ExecuStay Midwest recognized at 2018 CHPA Annual Conference

ExecuStay and Oakwood Midwest received two Tower of Excellence Awards during the 2018 Corporate Housing Provider Association (CHPA) Annual Conference.

The annual conference was held February 20-22 in Las Vegas, Nevada. The CHPA Tower of Excellence awards recognize merit and success in the corporate housing industry, including Company of the Year, Individual of the Year, Volunteer of the Year, Best Green Progress and Lifetime Achievement.

The Marketing and Communications Department of ExecuStay and Oakwood Midwest received Most Creative Marketing Award (More than 300 units) for their multifaceted fall 2017 referral campaign. This is the third Creative Marketing Tower of Excellence Award for ExecuStay Midwest, having won the award in 2008 and 2014. 

The campaign was designed to advance bookings by increasing leads and referrals, drive referral agents to the website and boost mailing lists.  Fun, interactive marketing materials promoted personal engagement between the sales team and referral agents. Each referral generated an entry to win two round trip airline tickets, creating friendly competition among the locations. 

In attendance during the conference, Piper Ayala, Vice President, stated, “Our marketing team does a great job developing promotional campaigns for our sales team. The airplane-themed referral campaign not only increased referrals through our website, it also encouraged food donations to the Move for Hunger campaign.”

Move for Hunger is a nonprofit organization working with relocation companies to collect non-perishable food items and deliver to food banks throughout North America. For the first time, the organization received the Move for Hunger Corporate Housing Provider of the Year award. ExecuStay and Oakwood Midwest teamed with their apartment community partners to collect 761 pounds of food that provided 635 meals to families in need.  

"Our team members truly enjoy volunteering and helping the community, so the marketing campaign and our partnership with Move For Hunger was a great way to combine these efforts," said Ayala. 

Lou Calkins, account manager for Wichita, KS, led the organization with 451 pounds of food donations for 375 meals in the Wichita area. “As a company, our involvement with Move for Hunger is an important aspect of our ‘Spirit to Serve,’” said Lou Calkins, Account Manager, Wichita, KS. “Supporting our community is just one piece of our Midwest mentality for giving back.” 

In 2010, ExecuStay Midwest received the Volunteer of the Year Tower of Excellence Award.