One of the industries that the Aikens Group Hotels reach out to is the Brides and Grooms looking for either accommodations or reception venues in the Blue Ridge and the Shenandoah Valley.  January and February are the months for Bridal Shows in the Region. With eight hotels serving the northern Blue Ridge Shenandoah Valley Region,  the Aikens Group is in a strong position to provide services to both local and the wedding destinations brides.  Everyone knows that bridal couples and their guests have different desires and financial needs to meet when they pick room blocks for their wedding.   Plus if they would like to look at a rehearsal dinner, brunch, or wedding reception, Aikens Group offers many wedding packages.

Four of Aikens Group Hotels meeting both accommodations and special event facilities are:

Hilton Garden Inn - Winchester, Virginia

Hilton Garden Inn is Aikens Group  newest hotel offering amenities and services that only the Hilton Garden Inn hotels have such as Garden Sleep System Beds. Located in the heart of the shopping center of Winchester, the Hilton Garden Inn has 1800 square feet of meeting and banquet space easily accommodating a wedding for seventy five guests.

The All American Grill is the caterer for the hotels customizing menus with the sales event staff assisting in planning and designing the event.

Catering from the American Grill.

The Hampton Inn and Conference Center on Berryville Avenue in Winchester  can accommodate the larger weddings up to 250 guests.   Just off of Interstate 81, your guests can easily find their home away from home when they attend your wedding at this facility.

Hampton Inn Banquet Facility for 250

The Hampton Inn hotel in Front Royal, Virginia again offers easy access of of Interstate 66.  This hotel has over 2000 square feet of special event space – again a perfect place for small weddings or rehearsal dinners.

Comfort Inn of Martinsburg is also just off of Interstate 81 .  With 109 spacious rooms , the Comfort Inn is an affordable wedding reception location for weddings up to 200.

These hotels will be exhibiting this Sunday, January 30th at the  Winter Bridal Marketplace Show in Winchester, Virginia.  Join us at the show and win a great Girl’s Night Out Package for you and your bridesmaids.

The Aikens Group would like to welcome two new managers to our team.

Jubal Early Professional Office Building -Winchester, Virginia

Andrew Nicholson was recently hired as the Commercial Property Manager for Aikens Group. He  will be handling commercial leasing and property management.  Nicholson comes to Aikens Group with over twenty years of business development and sales experience in the automotive and financial information industries.  Nicholson is a graduate of Virginia Commonwealth University with a Bachelor of Science degree in Business/Marketing.  Nicholson lives in Clarke County with his wife, Shawn  and two daughters.

Dwayne Shank has joined H & W Construction as the Estimator/Operations Manager.  Shank was born and raised in Hampshire County and resides in Inwood, West Virginia.  With thirty years in the construction industry as a Purchasing Manager, Project Manager and Business Owner,  Shank is a former board member of the Evans Home for Children and  fundraiser for Big Brothers Big Sisters.

Aikens Group is extending their  half off Security Deposit offer thru February.

Two Bedroom Apartments - "A Luxury Apartment Home Community Directly off of Interstate 81 in Stephens City, Virginia

Safe Affordable Two Bedroom Large Apartments in Winchester, Virginia

This offer  includes our affordable best value  apartments in Winchester, Virginia and our new luxury apartments and town homes in Winchester, Stephens City, and Martinsburg, West Virginia.  Call Lori or Doris at (540) 678-4100 or Beverly at (304) 283-8631.

Having guest (be it friends or family) visit for the holidays can be stressful for both parties.  The Aikens Group would like to extend a 15% Friends and Family Discount to all our community network of tenants, lessees, employees, and business partners.  Select from eight hotels locations and choices:

Plus …. 10% Off the Great American Grill located within the Hilton Garden Inn.

Hilton Garden Inn achieved the highest ranking in the “Mid-Scale Full Service” for the eighth time in the past nine years totaling more awards totaling more awards than any other brand among its category.  The Hilton Garden Inn Winchester, VA recetnly received its own 2010 J.D. Power Trophy and has it on display at the hotel.

General Manager, Sherri Cooper said that the J.D. Power Award is a great honor for the brand and her staff. “We work every day to deliver the best in guest service and satisfaction. While our happy guests reflect our efforts more than anything else, an award of this stature is certainly a reflection of our success.”

The Hilton Garden Inn Winchester opened in October 2008 and is the flagship property of the Aikens Group.

Looking for Holiday Cash — earn $100 – $150 for the Holiday!  If you live in:

• Pemberton Village
• Tasker Village
• Limestone Place
• Stony Pointe
• Shawnee Terrace
• Millwood or Atwell

Referring a friend who leases an apartment will earn you up to $150.00  Tell your friends why you love to live in an Aikens Apartment/Townhome Community.

The Aikens Group is taking a new approach to building strong relationships with all of their business partners. They have created a marketing piece which will give each of the Aikens Group’s commercial tenant’s exposure to a targeted audience.  The goal is to strengthen the tenant’s businesses resulting in more secure financially healthy commercial lessees.

This month 1500 Aikens Group Community Discount Cards are being distributed to the Aikens Community Network.  This community includes over 350 Aikens Group employees, over 400 apartment tenants, and 165 commercial businesses employing over 600. Aikens Group Community Network is a network whose purpose is to provide marketing opportunities to people they do business with in order for everyone to succeed.  Not only do the employees, tenants, and lessees get to take advantage of these discounts, our hotel managers and front desk staff is educated about who are our business partners so if the opportunity presents itself, another marketing opportunity called word of mouth occurs.

The card offers financial discounts from many of our commercial tenants including Rita’s Ice, Hoss’s Steak and Seafood, Mid-Atlantic Protel AT & T, Burger King, Papa John’s as well as Old Dominion Sports Center, Blue Plate Books, Handyman Connection, Healing Arts Center and more. The card also offers Free Estimates on commercial/residential construction and crane services by H & W Construction and Crane Services Company.

Giving Back to your Commercial Tenants

The Aikens Group Community Discount card will also be distributed to Aikens’ corporate business partners as a thank you for their continued support and loyalty.  These business partners will be able to use the cards as a “thank you “to their employees.  The card features the Aikens Friends and Family Rate offering a 15% room accommodation discount for the Aikens Group Hotels. These include in Winchester, Virginia the Hilton Garden Inn, Fairfield Inn and Suites, Holiday Inn Express, Quality Inn, and the Hampton Inn Hotel and Conference Center.  It also includes the Hampton Inn in Front Royal, Virginia and Inwood West Virginia as well as the Comfort Inn – Martinsburg, West Virginia. The card also offers a 10% discount off the Great American Grill located within the Hilton Garden – Winchester.

Aikens Group Community Network is a network whose purpose is to provide marketing opportunities to people they do business with in order for everyone to succeed.  Not only do the employees, tenants, and lessees get to take advantage of these discounts, our hotel managers and front desk staff is educated about who are our business partners so if the opportunity presents itself, another marketing opportunity called word of mouth occurs.

If you would like more information  – visit AikensGroup.com – Building Strong Relationships is with  Aikens Group Commercial  tenants enables their businesses grow and Aikens tenant relationships to prosper.

 The National Society of the Sons of the American Revolution presented the Winchester Hilton Garden Inn hotel with a certificate of appreciation for service and support in preparation and execution of the Virginia Society SAR’s Semi-Annual Meeting. The meeting was held September 10-11, 2010 at the Hilton Garden Inn. Kristina Arntz, Director of Sales, accepted the certificate on the hotel’s behalf. “It means so much to me and the hotel staff to receive this recognition. We began assisting in the organization of the Virginia Society SAR’s event well over a year ago. This is a very organized group–it was a pleasure to work with them.”
The Hilton Garden Inn Winchester opened in October of 2008. It has a full-service restaurant and bar onsite, The Great American Grill, which provides catering for corporate and social events under the leadership of its Executive Chef, Marco Pantano and Conference Services Manager, Mellisa Butcher.  The hotel is also the flagship hotel property for the Aikens Group, a hospitality management company and commercial development group in the Shenandoah Valley. For more information about the Winchester Hilton Garden Inn or Aikens Group, visit: http://hiltongardeninn.hilton.com/en/gi/hotels/index.jht … or http://www.AikensGroup.com

WINCHESTER FREDERICK COUNTY, VA – The Aikens Group over the 79 years of doing business in the Shenandoah Valley has faced the very best of times as well as the difficult financial times.  How have they survived?   

“The Best of Times can give you a false sense of security and confidence,” says Walter Aikens, President and CEO of Aikens Group. “It is diversification. By having more than one business focus, when one is suffering, another hopefully is stronger.  This past down turn has been difficult due to the limitations put on financing projects. The second key to survival is hard work. You just keep pushing.  Honesty has been the key to our success. In our opinion, we tell the customer the facts even if it means we lose the job.”

The biggest challenge the Aikens Group has faced over recent years is their expansion of new divisions of business. Starting as a construction company and growing to include five diverse business divisions has created a need to redefine their “Identity”.

Aikens Group is making new aggressive changes to their networking with the community and outside the community. The first step of their community involvement starts at home first with their employees, tenants, and business partners. Aikens Group Community Network is a network whose purpose is to provide marketing opportunities to people they do business with in order for everyone to succeed.  These opportunities include:

• Aikens Friends and Family Rate offering discounts to local hotels to its employees apartment tenants and select business partners for discounted room accommodations.
• Aikens Group Discount Card offering discounts from their apartment tenants and commercial lessees businesses to anyone who is a partner with Aikens Group.
• Apartment Welcome Baskets are given to anyone who visits our apartment complexes.  These baskets include incentives, promotions from our Aikens Group business partners and many others.  Once an apartment lease is signed the new tenants will then qualify to receive an Aikens Group Discount Card.  This card is good for one year.
• Aikens E Newsletters are available to tenants and lessees to highlight their business and permit them to offer a promotion or coupon.

All four of these avenues offer free marketing opportunities to Aikens Group Family of Businesses.  Not only do the employees, tenants, and lessees get to take advantage of these discounts, our hotel managers and front desk staff are educated about who our partners are to refer business.

“The reaction to this new networking within our own community has been excellent,” says Nancy Craun, Marketing Director.  “We actually have more of our tenants wanting to participate than we have room for on the card.  It is amazing how many “thank you” we have received from our commercial tenants.” 

The second big step has been to launch their first web site – www.AikensGroup.com .

Walter Aikens says “You have to stay on top of your communication goals.  It is a different world from when my father, Harry Aikens, founded the company.  The northern Shenandoah Valley is a transient community with national companies arriving in our area.  Today’s key tool to communication is the web.”   We have over 400 apartments/townhomes in Winchester and Martinsburg renting them to people from all over the world.  We own eight hotel franchises of national hotel chains including Hilton, Marriot, and Choice, and the Holiday Inn.  We offer excellent catering from the American Grill at both the Hilton Garden Winchester and the Hampton Inn and Conference Center Berryville Avenue Winchester. We rent to over 165 retail and commercial businesses from national chains like Burger King, Firestone, Protel AT& T, Dollar General, and Payless Shoes to small local business owners. “It is all about identity. The website is the best marketing tool allowing people to find us” says Walter Aikens. “We want to be found and the way to do this in today’s market is to have a strong presence on the internet.” 

In June, the Aikens Group launched their first web site – www.AikensGroup.com .  Jason Aikens, Vice President of Aikens Group says, “In this difficult economy, we have changed our direction to be more focused on the different market segments we serve and have aggressively worked to expand business relationships with new and existing partners. This economy has forced us to focus on new ways to communicate with our customers.  For my generation the web is the ‘yellow pages’ where everyone can do research, communicate/ network through social media avenues, and stay in touch with what is happening within the communities we serve. Our goal is to build strong relationships with business partners so we both can be successful in the businesses we operate.”

William Aikens, Vice President of H & W Construction and H & W Crane Service Rentals, says “the web offers our clients a way to pre-qualify our companies. The information flow is more linear, resulting in quicker interaction with our client. The web is also not as intrusive to our clients. Many of the companies coming to Winchester are from markets we normally could not reach. With the growth of the Winchester/Frederick County area, our future client may not live here. The scopes of the work we specialize in at H & W Construction are outlined on the web. The client quickly knows if we are the right fit.  The web also offers us the opportunity to be more efficient in bidding the job and, interacting with sub-contractors. In today’s economy, it is all about speed in the construction world. Get the job, provide the means to communicate quickly, and complete the job, and move on to the next job.”

The Aikens Group is a team of professionals looking to grow their company for another 79 years.  Go to www.AikensGroup.com is learn more.

The Winchester Hilton Garden Inn is awarded top honors for first quarter performance.

The Hilton Garden Inn Winchester was ranked #3 in Overall Brand Loyalty out of 500 Hilton Garden Inn hotels in the United States for outstanding performance in the first quarter.

Sherri Cooper, General Manager, credits the hotel staff. “I am very proud of every team member. They are committed to giving our guests excellent service. This is a team that goes above and beyond. They make the success of the hotel.”

Guest Services Agent, Lauren Parrish added, “We are a Hilton Garden Family. We work as a team to go above and beyond. It’s important to us to make our guests happy.” Courtney Butler, the Front Office Manager attributes their success to the staff’s motto of ‘creating magic for the guest’. “We look for opportunities to enhance our guests’ experience while they are in Winchester. Seeing that we’ve made them smile is a big part of what makes our jobs so rewarding.”

A frequent guest of the hotel, Adam Brodie, commented, “Courtney and the entire hotel staff make my travels fun and relaxing. This is my favorite Hilton property. I will continue to stay because of the interaction I have with the staff.”

The Hilton Garden Inn Winchester opened in October of 2008. It has a full-service restaurant and bar onsite, The Great American Grill, which provides catering for corporate and social events under the leadership of its Executive Chef, Marco Pantano. The hotel is also the flagship hotel property for the Aikens Group, a hospitality management company and commercial development group in the Shenandoah Valley.

For more information about the Winchester Hilton Garden Inn, visit: www.winchester.hgi.com

About Aikens Group
Aikens Group owns and manages hotel and commercial properties throughout the Shenandoah Valley region including corporate and residential apartments, store fronts and office space. They are also the owners and operators of the award winning H&W Construction Company, which has been in business in Winchester, VA since 1931.