MARSHFIELD, WI (OnFocus) – Hotel Marshfield will need to add to their trophy case as General Manager Cory Latourell has been awarded the 2021 InnKeeper of the Year by the Wisconsin Hotel and Lodging Association.
Latourell has been in the hospitality industry for 42 years and has been with Hotel Marshfield since it was first opened in 2013. Her background in hospitality started from an early age as she grew up in Wisconsin and her parents owned bars, bowling alleys, restaurants and hotels her whole life growing up.
This meant Latourell was never without work. She used to tend bar, clean hotel rooms, do laundry, wait on tables and basically anything else you could think of to help her parents with their businesses.
After graduating high school, Latourell earned a degree in Hotel Management. Her family had bought a Mexican restaurant in Phoenix, AZ. She spent 18 years down there working for Wyndham Hotel Corporate, traveling the U.S. and Canada opening hotels and training and installing property management systems and conducting workshops for 5-500 people.
Her family moved back to Wisconsin in 2007 and her opportunity to quit working on the road and settle down came with Hotel Marshfield in 2013. Latourell was the first person hired as Hotel Marshfield was going through rebranding and renovations. She was essential in building the business into what it is today.
Latourell said winning the award was an honor and will be a highlight of her career.
“It has been an absolute honor and quite a bit humbling,” Latourell said. “WH&LA is an organization I have great respect for and have been involved with for a majority of my career. To be nominated and selected for this award from the pool of candidates statewide is certainly the highlight of my career. I’m threatening my staff that I can now retire!”
She said the most rewarding part of working at Hotel Marshfield is the smiles and happiness the crew can bring to their guests.
“Definitely creating memories for our guests,” Latourell said. “We don’t sell rooms, we sell memories. How a guest feels when they leave is important – do they want to come back? A raving review online about how clean their room was, a call from a daughter who was here for her father’s funeral thanking us for the care we showed her, or the bride’s email telling us how wonderful her special day was – these are the best rewards for what we do.”
Latourell said the honor wouldn’t have been possible without the help from the whole crew at Hotel Marshfield.
“My team that works hard every day to provide a welcoming place for our traveling guests, events, and dining patrons,” Latourell said. “Our support team at IDM Hospitality, always there to provide backup, guidance and tools to help keep us stay on our game. Our ownership, they’ve placed a lot of confidence in our ability to be the best that we can. They’ve been nothing but supportive and kind to work with. And lastly, the community. They’ve welcomed us with open arms from the day we started renovations and it hasn’t let up in our whole eight years.”
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