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Testimonial: Aureus Energy's Journey With LodgeLink

Jul 30, 2024

Discover how Aureus Energy improved their workforce travel program by using LodgeLink

When your team is rarely in the same place twice, it’s important to have a good navigator to help them get where they’re going.

With as many as 200 employees on the move on any given day, it can be an intense process to keep tabs on things.

That’s the challenge faced by Aureus Energy Services, a company dedicated to ESG-focused water management.

Employing sustainable and innovative technologies, Aureus is based in Grande Prairie, Alberta. However, their operations span much of Canada and the U.S., including a water recycling facility located near Midland, Texas.

“Our operations are never in the same place. They're always somewhere different,” says Aureus Energy’s Canadian Operations Vice President Jeff Taylor.

“In Canada at any given time, we might be running around 200 people. That's 200 sets of accommodations, going from Point A to Point B. It's a really intensive process to try to figure out the main things people have to worry about.”

Before partnering with LodgeLink, Taylor says the average workload to manage accommodation for his team could entail discussions with as many as 20 vendors, each of whom is sending an invoice, possibly with different procedures required for reconciling each one, culminating in up to 100 individual invoices for just a single day of operations.

With the administrative burden involved being one Taylor describes as “not being for the faint of heart”, the search began for a better way to manage Aureus’ travel requirements.

Since signing on as a LodgeLink customer more than five years ago, Taylor says Aureus has seen a massive reduction in the time and effort required to keep his team on the move.

“That problem has kind of gone away just due to the fact that we've decided to partner up with LodgeLink.”

“We very quickly began having a lot more assuredness of what our costs were going to be like every month,” says Taylor, who adds the ability to easily determine when and where the company’s money is being spent is another big plus to being a LodgeLink customer.

Another key element has been the accommodations available for Aureus’ crews as part of LodgeLink’s network. With more than one million rooms at over 15,000 properties, Taylor says it's not just about a clean and friendly place to stay for the night.

For a company where health and safety are a priority on and off the job, the ability to have everything set up and ready when his team arrives, as well as giving them the amenities they require, is an integral part of their success.

“This is where LodgeLink's partner network shines, offering a selection of accommodations that meet these exact requirements, ensuring our team has a seamless and comfortable experience every time,” says Taylor.

Prior to signing on with LodgeLink, Taylor says finding accommodations was more of a piecemeal effort that involved contacting individual providers trying to find the best rates and one that resulted in a great deal of work. Now things are much simpler.

“LodgeLink is easy to use. It's definitely tailored to our line of work where we have crews of multiple people,” says Taylor.

“It gives our coordinators and managers the ability to kind of assign a hierarchy of who and when we're going to stay. It also gives you the ability to change people in and out and things like that, so it's a lot different than your average hotel booking website that we all use for vacation.”

Another feature that Taylor says separates LodgeLink from the average booking site is the fact someone is always available to solve any issues that may arise.

“Any time I picked up the phone – and my work hours are sometimes a little bit different than the average 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. - they've always been able to answer me quickly or even call me back.”

By simplifying complex logistics and providing access to a vast network of accommodations, Taylor says LodgeLink has not only eased the administrative burden for Aureus but also ensured their teams are well-supported, wherever their work takes them.

“LodgeLink just runs pretty seamlessly within our business.”

Aureus Energy Services also deeply values community support and engagement. In 2023, the company made remarkable strides in giving back, with charitable contributions to local and indigenous communities across Canada and the U.S. nearly doubling. This surge in donations reflects Aureus' commitment to meaningful causes, especially those centered around family and environmental sustainability.

The company's dedication to fostering relationships with indigenous groups has been particularly noteworthy. By partnering with a selection of impactful indigenous organizations, Aureus not only doubled its revenue with Indigenous representation but also strengthened its operational and community ties. This mutual support underscores a shared vision for progress and sustainability, marking 2023 as a year of significant partnership and growth.