Hotel Providence team works, laughs together

Hotel Providence was rated the Best Place To Work in the small /medium-size business category in 2006, and it has made the list again this year.
Owned by Hotel Asset Value Enhancement LLC of Tiverton and Acorn Asset Management Inc. of Providence, which acquired the property in April from developer Stanley Weiss, Hotel Providence has 80 guest rooms, including 16 suites; a 150-seat restaurant, L’Epicureo; and 4,250 square feet of flexible event space.
The European-style boutique hotel, located at 311 Westminster St. in Providence, has 40 employees ranging from room attendants, housemen, front-desk associates, sales managers and supervisors. Because of its small size, working at Hotel Providence is very much a family atmosphere. Employees share the common goal of personalizing guest experiences to stand out from the competition in the city, said General Manager Christine Nevers.
“I think there is the sense of community here – a sense of belonging and the feeling that every person who works here is needed. All of their jobs are important to this hotel,” Never said.
Brianna Valenti saw an ad for a front-desk manager at Hotel Providence and jumped at the opportunity when she heard about its ranking as one of the best places to work in Rhode Island. Now she runs the front desk of the hotel as office manager and says the ranking is well deserved.
“There is a lot of laughter here among employees and everyone enjoys working here,” Valenti said.
A good portion of the management at Hotel Providence has worked together at other hotel properties in Rhode Island over the years, said Nevers. As a result, “we know we can rely on each other.”
Nevers is a Rhode Islander, as is much of the staff. She graduated from the University of Rhode Island with a degree in English; in the summers, she worked at a hotel on Block Island. In 1994 she went to work at The Westin Providence before moving to the Hotel Viking in Newport. She has worked her way up doing everything from checking in guests and cleaning rooms to making reservations and sales, she said.
That, she said, is probably why employees feel at ease around her.
Plus, “anyone can come into my office at any time. The door is never closed,” Nevers said.
Though the staff maintains professionalism, there is a relaxed culture. Every Thursday, year round, there is an ice cream social; quarterly lunches celebrate good news, according to Nevers; and of course, there is an annual holiday party.
Besides the familiarity employees have with each other, they also make an effort to make guests feel at home. Nevers said employees figure out what the hotel regulars enjoy – be it foods or wine or music – and put those items in their rooms before each stay.
“We all focus on providing personalized service. … You can’t walk into our hotel without being recognized,” Nevers said.
The contribution of employees doesn’t go unnoticed either. Case in point, Nevers wrote letters to all employees, and sent them to their homes, to thank them for their work and for helping the hotel achieve the Best Place to Work ranking again this year.