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: