On The Road to the Kimpton Hotels Annual Central Reservations Agent Meeting, St. Andrews, New Brunswick, May 2008

After spending the last half of April in the office it was time to hit the road again and on the first Sunday in May I was off on triple-connection flights to Fredericton, New Brunswick and a 2 hour drive to St. Andrews.  14 Hours later I found myself registering at the historic Fairmont Algonquin Hotel, which was the location of the Kimpton Hotels annual central reservations meeting where I was to be a guest speaker.  This wonderful event shows Kimpton’s incredible commitment to its reservations sales team, and more than 40 GM’s, VP’s, Directors of Revenue, Sales Managers and Directors of Sales turned out to show their support and appreciation of the frontline reservations staff. 

In addition to evening social receptions with the hotel and reservations staff, the event also included a trade show and one of the best-run corporate office presentations I’ve ever witnessed by Kathleen Reidenbach, VP of Revenue Management, and Jimmy Hord, General Manager of their Nine Zero Hotel in Boston.  It was a tough act to follow, for sure, and I really enjoyed learning about the Kimpton brand and its commitment to being a socially responsible company.  Jimmy Hord’s presentation on creating Kimpton Moments with your co-workers and guests had us all mesmerized with stories of authentic and genuine hospitality that his staff delivers daily as if it was the ordinary thing to do.  Here's my picture with Jimmy: 
                                                                                                                    
                                     

But best of all was the chance to re-connect with some client friends I’d not seen in many years.  Here’s a picture of me with Will Jansen, Director of Voice Reservations Services for Pegasus Solutions, who I’ve known for over a decade as a client when he was President of IARE (International Association of Reservations Executives) and also the VP of Reservations for Best Western International.  Here’s my picture with Will: 

                                   

It was an unexpected pleasure to also run into Deborah McCluskey, GM of Kimpton’s newest hotel in New York City, and Erica, Director of Electronic Distribution for Kimpton, both of which had attended my regional training workshops in the 1990’s.  Here’s a picture of me with Deborah: 

                                              

I also got to meet Bernice McCurdy, Vice President of Reservations for Kimpton, who I’ve known as a voice on the phone for over a decade.  Here’s my picture with Bernice (on my left)  and also Kathleen Reidenbach (on right). 

                                           

After the last day of the meeting I decided to drive on back to Fredericton for my 6am flight and arrived in time for a beautiful late afternoon sunset overlooking the St. Lawrence River, where I longed to join the joggers enjoying the brisk and sunny late afternoon but instead spent 3 hours working from my room catching up on e-mail.

As usually seems to be the case, my travel schedule worked out just fine in that it allowed me to be back home for two very important events at the kids’ school, one being my Julia’s seventh straight A-Honor Roll induction, and the other being Career Day at school.  Although I’d presented at this event in the past, the oldest grade I’d done was second, so I was a little nervous at first when I was assigned to my daughter’s fourth grade this year.  I also had to update my presentation from the younger kids – where I talked about being a “teacher for hotel workers,” to introduce the concept of a hospitality industry trainer.  Thanks in large part to the Suite Life of Zak and Cody, the kids were tremendously interested and especially loved hearing the excerpts of good/bad mystery shopping call samples.  Several of the thank you card writers indicated that they were now interested in the hotel business!  Here’s my picture with Julia’s class on Career Day:

                                      

On The Road to Silvertree Hotel, Snowmass, CO

The third week in May brought me back to Snowmass, CO, this time to train the reservations team at the Silvertree Hotel.  This was my sixth trip to Aspen/Snowmass since launching KTN just 21 months ago, and with all my history of training at Silvertree for so many years even before that it almost felt like home away from home when I entered the lobby.  May is the off season there so nearly everything was shut down, but thankfully I found Zanes Tavern, where I enjoyed one of the best burritos I’ve had ever!  I also witnessed one of the most efficient bartender/waitresses that night as she patiently and efficiently served over 40 of us at once!  The next day it was time to present another training for the reservations team, and it was great to see Jeri Corporon, their Director of Revenue and Sales, and also Eric their Group Sales Coordinator, among others.  The group was just fantastic and very engaging with questions and  discussions which made my job easier.  Here’s a picture of me with the group that day: 

                                       

On The Road to Tahoe Keys Resort, Lake Tahoe, CA and Las Vegas, NV

My last trip of the month for May brought be back to yet another destination I’ve not visited for some time now but have so much history with.  Over the years I’ve trained many clients in Lake Tahoe, including Caesars, Harrah’s, Heavenly Ski Resorts, Lake Tahoe Accommodations, but it had been over a decade since I’d last visited.  As the plane I recalled many wonderful jogs and one not-so-memorable (and nearly life threatening) bike wreck I had around laceName w:st="on">FallenlaceName> laceName w:st="on">LeaflaceName> laceType w:st="on">LakelaceType>, so it was good to be back especially at this time of the year.  Best of all, I got to finally meet my new client Lisa Underwood at Tahoe Keys Resort, who had participated in my sessions at the Vacation Rental Manager’s Association conferences and then when the subject of reservations sales training at her location came up remembered me.  Lisa not only provided me with some great company at dinner overlooking Lake Tahoe that evening, but she also gave me a wonderful little townhouse with a spectacular view of an inlet just off the  main lake.  I recall that I was just sharing with my wife some passages from a great book I’m reading called Your Best Life Now about optimistic, positive thinking, and at that very moment a double rainbow appeared right before me.  By the time I grabbed the camera it was only a single rainbow but still beautiful as you can see here:

                                     

The next day went by really fast, as I had an especially enthusiastic team of agents from Tahoe Keys the next day, including Lisa who participated herself all day long.  Here’s a picture of me with the group that day:  (Lisa Underwood is on the far right.)

                                       

After the workshop I was back in the rental car for the beautiful drive to Reno, for my non-stop flight to Las Vegas.  This was to be a very special trip, as aside from two very important sales appointments on Friday, the primary purpose was to enjoy some leisure time over a long weekend with my wife Cathy.  Although she has been to LV many times over the years with her girl friends when she worked in AZ and CA for Marriott, and just went there 2 years ago for her bachelorette party, we have not had a chance to visit there together. In fact having made at least 20 business trips there over the years I had not ever seen a nightclub show nor visited any of the major attractions.  So this was an exciting chance for us to experience it together.  Of course being the social butterfly that she is, Cathy had to also use the opportunity to reconnect with her many girlfriends from the cities in the Southwest where she had worked over the years.  So I just had to suffer through spending the weekend being the only man escorting her and her 5 girlfriends to the various clubs and restaurants!  Thanks to her friend Tasha, who I now call my own personal Las Vegas Concierge, we were able to skip the lines and walk right into some of the most popular clubs (such as Tao) in Las Vegas and also the famous pool party at the Hard Rock casino.  Here’s a picture with Cathy and I that weekend:

                             

On The Road To Leading Hotels Conference – New York, NY April 6, 2008 

Right away in April I was back On The Road, this time just to New York City again, which is almost a day trip from Ft. Lauderdale thanks to all the non-stops.  This was to be a very interesting booking for me as I was a guest speaker at the Leading Hotels of the World’s call center director’s meeting.   Since Leading was previously a client I knew well that their portfolio includes some of the most famous and prestigious hotels in the world, so that alone was exciting for me when Jon Londeen, their Senior Vice President of Reservations, called me about this booking.  But I have to say the most exciting part was the diversity of regions, countries, and cultures to be represented at this meeting of about 15 call center managers plus the home office team.  When they were going through their introductions I felt like I was speaking at a United Nations meeting, as there were representatives from Russia, Italy, Paris, Germany, Singapore, Tokyo, Argentina, Brazil, and many others.  I have to say I was a little nervous that my message would resonate with so many cultures, but the audience was fantastic and very interactive which made my job a lot easier.  Here’s a picture with me with the group that day:  (Jon is to my immediate right.)  
 
                          

Having already reached Silver Medallion status on Delta in just three months I have to say it was really great to spend most of the rest of April at home and in the office.  This allowed me to spend extra quality time with Cathy and the kids, and to participate in several activities at their school.  Here’s a picture of me with my Julia at her Field Days, along with one of us with Adam at our school’s Dr. Seuss’ Birthday Celebration night, where I was a volunteer reader along with about 11 other dads: 

         

It also allowed me to train and develop our own team at KTN, especially as we had added several new clients and staff for our reservations mystery shopping services.  But after all those meetings our KTN staff did manage to find time for a little fun.  Colleen, our Director for ResSTAR Training, even got us free tickets to join her and Kris to see 38 Special and Charlie Daniels Band.  Although I’m not a huge fan of either band, Cathy loves 80’s music and also country and Southern Rock, so she was very happy that evening.  Here’s a picture of Colleen (far left), Cathy (center), and Kris from our ResSTAR team hamming it up on some swamp buggy we parked next to:

                         

We also had two two-day training sessions for our ResSTAR team, including Kathleen (Kat) Olarte, who has been with us since January, and also Marnid Rodriguez Ransom, who has been a client for years and has now joined our team.  Here’s a picture of Cathy with them at happy our after the training:  (Marnid is in the center and Kat is on the right.)

                                    

On The Road To Trump International Sunny Isles March 11, 2008

After all of the travel so far this year it was really nice to be working with a local client hotel, as the Trump International Sunny Isles is only 15 minutes from our offices.  This was an extra special booking as well because one of my dearest client friends, Courtney Howell, had just taken over as Director of Revenue Management.  Courtney has been attending my trainings since 1992, and in the late 1990’s when her hotel was taken over by a major destination resort management company, had helped us secure one of our biggest clients.  We’d been out of touch for a few years while she was working in other areas of the hotel industry, so I was very flattered when she called me during her first or second week on the job to see what services we could offer.  What a great resort as well, and I hope to one day be able to visit with Cathy and the kids when we are ready for a local beach holiday.  Here’s a picture of me with Courtney and her reservations sales team that day:

                          

On The Road To Outer Banks Vacation Rental Association March 25, 2008

Next up on my agenda was another booking back in the Outer Banks of North Carolina, where I’ve done so many days of training in my career.   The vacation home rental companies that operate there have been very loyal clients for over a decade now, so it was a great chance to reconnect with a lot of people I’d not seen for a while.  The sponsor was once again the Outer Banks Board of Realtors – Vacation Rental Division, but the real driving force behind this initiative to bring me in was one of the influencial members, Jane Twiddy, owner of Twiddy Vacation Rentals.  I guess it helped that she personally pledged to send about 25 people to the two sessions I was doing that day, although once the momentum got going about every one of the 50 seats in each session were sold out by the sponsor.  Here’s a picture of me with Jane Twiddy, followed by one of me presenting and also the view right outside of my beachfront (literally!) room. 

For me, the month of January 2008 represented the single most intensive month of business travel of my 17 year training career, during which I presented 20 days of training in 17 cities throughout the US and Canada.  (My previous record – matched only twice – was 13 days of training in a month.)  But for myself and my team at KTN, this also represented a major opportunity, as we were rolling out a major brand-sponsored reservations training for Loews Hotels that was time-sensitive due to a simultaneous reservations system training/cutover.  Thankfully I have not only some true superstar employees to keep things going in my absence, but also an incredibly supportive and loving wife Cathy who was always waiting there patiently at home upon my returns and also wonderful children who are now mature enough to understand that their dad has to sometimes make sacrifices.  And best of all, in the middle of the month I got to rendezvous with Cathy when we attended a friend's daughter's wedding in New York.  Here's a picture of us that evening:

                           

What a great two month’s of both business and personal travel The Universe had in store for me to close out the final two months of a great year for 2007.  So much travel that it was a bit of a blur, even for a seasoned road warrior such as yours truly, but in looking back there were so many great moments and wonderful connections (and re-connections) I made en route.

Both months kept me on the road the majority of the time, but many of the places I visited seemed like my home away from home.  November started with my fourth trip to Split Rock Resort in 2007, this time to conduct our Reservations SAILS Training for their reservations team.  Despite that I’d trained the entire resort throughout 2007 in hospitality, this was to be my first visit back to work with just the reservations team, as they had been under contract with another company for reservations training.  What made this booking especially meaningful was that due to the long tenure of their staff, many of these same agents went through one of my first seminars over 15 years ago!  It was great to observe that their willingness to learn and grow professionally hadn’t waned a bit over the years, and wonderful to hear that that thought I “still had it going on” so many years later.  Here’s a picture of me with the group that day.

                           

Next up was a short trip from our main office in Hollywood/Ft. Lauderdale for Colleen and Kris, from my training and mystery shopping team, to attend a Loews brand orientation session at the Loews Miami Beach Hotel, as a final step in creating a completely customized version of our Reservations SAILS Training for them.  We felt very warmly welcomed by their associates, and it was great to spend the better part of a day sitting shoulder-to-shoulder with their latest new-hire class, many of which were just starting their very first hospitality industry job.  It was especially impressive that their GM, Shawn Hauver, personally presented 2 hours of the program despite that he had just gotten back from being out for two weeks and could have easily delegated this to one of his department heads.  But then again after finding out that he had spent several years working directly under Charlie Hines, who was my first Resident Manager and who remained one of my personal mentors for many years until his recent retirement, I wasn’t surprised at all.  Here’s a picture of me with Colleen Tuttle, Director of Training and Assessment, and Kris Jorge, Training and Assessment Specialist, in front of the Loews Miami Beach hotel just after our meeting that day:

My third trip of the month was by far and away the most important of the year, which was to visit my ailing father who was recovering from complications of what was to have been a simple outpatient procedure but instead had resulted in a three and a half hour emergency surgery a month prior.  I was on the road alone the night of his emergency surgery, and all I could think about was how much I wanted to look into those wise and kind ocean-blue eyes of his just once more time, to give him a hug and tell him again how much he means to me.  Now thanks to his slow but steady recovery, on this trip I got to do all that and much more during my weekend visit.  I’m very blessed to have a sister and older brother who reside there and who have been there for him every day, and thankful also that we have an excellent VA hospital in my hometown.  When I walked in the room that day I almost didn’t recognize my dad, but after spending a few days with him playing checkers, watching football, and just reminiscing, he seemed to have returned to his old self at least mentally, and it was clear that his body was healing too although not as fast as it once did.  I’m even more proud than ever about my dad’s ever-optimistic attitude about life, and that he managed to avoid the depths of depression that he could have so easily slipped into.  Here’s a picture of me with my dad George Kennedy, my sister Kathy Bolton, and my brother Dan Kennedy that day:

After being back home for only one night it was time for another tip, and this was yet another sentimental journey which was to head to my in-laws farm in the Poconos of PA for the Thanksgiving holiday.  It’s always a mental escape for me to visit my wife Cathy’s family farm, as we are so busy helping out on the farm that there’s little time for work or worry.  This small, working dairy farm has been operated by Cathy’s family since 1852, and every day, twice a day, her dad, mom, and brother milk about 30 cows, as their ancestors did for over 150 years.   But this trip was especially sentimental as it may very be the last time that we get to see cows, as they might have to soon close down the dairy business.  This is not only due to the economic challenges that are squeezing out the small farmers, but also because as more farms have closed the companies that provide support services, such as the company that delivers the “chop,” are themselves shutting their doors.  We hope for the best and know the family will be okay, but empathize for their sadness to have to give up the only life they’ve known and loved.  We know they’ll be okay financially either way, but it’s sad to see a long chapter in her family history drawing to a close.  Friends often ask me, “So Doug, do you help milk the cows when you’re there?”  Truth is that I’m not trained enough to be that high on the barn-work “food chain.”  So while Cathy and her family do the actual milking, my job is to clean the stalls, fill the chop cart, and distribute the hay.  Here’s a picture of Cathy and I in the barn:

                             

As tradition has it, Cathy stayed on the week after Thanksgiving to be with her father for the peak of “hunt’n season.”  And yes my beautiful, otherwise very corporate-looking wife puts on her orange vest and heads off to the woods with her father, sister, and his hunt’n buddies to hunt for dear, which is a main staple of their diet year round.  (She got both a doe and a buck, so it was a good year!)  Meantime, I headed home to be with the kids for the weekend after Thanksgiving.  We had a great time putting up the Christmas Tree and decorating the house. 

Monday morning found be back on the road, this time headed back to Ponte Vedra Inn and Club to conduct an advanced-level reservations training for this classic five diamond resort that has been my loyal client for over 15 years now.  It was great working with their new Operations Manager, Yaofa Shung, who was recently promoted to the position, and to see so many familiar faces in my workshop.  It was also very exciting to be able to bring along Kris Jorge, one of our new training/assessment specialists, so that she could under-study that day.  Here’s a picture of us with the two groups we trained that day:

After returning Tuesday in time to spend some time with the kids, I was back on a plane the next morning for what was my longest distance trip of 2007 – to Whister, B.C.  After flying from South Florida through LA to Vancouver and securing my rental car, I headed up the coastal highway for the beautiful drive to Whister.  It has been said that ignorance is bliss, and in this case it was for sure as little did I know that the coastal highway had been closed by the provincial police all day unless you had snow chains, and everyone had been turned back.  But my travel angels came through once again for me, as about the time I reached the checkpoint the weather had cleared just enough for me to make it, although the still-snowy road grew dark and lonely after sunset.  How charming it was to pull into the Whistler Pinnacle Hotel that evening after such a long day of travel, and I was instantly reminded of why I’ve always been so found of this destination when upon arrival I was welcomed warmly by the front desk staff.  It was also nice to have a fireplace and a deep soaking tub, which I have to admit even I used this trip since it was so cold outside for a guy from Florida.  Here’s a picture of the village one morning during my visit:

                         

The next two days I conducted four half-day sessions for the reservations agents at Whistler.com, which is the official “destination” call center.  Having met their Director, Ben Day, at the CRADR conference I’d spoken at last October (see October On The Road), I had high expectations due to his obvious leadership skills and proficiency.  But even these expectations were exceeded, as this turned out to be one of the most interested, motivated, and engaged ski resort reservations teams I’ve trained in recent memory.  Being so seasonal, the ski resorts always have a tough time recruiting good talent, but apparently not so here!  Ben and his team have managed to find plenty of talented people despite a labor crunch.  Their active participation, engaging questions, and dynamically diverse personalities and backgrounds made my job extremely easy that day, which was especially appreciated after such a long journey.  By the end of the two days I’d made many new friends, and only wished that I could press a button and have Cathy and the kids appear so we could stay over the weekend.  Here’s a picture of me with three of my four groups that week: