Christina Falagian
April – June 2022 Winner
Director of Housekeeping, Christina Falagian, at Tamarack Resort in Wisconsin Dells, Wisconsin has been recognized for the consistent success of the housekeeping department.
We are beyond proud of Christina’s leadership excellence and continue to be inspired by her dedication to SUN’s core values of service, integrity, professionalism, and accountability. She is a true asset to the SUN family!
Angela Turpin
January – March 1, 2022 Winner
Director of Housekeeping, Angela Turpin, manages two properties, Gatlinburg Town Square in Gatlinburg, Tennessee, and The Lodges at The Great Smoky Mountains in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee. She is being recognized for maintaining high performance levels while assuming additional responsibilities.
Gabriella Falagian
October – December 2021 Winner
Gabriella Falagian is a Laundry Attendant at Tamarack Resort in Wisconsin Dells, Wisconsin, and is being recognized for being a great utility player who is willing to pitch in wherever needed.
Gabriella goes above and beyond her job title to achieve success for her team. She does not hesitate to jump into another role to get the job done. When the Director was dealing with a knee injury, Gabriella threw on her Houseman hat, took the initiative to deliver baskets in the morning, and was back in Laundry by noon.
During the height of the holiday season in December, Gabriella added Deep Cleaning to her skills. With care and meticulous attention to detail, she assisted her team in accomplishing more deep cleans. On the busiest holidays, Christmas and New Year, she volunteered her time to help teammates complete assignments, lighten their workload and achieve daily goals.
The helpfulness of Gabriella and her willingness to step into any role makes her an outstanding team player. She is a great asset to her team and to SUN.
Tabitha Taylor
October – December 2021 Winner
Tabitha Taylor is an Inspector at Peppertree Atlantic Beach Resort in Atlantic Beach, North Carolina. She is being recognized for maintaining high levels of performance while assuming additional responsibilities.
While the position is one of great importance, its weight has increased greatly over the past quarter and her responsibilities have increased with it. She has stepped up and taken on new challenges with determination. She is an excellent people manager and has been instrumental in keeping operations running smoothly while her Director was on vacation and also out sick.
Tabitha consistently performs at high levels despite being the main caregiver to her mother, who is battling cancer. Through her positive attitude and perseverance, she has earned the trust and gratitude of management and teammates. She is a true inspiration to all and a valuable asset here at SUN.
Tracy Miles
October – December 2020 Winner
Tracy Miles is an Inspector at both Palm Beach Resort and The Shores Resort in Orange Beach, Alabama. She is being recognized for her dedication and willingness to always go above and beyond the call of duty.
Tracy joined the SUN family in 2018 as a Room Attendant and is the ultimate team player, wearing many hats supporting her team. During the busy summer months, she pitched in to make sure rooms were ready on time, took on additional units and didn’t stop until the workload for the day was complete. Most recently, both resorts have been closed due to flooding from Hurricane Sally. Tracy has been a tremendous help taking on all types of roles from laundry and cleaning to fire watch and gate security. She’s even come to work in the middle of the night when needed.
A guest favorite, Tracy has been mentioned many times in guest comments for service excellence. In one instance, she helped move an elderly couple whose air conditioning failed and were visibly distraught. She took initiative to help pack up all their belongings and food items and get them set up in another unit.
She’s always eager to work and is a great motivator on her team. She has earned the trust and respect of her team who lovingly refers to her as ‘Nana’.
Tracy’s can-do attitude and dedication make her a true asset to her team and the SUN family!
Cheryl Volkey
July – September 2020 Winner
Cheryl Volkey is an Inspector at Tamarack Resort in Wisconsin Dells, Wisconsin. She is being recognized for consistently being a dedicated team player and pulling her team through times of crisis during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Since May of 2020, Tamarack was experiencing an emergency-level staffing crisis with several employees being quarantined due to COVID-19. The situation was more challenging due to the increased volume of departure cleans and enhanced cleaning protocols during the busy summer season.
Cheryl pulled double duty shifts in Common Areas and cleaning units all while handling all her regular duties as Inspector. She would often come in early and stay late to help her fellow teammates and ensure goals were met for the day.
Cheryl has been recognized many times on the SUNShiners of the Week list throughout the year for her quality work and dedication. Her 5-star spotless cleans have been mentioned in guest comments and she passes along her technical know-how and attention to detail when training new employees.
Cheryl’s quality work and dedicated spirit is what truly makes her an asset to her team and the SUN family!
Reeseshemma Frasier
July – September 2020 Winner
Reeseshemma Frasier is an Inspector at Lodge Alley Inn in Charleston, South Carolina. She is being recognized for being a dedicated team player and readiness to go the extra mile.
Reeseshemma never flinches in stressful situations where her team is short-handed and very busy. Holidays are always high volume in departure cleans and despite the pandemic, this year was no different.
During the Fourth of July weekend, Lodge Alley’s team was overwhelmed with staffing challenges on a big turn day. Reeseshemma rose to the occasion taking on cleaning units in addition to her regular duties of Inspector. In a single day, she personally serviced 20 units while also inspecting late into the evening. Her dedication to the team and hard work pushed through a difficult day and got the job done.
Margarita De Silva
July – September 2020 Winner
Margarita De Silva is an Inspector at Blue Heron Beach Resort in Orlando, Florida and is being recognized for her contribution during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Face masks have become an essential attire for nearly every American since early April and are required by all SUN employees in the workplace. Wanting to do more in the fight against COVID-19, Margarita pulled together her materials and sewing skills and began making face masks for her personal use.
She soon saw the opportunity to be creative with her design and added a SUN logo to her own mask. Her popular design was soon noticed by her peers and she went to work making custom made SUN masks for her team. Today, Margarita has made close to 800 masks.
In addition to her valuable contribution during the pandemic, Margarita often makes the SUNShiners of the Week list for being helpful and meeting team goals. Her positive ‘can do’ attitude and focus make her an exemplary employee at SUN!
Willie Tucker
April – June 2020 Winner
Willie Tucker is the Lead Inspector at both The Shores at Orange Beach and Palm Beach Resort in Orange Beach, Alabama. Willie has been recognized for being a key contributor to his teams at both locations.
He is the ultimate dedicated employee that wears multiple hats and gets things done. A handy man of sorts, he has fixed furniture, toilet seats, delivered heavy packages, carried and put away guest groceries. You can be sure Willie will be the first to lend a helping hand to a guest in need. He has completed the Signature Customer Service training program and been mentioned numerous times in guest comments for being helpful.
In the hospitality world, weekends are the busiest. To prep for the big turn days, Willie will work late into the night on laundry, replace and refill chemicals, set up carts and change vacuum bags to ensure cleaners are well stocked and ready to go the next day.
Like an energizer bunny, he has even been known to inspect 25 rooms on a busy day, stay late completing projects and making sure guests are well taken care of. If a team member is having an off day, he will do his best to cheer them up as well as help make beds to meet the daily deadline. Adding to his busy schedule he is a trainer and mentor for new employees and still finds time to learn management paperwork and computer skills. Willie also helped to organize the teams Helping Hands month-long donation drive for the Alfred-Washburn Center, in Pensacola, Florida.
In 2019 when a major flood impacted the resort, Willie stayed until 5:30am helping to clean up water and make sure guests were safe. He then came back to work at 8:30am that morning for his scheduled shift. In the three years that he has been part of the SUN family, he has never called out.
Willie’s willingness to go above and beyond to ensure the success of his teams and guest satisfaction is truly admirable.
Emileta Melliza
April – June 2020 Winner
Emileta Melliza is the Laundry Attendant at Park Plaza Resort in Park City, Utah and has been part of the SUN family since March 2019. She has been awarded the SUN Service Excellence Award for her significant contributions to her team during the Coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic.
The impact of Covid-19 on resort operations and staffing has been tremendous. During the early days of most uncertainty and state lockdowns, Park City Plaza temporarily closed its doors from March until May 2020 with most of the staff furloughed.
Although Emileta is within the high risk category, as Park City opened its doors, she did not let fear stand in her way. With determination and a smile, Emileta returned to work eager to be as helpful as possible with a skeleton crew. She has since learned many other roles within the housekeeping department from laundry to room attendant, to common areas and deep cleans. Emileta has had a great impact on the overall hotel operations. Additionally, in an effort to reduce costs, she took it upon herself to bring in her own facemasks and clothing covers for laundry production to save on SUN provided Personal Protective Equipment (PPE).
Emileta consistently arrives early for her shifts to assist and prep with anything that might need done and always looks for additional projects to attend to. She is a huge help to the front desk staff as well as housekeeping and maintenance departments. She has even been complimented multiple times by the resort’s General Manager on her commitment to producing a quality product day after day.
They say dynamite comes in a tiny package and it surely has in Emileta!
Susan Murphy & Cathy Johnson
October – December 2018 Winners
Susan and Cathy are both Inspectors at Coconut Palms Beach Resort II (CP2) in New Smyrna Beach, Florida. This dynamic duo have been recognized for their dedication, team work and leadership.
With a positive attitude and willingness to help, Susan and Cathy have been making the 65 mile trek each Friday and Saturday for over a year to help out at CP2’s sister property, Ocean Gates Resort (OGR), in St. Augustine, Florida. Clocking in 10-12 hour days to ensure rooms were turned on time with the highest quality, resulting in higher Customer Count scores and a very happy General Manager.
Of the 78 deep cleans that CP2 completed in 2018, this Rockstar team did 52 of them. Each unit is personally inspected by the resorts General Manager/Assistant General Manager who are very hands on and do not miss a thing – all passed with flying colors!
Susan and Cathy have established themselves as leaders and role models. They train all new employees and have recently been designated as Sun Certified Trainers. They take the time to introduce new hires to their team members, resort staff and property management; making them feel welcomed and part of the team right from the beginning. This team spends a lot of time with initial training, providing the necessary tools to do a good job, as well as follow-up coaching and encouragement. Since they have been training, staff retention has improved.
In addition, they have been instrumental in implementing procedures to reduce and eliminate guest leave behinds. Previously, regional inspections failed 5 out of 6 times with leave behinds. By pre-inspecting rooms, including opening all cabinets, drawers, couches, removing all cushions and making sure the Room Attendants leave everything open until final inspection, they have found a proven and effective method. Not only do current inspections pass with no leave behinds but through their positive attitude and passion for excellence, they have encouraged other Inspectors to follow suit.
Always reliable, Susan and Cathy are strong leaders who lead by example. We are very proud to have them as part of the SUN family!
Mychal Renty
June – September 2018 Winner
An Inspector at Bluewater Resort in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, Mychal has been recognized for being a dedicated team player who takes initiative to get the job done.
Always with a pleasant ‘can do’ attitude, Mychal goes above and beyond to ensure the success of his team. On several occasions he has traveled to our commercial laundry facility, Sun Linen Services, to assist making bins of linen and terry while drivers were out on deliveries. Being proactive, he’s made several trips to Sun Linen to pick up items needed for Bluewater, making sure the site is covered and runs smoothly. Additionally, when a battery needed replaced on the company’s GMC vehicle, Mychal didn’t hesitate to get his hands dirty and got the job done.
Mychal really shines as he makes himself visible and available to help guests with their luggage and address any questions they have.
Mychal’s willingness to go the extra mile to help with whatever needs to be done makes him a true asset to SUN.
Elizabeth Sheppard
June – September 2018 Winner
Elizabeth is a Room Attendant at Highlands at Sugar Mountain in Sugar Mountain, North Carolina. She has been recognized for consistently being a dedicated top performer and reliable team player.
Elizabeth is exceptional at delivering a quality product on time. Always double checking her own work, she ensures the unit is stocked and the guest has everything they need. Taking great pride in her work, she always asks guests if they’re satisfied with their unit and offers her assistance for anything they need. Once her units are complete, she can be found taking on more units, helping her fellow teammates, or even assisting in the laundry.
Having established trust among her colleagues, Elizabeth is often seen as a mentor for those in need of advice and assistance. She has a wonderful attitude that shines brightly, whether she’s helping her team or making a guest feel special.
Elizabeth brings quality and a collaborative spirit; this is what truly makes her an asset to her team and the SUN family!
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Mary Holland
October – December 2017 Winner
Mary is a Laundry Supervisor at Coconut Palms Beach Resort II in New Smyrna Beach, Florida. She has been recognized for her continuous dedication to improving process efficiency and productivity in the laundry department. Her efforts have resulted in decreased costs and increased savings in areas such as payroll and waste.
In 2012, Mary assumed the struggling laundry facility and turned it into the well oiled machine that it is today. One spotlight moment for Mary was working countless hours to tackle a floor-to-ceiling pile of reworked linen. Her strong work ethic and dedication go above and beyond the call of duty. The now organized space has helped to improve productivity dramatically and room attendants can count on a quality finished product. Under Mary’s management, the laundry operation consistently passes all inspections.
With only a few opportunities to interact with guests, she certainly makes an impression when she does. Mary has been recognized in guest comments for her excellent customer service.
Mary has accomplished a lot in five years at SUN. Her boundless energy and positive attitude are truly inspiring.
Mary is a true asset to her team and to the SUN family!
Tiana Young
April – June 2017 Winner
Tiana is an Inspector at Coconut Palms Beach Resort II in New Smyrna, Florida where she demonstrates outstanding customer service and quality work.
Tiana continuously goes above and beyond the call of duty to make the guest experience more enjoyable. She has been recognized in guest comments as being “wonderful, friendly, and helpful.” Tiana also left quite an impression on the President of the Board of Directors at Coconut Palms II, Mr. Lawrenson, who commended her on a job well done, adding that it was ‘refreshing to see someone who obviously takes pride in her work.’
As a supervisor and trainer, Tiana’s commitment to quality and professionalism is reflected in the high Unifocus scores she receives and the example she sets for her team members. Understanding the importance of delivering a superior product in a timely manner, she leads her team successfully in supporting Sun’s mission.