ORANGE PARK \u2014 As an award-winning family company, Murphco, continues to excel in the hospitality world.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Recently, two of the franchise’s properties, including one in Orange Park, garnered the Intercontinental Hotels Group’s (IHG) Torchbearer Award for their exceptional services, cleanliness and outstanding guest satisfaction. The honor is one of the highest within the IHG brand.\u00a0<\/p>\n
“Receiving the 2025 Torchbearer Award is a significant honor that validates our team’s year-long dedication and hard work. We focus daily on meeting every guest’s needs by maintaining a culture of positivity and always striving to do the right thing,” said Matt Flaven, General Manager of the Holiday Inn and Suites Orange Park.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Murphco Marketing Manager Lindsay Thomas said it’s a testament to just how hard the company has strived to provide a place that’s welcoming and comfortable for guests from near and far.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Both the Holiday Inn and Suites off Wells Road and the Holiday Inn Express and Suites 1-295 and 1-10 of Commonwealth Avenue were awarded the honors earlier this year. The prestigious acknowledgement recognizes select hotels for outstanding service and exceptional guests scores. After each stay, Thomas said, guests are asked to fill out an online survey, which is taken into account when choosing a winner.\u00a0<\/p>\n
“We get scored on all kinds of things, from guest love, which is basically overall how awesome the experience was to things like how clean the room was, how the service was across the hotel, from the front desk with check in all the way to check out.”<\/p>\n
The properties have won in previous years, however Thomas said each year gets more competitive.\u00a0<\/p>\n
“There’s a lot of hotels in the market.\u00a0 And they’re building new ones all the time. It’s kind of a race.”<\/p>\n
The Holiday Inn and Suites in Orange Park opened back in 2009. Most known for its previous Thanksgiving and Easter holiday buffets, the location is still a top favorite amongst locals and families. Especially those that look forward to its daily $5 breakfast spread.\u00a0<\/p>\n
“It’s a huge thing, people love it,” Thomas said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
With not many hotels in the area, regular travelers, government families and membership guests chose to return time and time again as a result of high ratings. At the Commonwealth location, it’s the same case, flocked with occasional\u00a0families, sports-goers and truck drivers.<\/p>\n
Check in at each is marked by kindness, bright smiles and friendly hellos, as well as a free water or a cold one after a long drive. Birthday and special occasions are even celebrated with treasure boxes and special towel origami. Going the extra mile is not something that every hotel does, Thomas said, which sets them apart.\u00a0<\/p>\n
“I think service is what really stands out to us, and that’s kind of what Murphco, as a hotel management company, strives for.”<\/p>\n
Murphco was initially founded by Phillip Murphy Sr. in the 1970s. What started off as small bungalows off the shores of Key West catapulted into the construction of their first Holiday Inn in Jennings, Louisiana.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Their son, Phillip Jr., began working in the hotels himself \u2014 later continuing to grow and gain various franchises, like the old Holiday Inn on Commonwealth. Thomas said it was a staple in the Jacksonville area.<\/p>\n
“We had a Sunday buffet every weekend. A lot of our locals would come and stop in. We had a restaurant. A lot of people also remember the airplane hangar in the ceiling that would literally hang down in the dome.”<\/p>\n
The company has since grown to acquire various additional properties in Tallahassee, Tampa and Winter Haven. Renovations and upgrades, she said, have helped the company continue to keep up with an everchanging hospitality market. The Orange Park location had renovations done in 2021.<\/p>\n
“We want guest to feel special when they come, and so part of that is renovating to stay competitive.”<\/p>\n
Another part, she said, is pricing. Currently, the Orange Park hotel is ranked No. 1 in Best Value on Trip Advisor, while the Commonwealth location is ranked No. 5. Other important aspects, she said, include providing a hot breakfast and incorporating new technology.<\/p>\n
But welcoming guests to a kind and comforting environment will always be No. 1.<\/p>\n
“We want them to come back. We want them to feel like they have a place to stay with us anytime,” she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
“Our team believes that a happy, cohesive environment naturally leads to exceptional guest experiences,” Flaven said. “I am incredibly proud of my staff for their shared commitment to excellence, and this award is a direct reflection of their efforts. We look forward to building on this success and achieving even more together in the future.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ORANGE PARK \u2014 As an award-winning family company, Murphco, continues to excel in the hospitality world.\u00a0 Recently, two…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":225959,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[3496,3487,3495,3498,3488,3493,116,118,117,3492,3494,3499,3490,3489,3497,3491],"class_list":{"0":"post-225966","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-jacksonville","8":"tag-argyle","9":"tag-clay-county","10":"tag-doctors-inlet","11":"tag-eagle-harbor","12":"tag-fleming-island","13":"tag-green-cove-springs","14":"tag-jacksonville","15":"tag-jacksonville-headlines","16":"tag-jacksonville-news","17":"tag-keystone-heights","18":"tag-lake-asbury","19":"tag-margaret","20":"tag-middleburg","21":"tag-orange-park","22":"tag-pace-island","23":"tag-penney-farms"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/225966","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=225966"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/225966\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/225959"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=225966"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=225966"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=225966"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}