Downtown Rochester hotel pulls off 'three-peat' to win top Hilton award for third year

Jeff Kiger, Post-Bulletin, Rochester, Minn.
·2 min read

Apr. 4—ROCHESTER — Winning an award once could be beginner's luck. Winning it twice looks like something more than luck. Taking home an award three times in a row is an impressive trend.

The Hilton Rochester Mayo Clinic Area hotel

recently won

Hilton's prestigious Connie Award

, named after the hotel chain's founder Conrad Hilton, for

the third year in a row

.

The 264-room luxury hotel was built by the Chafoulias family's Titan Development & Investments firm and

Harbor Bay Real Estate Advisors

, of Chicago. It opened in 2019. It is considered to be the legacy project of

the late Rochester developer Gus Chafoulias.

Croft Hospitality, Titan's hotel management company, handles the day-to-day operation of the Hilton Rochester and the Hilton Garden Inn in downtown Rochester. Croft is led by

Titan CEO Andy Chafoulias

and Croft Chief Operating Officer Miki Radovanovic.

Winning the Connie means Hilton Worldwide chose the Rochester hotel at 10 E. Center St. as the brand's top hotel in North America with 500 rooms or less.

That means the Hilton Rochester topped almost 300 other hotels to pull off a "three-peat" and win the Connie award. It has now won the top award every year that it has been in the competition.

The Rochester hotel was not eligible for the Connie Award in 2019 and Hilton did not present the Connie award in 2020 due to the pandemic.

The Connie Award is selected based on a combined ranking of overall experience and overall service. Other factors considered include quality assurance audits, measuring cleanliness, hotel condition, compliance with brand standards and property accommodations.

"For us, the most significant component of all of this is the high scores that we're receiving as feedback from our guests," said Croft Corporate Director of PR and Marketing Michelle Milde.

While many factors contribute to the hotel earning this award again, the Croft leadership team believes there are 109 reasons — the hotel's 109 staff members — that Hilton Rochester is consistently successful.

"I would say it is completely attributed to the dedication of our team members and our staff. Not only do we have a hard working and dedicated staff, but there is a level of hospitality and compassion that our team members feel personally that they should deliver due to the medical community that we're in," said Milde. "I really think that for the third consecutive year, that's the differentiating component from Hilton Rochester versus other Hiltons across the nation."