WOLCOTT, Iowa -- Delia Meier of the Iowa 80 truckstop chain doesn't know who nominated the company's largest store for inclusion in the seventh-annual America's Best Restroom contest. And after being named one of the 10 finalists in the competition, she isn't too upset about not winning, either.
"It's almost just as good to know we were in the running," Meier, the senior vice president of Iowa 80, told CSP Daily News.
Instead, the honor of the finest restroom in America for 2008 was handed to the five-star Hermitage Hotel in Nashville, Tenn., based on the results of the Internet [image-nocss] public, who cast online ballots in the contest presented by Cintas Corp., a provider of restroom hygiene products and services.
Pretty heady competition for a truckstop. So why would a truckstop chain go out of its way to provide restroom facilities that rival a five-star hotel?
"I think this leads to people saying, 'They have clean restrooms; let's go there'," Meier said. “And they're definitely more enjoyable to clean when people are giving our custodians compliments.… It's not rewarding to clean things that don't look great even when you 're done cleaning them."
[To read more about Iowa 80's restrooms, see page 42 of the October issue of CSP magazine. Andclick here to vote in CSP's second annual Rate My Restroom competition.]That intangible return on investment is certainly the message Cintas is trying to get across with the America 's Best Restroom contest.
"The important message here is restroom hygiene matters—for good health and good business," said Cintas senior marketing manager Keith Hartman. "Cintas is proud to honor The Hermitage Hotel, and we congratulate all of our participants this year."
The 2008 contest attracted nominations from a wide cross-section of businesses, including restaurants, hotels and casinos.The finalists were selected based on exceptional hygiene, style and open access to the public. Tens of thousands of votes were cast at the program 's website, which produced the following top five results:
The Hermitage Hotel, Nashville, Tenn. 21C Museum, Louisville, Ky. Brio, Rockford, Ill. The Signature Room at the 95th, Chicago Smith College Museum of Art, Northampton, Mass.Among the remaining finalists, those placing in sixth through tenth place are as follows: El Monte Sagrado Living Resort & Spa in Taos, N.M.; Grand Central Terminal in New York; Jerome Bettis ' grille 36 in Pittsburgh; The Montville Inn in Montville, N.J.; and Iowa 80 Truck Stop in Walcott, Iowa.
To read more about the winning restroom, visit www.bestrestroom.com.
Meanwhile, Meier said she believes customers take better care of facilities that appear to be cared for in-house. "That has always been our belief and that 's always been what we see," she said. "When things get crummy, people start dragging you down further. But when things look nice and they see custodians [cleaning up], you would never throw a towel on the floor in front of a custodian. But you might if you think nobody is there."
Iowa 80, based in Wolcott, Iowa, is now making similar changes to the restrooms in its three other truckstops. It also will update the facilities in its nine truck-wash sites in the near future.
Based in Cincinnati, Cintas Corp. provides specialized services to businesses of all types. Cintas designs, manufactures and implements corporate identity uniform programs, and provides entrance mats, restroom supplies, promotional products, first aid and safety products, fire protection services and document management services to approximately 800,000 businesses.
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