Choice Hotels is First Major U.S. Hotel Chain to Offer HospitalityCareAffordable Health Benefit Plan Designed for Employees of Choice Hotels Franchised Properties
SILVER SPRING, Md., Choice Hotels International (NYSE:CHH) announces that it has selected Planned Administrators, Inc. (PAI) to offer and administer HospitalityCare to its franchisee base. HospitalityCare is a limited benefit health insurance plan designed to meet basic health coverage needs of Choice Hotels franchisees and their employees.
Because Choice Hotels has over 4,400 domestic franchised hotel properties, the HospitalityCare plan will be available to an estimated 40,000 employees. Choice Hotels is the first major U.S. hotel chain to offer HospitalityCare, a limited benefit health insurance plan, available to its franchise owners and their employees. Over 260 hotels have already signed up to make coverage available to their employees.
"This totally new and unique plan has not before been made available on this scale in the hospitality industry," said Paul Payette, senior director franchisee solutions, brand solutions for Choice Hotels. "It's a way of doing our part to make health care more readily available to the hard-working hotel employees and continues our commitment to help franchisees find innovative solutions to better their business."
The plan starts at under $20 per week for the employee only and is available in three rate tiers allowing the employee to opt for coverage for themselves, their spouse and their children. Employees can also choose to add dental, vision, short-term disability or life insurance options to their plan.
Offering a limited benefit health plan to their hourly wage and temporary employees could give franchisees a competitive edge in recruiting and retaining the best employees. A study done by Society for Human Resource Management rated health insurance the #1 most effective employee retention tool, even higher than salary.
Although, not technology related,I chose this article because during a time where Health care is on everyones mind and during an election year I thought it would be a very important topic for others to read. This is very important to graduating Seniors because most of us at this time will be let go off of our parents insurance with in the year or so, and we will be taking new job positions that you have to be a full time employee or have been with the company for at least 6 months, so there would be a time that you have no insurance that could be very dangerous. With this porgram I would feel comfortable taking an externship and knowing i will be ok even though I am not a full time employee.
5 comments:
This article was interesting and the Hospitality Care plan is a very intelligent thing for a company to do. Health insurance is extremely important as noted and it is a luxury that should not be taken fore granted. I found it particularly interesting that the health care plan is available to a broad range of employees. This seems like a great idea and will definitely help boost employee morale. This unique plan will most likely spread to other companies that can afford to implement it. Overall, Choice Hotels International definitely made a good decision in deciding to cover such a broad of its employees.
I was very surprised to find that this hotel is the first chain that offers a unified health insurance plan to all it's franchises and employees. I would think that something as important as health care would be a necessity to all hotel chains. Choice Hotels definately made a good choice and probably have retained many employees by offering this, especially because it is so cheap and you can add other benefits such as dental and life insurance. I know that this is not a technology related article but it is still very important that this hotel chain did this, especially because health insurance has never been offered on this large of a scale in the hospitality industry before.
It is nice to hear that the health care coverage issue is being addressed in the hospitality industry. Even after taking several HRIM courses, health care coverage for hospitality employees is something that I never had to think about. Employees will feel more secure about their jobs without having to worry about insurance, and will therefore be able to better serve guests. Hopefully HospitalityCare will continue to grow among popular hotel chains. Choice Hotels has set a great example in the hospitality industry by providing health care coverage.
I believe that Choice Hotels International made a great decision in providing Hospitality Care to its employees. Health insurance is a major concern when it comes to employment. Generally, entry level positions within the hospitality industry do not provide benefits to their employees because they are paid on an hourly basis as opposed to a salary. I would not be surprised if there is a significant increase in interest for employment with Choice Hotels International now that they will providing basic health care coverage to their employees.
I found this article very interesting. I agree with Lacey and think that healthcare is increasingly more important to people when they are looking for jobs. I do not really know what constitutes a healthcare plan as good, but this one sounds really fair. I know it is really important for families to have the option of adding coverage for the rest of their family and this plan allows them to do that. I also agree with the article when it says it will help increase employee retention. Healthcare is such a big issue in today’s society that any hotel chain that offers a better health plan then competitors, are bound to increase interest in getting hired with that specific franchise.
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