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On The Road to Scottsdale, AZ, Santa Monica, CA, Lexington, KY, Cape May, NJ, Philadelphia, PA and Atlantic City, NJ, September, 2008
This entry was posted on 9/30/2008 7:37 PM and is filed under uncategorized.
With August having provided lots of time off the road during the kids summer vacation, September wasted no time in calling me out once again.and this was to be a very special client engagement. I was to do consulting for the reservations sales team at the soon-to-open Intercontinental Montelucia resort in Scottsdale, AZ, where I’ll be returning later this year to do some training. The new client contact was, Jason Thielbahr, who I had worked with when he was Regional Director of Revenue for Red Lion Hotels about 6 years ago before the brand was sold to Intercontinental. Although I had spoken to Jason over the phone, this was to be the first time I’d met him. Having had several conference calls and e-mail exchanges with Jason, I had come to appreciate his sharp wit and sense of humor already. Since his hotel wasn’t opened yet we were to meet at one of his comp-set hotels, the luxurious Royal Palms Resort nearby, which itself had been one of my former clients years ago although I’d not trained them personally. After a jam-packed lunch meeting (over excellent food) with Jason and Heather, his new reservations manager, we headed over to the pre-opening offices to meet with the executive team.
As we drove up to the pre-opening office I was completely shocked to see that was housed in the old lobby of the former Marriott’s Mountain Shadows Resort, which was ironic for many reasons. For one, I had stayed in this resort so many times over the years, starting in 1984 when I was a bellman staying on employee rate and into the early millennial era when I was a keynote speaker for the IARE conference that was held there. But the biggest irony of all was that this very hotel front office had been managed by my dear wife Cathy Cook, who still tells so many enthralling stories of her experiences there. Can you imagine how surprised Cathy was when I called her to say I was in her old lobby? Later to end the day we had a very engaging 5pm meeting with Antonia Valeriano, the enthusiastic and visionary Managing Director for this new resort, and Greg Haas, their Director of Sales & Marketing. In what seemed like minutes later it was 7pm and I greatly admired their passion and interest in this area, especially at the end of what was surely a long day.
After the meeting Jason and I headed off to meet a very dear mutual friend of ours, Todd Arviso, and his fiancée (and now wife!) Erin for dinner. Unfortunately we were 45 minutes late, but Todd and Erin waited graciously. I remember clearly the day I met Todd when he walked into one of my area-wide reservations train-the-trainer workshops in 1997. My paths have crossed with Todd many times since, such as when he was Corporate Director of Sales for Accor North America and he brought me in on several training projects. In fact, it was at one of my hotel training seminars I was doing for Todd that he met his fiancée Erin, then a Sales Manager for Accor/Novotel. I recall them both begging me to join them for some bowling or Karaoke after that workshop; guess it worked out that I declined and left it just the two of them instead. Here is a picture of me with Todd, Erin, and Jason that night. (Jason is on my right side; Todd and Erin on left.)
Next up was a short flight from PHX to LAX, and then a 30 minute taxi to the Loews Santa Monica, where I was to train the new reservations Travel Planners at that location on the reservations SAILS training we have implemented this year company-wide. Thanks to my friend Don Foreman, Regional VP of Sales, and also their CRM system, I had my same ocean-view suite as I had when I was there last January, not to mention a nice bottle of wine and fruit & cheese platter that was perfect for my late night munchies. We had a terrific day of training the next day, and I was very impressed that their Director of Sales and three transient sales managers joined us for the day to lend their support. Here’s a picture of me with the group that day, followed by pictures of my view:
 
As usual for my West Coast trips the alarm clock went off early the next day, as I am always on the first flight back that was in this case a wheels-up of 6:30am. Thanks to all the non-stops I was soon landing in laceType w:st="on">Ft.laceType> laceName w:st="on">LauderdalelaceName>, where I was greeted by Cathy and the kids, a rare even these days due to school schedules and other obligations they have. As a parent, and especially as a dad, I can’t think of a better feeling than being greeted with bear hugs by your children upon return. Here’s a picture right before I got my hugs:
It was with mixed emotions that I left on my next trip, which was to visit my father George Kennedy who is in the long-term care VA hospital in Lexington since last October. Unfortunately we have seen his condition slowly and steadily deteriorate ever since he went in for what was to be a simple outpatient procedure. During moments like these you appreciate your family, starting with my wonderful wife Cathy who has been so supportive of me during this time. I also am extremely grateful for my dear sister Kathy Bolton, who despite working full time and having a new grandson, somehow manages to get out there to visit almost every day. When she walks in to the hospice floor, where my dad is staying, she literally lights-up the place with her wonderful energy. She has befriended many of the other patients and often brings them fast food or pharmacy items they need. I’m sure my dad wouldn’t have made it this far without her. I was also grateful for my brother Dan and his wife Beth, as they too make lots of time for Dad.
Sometimes during situations like these it is the gestures that come unexpectedly that mean the most, and this was the case with our host for this trip, Jim Webb who is GM of the Hilton Suites at Lexington Green. I had met Jim at a Hilton conference about 1.5 years ago and he had already put up my family for an entire 10 day stay last July. (See OTR July 2007.) Once again he welcomed us, this time for 4 nights. Although we spent most of the time at the hospital, Jim’s staff was wonderful once again, including Allie from housekeeping and Sandy from the restaurant, both of whom I’ve written about previously in my blog and also in my articles. The most amazing part is that when Jim has since found out why I was in town, he gave me his personal cell phone to call 24/7 if (when) I need to come back in town unexpectedly. I still owe him a day of training to make up for this, but he keeps on saying not to worry and to wait until it is a better time for me. Jim, I have received many gestures of hospitality over my career, but yours was one of the most heartfelt and for that I am especially grateful. By the way as of this writing Dad is still showing the incredible strength of his character everyday to his caretakers, nurses, visitors and especially us his family.
After being home just one night, I had a pit-stop in the office and then was lucky enough to carve-out time to enjoy picking-up the kids from school and the joys of homework. Before the night fell I was headed back to the airport for an evening non-stop to Atlantic City NJ, and a short drive to Cape May, NJ. It was well after midnight when I climbed into my rental car and due to the dark roads and no traffic I was especially happy to have the friendly and re-assuring voice of my “Garime Girl,” as I’ve affectionately come to call the voice on my GPS device, to guide me into my next stop.
Soon I was arriving at the historic and famous Congress Hall hotel. Having visited the website I knew I was in for a treat, especially since I am such a history buff and have such a special place in my heart for historic hotels such as this one that has hosted something like 6 Presidents including Teddy Roosevelt. The numerous enlarged historic photos in the corridors even has a picture of John Phillip Sousa playing a July 4th concert on the front lawn. It got even better when I got to my room and was pleasantly surprised to find all of the best amenities I would expect at even the most modern hotels which made for a very restful and quiet night’s sleep, and thankfully there were no ghosts to disturb me either despite the legends. Here’s a picture of Congress Hall (I must say the picture here dosen't do justice to this historic treasure):
This was a very special engagement as it was a new client and company that I’d never worked with on any level to this point. My contact was Stephane Mozziconacci, their Vice President of Revenue Management, and as I later found out, also their most excellent Hotel Manager for their new hotel in Atlantic City NY. I had known of Stephane at his previous stops at Kimpton Hotels and also at Affinia Hotels, but if we’d ever met it was only briefly. Thanks to a referral from my dear friend Beverly Ramstook VP of Revenue Management at Affinia, Stephane had contacted me almost immediately upon coming on board at Cape Resorts, which operates about six historic hotels, inns, and even a B&B in Cape May.
Stephane was especially interested in having me help out in their efforts to optimize their call center options at the center they have in place to field calls for all of their properties. In addition to conducting two full days of reservations training, I also had the opportunity to conduct a reservations sales assessment consulting report. What a great two days of training it was. I met a lot of new contacts and friends that day, including some very interesting reservations agents and new friends. But I was especially impressed at Stephan’s enthusiasm for the topic. Despite having a hotel going through a soft opening in Atlantic City, Stephane managed to turn off his Blackberry for the entire day and participate fully in all the activities that day. Here’s a picture of me with my groups:
 
Once back from Cape May I saw that next up on my agenda was a bit of a break from the travel in that I was to conduct hospitality and guest service training for two small, privately owned boutique hotels in South Beach Miami, The Colony Miami Beach and The Kent hotel. I had only met the GM’s once during an introductory meeting, and frankly I was impressed of their commitment to raising the bar on hospitality and guest service efficiency for their staff. It was also wonderful to have a local client that I could get to without a flight or long drive, which is always nice. Knowing the unpredictable nature of the I-95 traffic, I decided to stay over as their guest. After tucking the kids in for the night and saying goodbye to Cathy I headed for the 35 minute drive to The Colony, which is right on Deco Drive (Ocean Drive) and has one of the most famous outdoor neon signs in Florida. They were very gracious in offering me a very nice ocean view suite, and also accommodating one of our key staff from KTN, Kathleen Olarte, with a nice room. Turns out Kat (as we call her) has cousins and friends in Miami who met us there and who I of course had to chaperone to hear some excellent reggae music that evening. Here is a picture of my suite and also with the group the next day:
 
After spending the rest of the week at home, Sunday afternoon found me headed back out to the airport once again. This time Cathy and the kids got to drop me off at the airport, which they always enjoy visiting, but for some reason my son Adam just didn’t want me to go this time. (At age 9 he’s long over separation anxiety.) This must have been a sign! After 5 hours sitting on the runway in FLL, first due to weather in Philly and then due to a torrential downpour, our plane was hit by lightening just after the pilot had announced that we had been cleared for take-off in just 11 minutes. Instead the flight headed back to the gate with no power and we all got to deplane by flashlight Fortunately my “road warrior” experience paid off and instead of following the herd of displaced passengers to the line at the USAirways counter like we had been told to do, I jumped on the phone and found that they had re-booked me on an afternoon flight which just wouldn’t do as I had a full-day program in Philly. Thanks to my laptop and broadband Internet, within minutes I had rebooked on a non-stop Southwest flight and called Cathy to tell her I was coming back home.
Although I did manage to get about 3 hours sleep morning came all too quick and I was back at the airport, although thankful to be able to make my training that day. It was an important occasion I knew, as I was to train the new reservations agents at the new regional call center that Loews has set-up at their Philadelphia hotel that will now field calls for their Washington, DC location. The group of enthusiastic new-hires were to start taking their first calls on Wednesday, so this Monday training was important to them and I just knew I had to make it. Fortunately the weather cleared and it was a beautiful day of traveling. Soon I was walking into the meeting room and getting started just after 10:30am, only 90 minutes late. Thanks also for a great group of new agents, which is also a testament to Jack Knoble, who is one of the best reservations managers I’ve ever met, it was a wonderful day despite the rocky start. Here’s a picture of me with the group that day:
After a bite to eat and just one beer at happy hour I was headed out for the drive to Atlantic City, and again thankful for having my Garmine Girl to talk me through the many route changes. After training 8 hours on 3 hours sleep and driving 2 more, I was more than a little tired upon arrival at the client, which as The Hotel Chelsea, a wonderful boutique hotel that was just opened by my aforementioned new client – Cape May Resorts. Although I was expecting a positive experience, having met the hotel manager, Stephane Mozziconacci two weeks before, I have to say I was completely blown away by the genuine, authentic, and heartfelt service I received from each and every member of their staff with zero defect. I was so impressed that I decided to write my entire monthly column about this experience, which was the first time in 12 years of columns I’ve ever written solely about one hotel. It was a great way to end the month. Here is a link to my article that as of this writing has just posted followed by my pictures with their team that day:
Link to Doug's article about Hotel Chelsea "You Can Still Experience Hospitality Excellence DAILY!: Link
 
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