White Oaks Awarded Four GREEN Leaf
Ranking Niagara-on-the-Lake
Hotel is the First in the Niagara Region to
Receive the Esteemed Environmental Award
One of only twelve properties in Canada to receive the designation,
the White Oaks Conference Resort & Spa has received the prestigious Four
Leaf rating from the Audubon Green LeafT Program.
The Niagara-on-the-Lake hotelsubmitted a
comprehensive, 52-page survey addressing various areas of environmental
awareness and practices throughout the property, followed by an on-site audit
by the Greenleaf team.
The Niagara resort is the first property to receive the Four
Leaf ranking on their first attempt. According to Kathleen Robbins, Accounts
Receivable Supervisor and Chair of the Environmental Team, "White Oaks
Conference Resort & Spa is dedicated to preserving the environment and
reducing our impact in any way we can. This is what our guests want and need,
and we are proud to be at the forefront of this vitally important initiative."
White Oaks Conference Resort & Spa specializes in Niagara
meetingsat their renowned conference centre, as
well as providing a luxury vacation destination for those exploring the Niagara wine region or seeking spa getaways. In addition
to White Oaks's Four Leaf environmental rating, the Niagara resort is also Ontario's first
five-star / four-diamond resort.
The comprehensive Audubon Green
LeafT Program survey included extensive information about the
Niagara-on-the-Lake hotel-from structural information to service-related
principles. White Oaks was evaluated on purchasing, employee training, buy-in
from senior management, maintenance, menus, grounds keeping, health &
safety, guestrooms, energy/heating & cooling systems/hydro, conservation
practices, laundry, recycling, guest awareness and involvement, and much more.Vittoria Wikston, Vice President Sales &
Marketing claims, "you can be assured that White Oaks will do what White Oaks
does - continue to improve on their efforts and strive with all their might for
that fifth green leaf.We're all in this
together; and there's still so much that can be done."
Name:Vittoria Wikston, CMP, Vice President Sales & Marketing
Phone:905.704.5676
E-Mail: vwikston@whiteoaksresort.com
ZipCode:Niagara on the Lake, ON, L0S 1J0
White Oaks named
Official Training Facility of the Niagara IceDogs.
The Human Performance
Centre, the exciting and brand new sports conditioning centre located within The Club at White Oaks,
has been officially named the home training facility of the Niagara Ice Dogs.
"The marriage of our two organizations will be fantastic and a truly exciting
partnership. We are anxious to get started with the team in our centre and
confident the players and coaches will find our facility exactly what they need
for their off-ice training requirements," states Chris Jackson, Athletic
Director, Human Performance Centre.
The Human Performance
Centre recently opened its doors within the all new Club at White Oaks and
already have training underway with several athletic groups.
The Human Performance Centreallows the athletic trainers to maximize movement skill training to make an
athlete faster, quicker, more agile, powerful, and more coordinated and
ultimately improves their performance in their sport of choice. The facility
is a 3,000 square cutting edge training center designed for improving athletic
performance and trains athletes 7 years of old and up.
Rich
Merlino, Club Manager at White Oaks adds, "You don't have to be a professional
OHL player to benefit from the training program at White Oaks but, it's great
that there is an amazing facility right here in Niagara that allows you to train
like a professional, even if your 10 years old! The Niagara Falls Minor PeeWee
boys and Niagara on the Lake Atom team certainly felt like professionals over
the past few weeks during their training session. It was great to watch too!
We are eagerly anticipating the IceDogs training sessions in our centre."
Dave Brown, General
Manager of the team states, "The Niagara IceDogs are elated to work with The
Club at White Oaks. The resources in their Human Performance Centre that are
available to our players through our partnership are amazing and will be
instrumental in their professional development. As an Organization we try to
provide the best possible environment for our players in order to ensure their
success. The staff and facilities at White Oaks are excellent and as an
organization we are thrilled to have an opportunity to have our players receive
elite-level attention."
The Niagara
IceDogs are gearing up for training camp at the end of the summer and their
first season in their new St. Catharines home. The OHL is the premier
junior hockey league in Ontario, and develops players for the NHL. Some of the
OHL's recent grads include star players such as Jason Spezza, Joe Thornton, Rick
Nash, Eric Stall, Jordan Stall, Marc Savard, Wojtek Wolski and Kyle Wellwood.
The arrival of the IceDogs
marks the return of Major Junior hockey to the region for the first time in 11
years. And with the IceDogs making their home at the Jack Gatecliff Arena in St.
Catharines, the 2007-08 season will give fans in the Garden City their first
glimpse of Junior A hockey in more than 30 years.
The team at White Oaks and
specifically the Human Performance Centre are eagerly anticipating the players'
arrival and invite club members to tour our amazing sports conditioning centre.
For more information on the
Human Performance
Centre at White Oaks and how your sports team can become involved -
please contact: Chris Jackson Athletic Director
[P] 905-688-6800, ext. 528
cjackson@whiteoaksresort.com
M&IT Reader's Choice Awards place White Oaks Conference Resort
& Spa on top for the 5th Consecutive Year
For the fifth consecutive year, Niagara's White Oaks Conference
Resort and Spa has been recognized with Canada's Meetings & Incentive
Travel (M&IT) Magazine's Readers' Choice award for Canadian meeting
facility excellence
Niagara-on-the-Lake, ON (February 10, 2006) - The professional
conference planners participating in M&IT's annual Readers' Choice Awards
have honoured White Oaks
Conference Resort again in 2005 for its service excellence and meeting
facilities, which they considered to be among the top five in Canada.
M&IT Magazine is a leading
national meeting professional industry publication, with a readership of more
than 10,500 subscribers. The publication is targeted to professionals who plan
meetings and/or incentive travel by providing them with resources and a forum
for discussion about the latest trends in the business. As part of its annual
Market Report special issue, the magazine polled Canadian meeting planners to
get their views and assessments on the country's meeting spots and how they
compare.
"To be recognized by this level of professionals in the planning field for five
years in a row for all of Canada is truly amazing," said Vittoria Wikston,
White Oaks VP of Sales and Marketing. "Our 60,000 square foot, dedicated
conference centre, and full service Resort have been carefully crafted to be
the ultimate in its category, and we will continue to work to exceed client
expectations. Creating the perfect learning environment is our optimum goal."
Each year, M&IT's readership survey reveals which meeting venues, hotels,
resorts and conference facilities have exceeded readers' service
expectations.
"The Readers Choice Awards are selected by the meeting planners that respond to
directly the M&IT survey. We ask them the question: "Which conference,
meeting facility, resort or hotel in Canada have you used in the past 12 months
that exceeded expectations and best catered to your needs?" All of the results
are tabulated and ranked accordingly. We break the list into the "Super 5" and
then select regional favourites. It's all based on planner responses. We
include all types of properties to create an even playing field."Says Matt
Nicholls - Director of Content, M&IT, meetings & incentive travel
Magazine.
January 2006
Executive Chef Michael Price has been chosen to compete in the Third Annual
Conference Centre Chef of the Year, Copper Skillet Awards!
The "Champion Chef" from each country (Chef Price for Canada!) will travel to
the IACC Annual Conference in Colorado Springs March 23-26, 2006. A timed
cooking competition lasting 30 minutes will be held with chefs from the United
States, Canada, Australia, Sweden, Denmark, the UK and an unaffiliated member
chef. The menu theme -- Provençale de Cuisine -- must be followed and
each chef will have a pantry of 43 ingredients. Just prior to the beginning of
the competition, five (5) secret ingredients will be unveiled. Each chef must
choose two of the five for his/her creation.
The judging criteria for the cooking competition will include originality of
the creation, presentation, texture, flavor combinations and hygiene standard
of work area.
It is a very exciting final competition taking place in front of a live
audience. We wish Chef Price luck and regardless of the outcome, are very proud
to have White Oaks recognized on this international level. Well done Mike!
February 11, 2005
[Internal Press Release]
White Oaks Awarded Training Excellence Recognition
It is with great pride that we announce White Oaks Resort & Spa are the
recipients of the 2005 Training Excellence Recognition Award presented by the
Niagara Training & Adjustment Board (NTAB) in partnership with Work in
Niagara (WIN).
This award recognizes employers that support employee training and skill
development in the workplace. The judging process includes evaluation of the
information provided on a nomination application with a point system being used
to rate all applicants. After a review of all nominations, a total of nine
winners were confirmed and White Oaks is one of them!
This award was presented to White Oaks at the Business Education Council of
Niagara Annual Partners Breakfast this morning, February 11, 2005 in Niagara
Falls. This recognition in conjunction with our recent 50 Best Employers Award
solidifies White Oaks as the top employer in the region.
January 20, 2005
It just keeps getting better - The community of Niagara on the
Lake names White Oaks Conference Resort & Spa Company of the Year!
At the Annual Spirit of Niagara Awards held Tuesday, January 18th by the
Niagara on the Lake Chamber of Commerce, White Oaks was named Company of the
Year.
Following on the heels of our most recent award - "50 Best Employers in Canada"
by Report on Business Magazine - this respected award recognized by our
community is truly an honour and rewarding news for our entire team!
A joyous thank you to everyone.
White Oaks Conference Resort & Spa is privately owned and operated and has
been in business for over twenty-five years. White Oaks has been the leader in
the Niagara Region at providing a first class resort hotel with a IACC
approved, state-of-the-art conference facility, award winning LIV Restaurant,
nationally acclaimed spa, a 5000 member fitness and racquet club.
For further information:
Vittoria Wikston, CMP
White Oaks Conference Resort & Spa
(905) 704-5676 vwikston@whiteoaksresort.com
White Oaks Conference Resort & Spa Honoured To Be Named One Of Canada's
Best Employers
WHITE OAKS' HIGH RANKING IN REPORT ON BUSINESS MAGAZINE ANNUAL
SURVEY ATTRIBUTED TO EFFECTIVE EMPLOYEE RECOGNITION AND REWARD PROGRAMS
Niagara-on-the-Lake, ON (January 3, 2005) - White Oaks
Conference Resort & Spa has been ranked No. 2 on the list of the "50 Best
Employers in Canada" by Report on Business Magazine.
"We are absolutely thrilled to be recognized by our team members as one of
Canada's 50 best employers," said Julia Sebastian, Human Resources Manager.
"They're our greatest resource and we are so proud and honoured that they feel
as strongly as they do."
"This recognition reinforces the fact that the hospitality/tourism industry is
a bona fide employment sector, wherein employees can achieve a sustainable
career path. White Oaks has set the standard for customer service in the
Niagara Region for over twenty-five years and has now set the standard as an
employer as well," added Sebastian.
The annual "50 Best Employers in Canada" study, compiled by Report on Business
Magazine and the global human resources and outsourcing firm Hewitt Associates,
is really all about employees. An organization only makes it onto the Best
Employers list if its employees think it's a great place to work. Employee
opinion is the predominant factor in determining an organization's overall
score, so the study includes a detailed questionnaire distributed to employees.
As well, there's a comprehensive human resources practices survey and a
leadership team survey for top executives. Hewitt also examined how closely
employee and leader's goals are aligned and whether practices and programs
reinforce that vision. The study identified four key factors that set those
that appear on the list apart from the rest including, communicating a vision,
business growth and transformation, attracting and developing talent, and
people programs and practices.
White Oaks Conference Resort & Spa is privately owned and operated and has
been in business for over twenty-five years. White Oaks has been the leader in
the Niagara Region at providing a first class resort hotel with a
state-of-the-art conference facility, award winning LIV Restaurant, nationally
acclaimed spa, a 5000 member fitness and racquet club, and now the first
hotel/recreational facility in the Niagara Region to be recognized on this
prestigious list.
For further information:
Julia Sebastian, Human Resources Manager
White Oaks Conference Resort & Spa
(905) 704-5696 jsebastian@whiteoaksresort.com
September 13, 2004
The Wine Council of Ontario is very please to inform you that LIV Restaurant
has been selected to receive the VQA Restaurant Award of Excellence. This
inaugural award recognizes the support you display for Ontario's wine industry
and the exemplary Ontario VGA wine experience you provide for your patrons. On
behalf of Ontario's winemakers we commend and congratulate you."
Wine Council of Ontario
May 2004
Executive Chef Mike Price takes home GOLD
On May 12, 2004, on his 30th birthday no less, Executive Chef Mike Price of LIV
Restaurant of White Oaks Resort & Spa's was awarded First Place in the
Fetzer Great Beginnings Appetizer Challenge.
This event has enjoyed tremendous success in Vancouver and Calgary for the past
seven years and 2004 marks the first year this event has been held in Toronto.
Chefs from all the top restaurants and hotels in Toronto and the surrounding
areas participated in the competition with initial submissions judged earlier
to select the Top 10 Finalists. Chefs then competed head to head at The Carlu
in Toronto on May 12th, 2004 to showcase their original appetizer creations
paired with Fetzer Five Rives Ranch Chardonnay. As a recipient of this award
Chef Price is heading off to California to The Fetzer Vineyards to attend the
Emeril in the Harvest Sun event in September!
LIV Restaurant is located at White Oaks Resort & Spa in Niagara-on-the-Lake
and has been recognized as a Four Diamond Restaurant since its conception in
2001. Chef Prices' menus are globally inspired and presented in a truly unique
and chic environment.
We are thrilled to have Chef Mike Price recognized by this prestigious award
and extremely proud to have him head up our culinary team.
For further information on Chef Mike Price please contact our Public Relations
office at 905-704-5638 or jlepp@whiteoaksresort.com
