the selection of The Hotel at Kirkwood Center by CBJ readers as the Best Place for a Corporate Event/Party, and its role as a teaching hotel for Kirkwood Community College students.
General Manager Lee Belfield has read literally every review of the hotel on TripAdvisor since it opened in July 2010, and has never seen a truly negative review. It’s the top-ranked TripAdvisor hotel in Cedar Rapids, and the only hotel in Eastern Iowa with a 4-Diamond rating from AAA.
“The difference-maker is the staff and the level of genuine hospitality and professionalism they provide,” Mr. Belfield said, adding that hotel staff is always aware of the expectation from Kirkwood Community College, which owns and manages the hotel, to provide a professional example for students.
Mr. Belfield said student employees tend to be more nervous, but have a genuineness to their customer service that guests appreciate and remember. These guests often take an interest in the students who are serving them, asking about the programs they are in and their career plans.
The hotel’s facilities are another thing that sets it apart. It was designed with “hip, urban and trendy” as its watchwords, with an eye to the growing millennial market. It has an ample art collection, and every guest room features pieces created in Kirkwood’s glass-blowing program. Six years later, the design still has a rich contemporary feel, and the hotel has begun updating certain finishes, like the atrium carpeting.
One of a handful of teaching hotels operated by colleges nationwide, The Hotel at Kirkwood Center has 19,000 square feet of meeting space equipped with the latest technology, allowing it to accommodate special group events. The 104-seat Executive Technology Amphitheater has been used for cooking demonstrations, wine-tastings and other events, while the hotel’s laboratory kitchens can be used for team-building exercises.
Mr. Belfield said the hotel’s huge atrium, outdoor dining area and 71 guest rooms allow the hotel to serve as a setting for multi-day events and weddings. The hotel hosts about 100 conferences a month, and 45-50 weddings per year.
A high-quality culinary experience has also been key to the Hotel at Kirkwood’s popularity with meeting planners. Restaurant meals and banquets are prepared by students from Kirkwood’s Culinary Arts program, who take pride in their work.
In its short existence, the hotel has become the pre-game overnight spot for the University of Iowa Hawkeye football team, and has hosted visits by such political notables as former President Bill Clinton, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, Carly Fiorina and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie.
In the past year or two, the hotel has increased its emphasis on serving the wedding market, seeing an opportunity for growth in that area. It hosts only one wedding per day, and has facilities for both outdoor and indoor ceremonies and receptions.
Mr. Belfield believes technology will hold the key to the hotel’s future success, as wireless broadband access becomes a bigger part of the guest experience. The hotel is equipped with radio frequency ID guest room locks, which will enable guests to bypass the front desk check-in and unlock doors with their smartphones, and recently installed 50-inch flatscreen TVs in guest rooms with OTC (over-the-top-content) capabilities, allowing guests to display TV shows, movies and other content from their mobile devices.
– Dave DeWitte
TIMES ON LIST:
1 Time of Best of list
