After all the travel of June, it was nice to begin the month of July with a long weekend at home to celebrate the July 4th weekend with Cathy and the kids just enjoying our pool, yard, pool, and pets.  Not to mention more than a few rounds of  Chess and Monopoly with my daughter and playing Legos with my son.  My only travel during this time was a short drive to Miami, where I got to have lunch and reconnect with my very first (and probably the best!) boss in the hotel industry, Rich Lillis, who is now an executive with PKF Capital.  Not only did Rich serve as one of my earliest mentors and help me win the coveted Marriott Management Training Program back then, but he later left Marriott and worked at Arrowwood Resort in Rye, NY he became one of my very first hotel seminar clients.  We had been out of touch for the last few years so it was great to catch up, with an added bonus that we found many current networking opportunities and will be seeing more of each other.  Here’s a picture of Rich and I that day:

                                               

My first trip of the month was a chance to mix business and pleasure, as I was to be in Orlando on a Friday to conduct training at The Peabody Hotels call center  at The Peabody Orlando.  With school being out, I decided to take the kids back to Disney World.  This was the first trip they were old enough to literally lead me around the park to the shows and rides they wanted, so it was much easier even though  it was just the three of us as Cathy had to work.  Thanks to my good friend and client Cristina at the Walt Disney World Swan & Dolphin Resort, we also had a great room overlooking the EPCOT fireworks in the distance.  Here’s a picture of me with Adam and Julia in the Dolphin lobby: 

                                                

At the end of the week we headed over to The Peabody, where we met up with Colleen Tuttle, our Managing Director here at KTN.  Colleen decided to take advantage of the situation too and brought her three boys, two of which are the same ages as mine.  The plan was for her friend Roberta to take care of the kids while we conducted training for the group.  I have to say it was an especially easy day for me, since Colleen did most of the workshop herself that day, as this is a group which has already seen me present at least annually for many years.  As always, it was especially a pleasure to get to see one of my dearest client friends Barb Bowden, who despite being busy in her role as the AGM of a major hotel expansion and renovation project even took out time to show us sample new rooms and to share a cocktail and great conversation. Here’s a picture of us that day:  (Left to right: Colleen Tuttle, Doug, Susan Gilmour, Director of Revenue and Central Reservations, and Barb Bowden, Assistant General Manager.)                                                                                                                                            

                                            

After spending the rest of the weekend back home I was off again Sunday evening to conduct the next round of training for Brett-Robinson Realty, which is a vacation rental company in Gulf Shores, AL that managers over 2,000 vacation rental properties.  It was great to see the progress they have already made implementing some of the recommendations from my consulting project only a month earlier.  It was especially exciting, since Bill Brett, who runs the entire vacation rental division for his family-run corporation, committed at that time to an annual training plan for an additional full year.  So readers of this blog will be hearing more from me from there.  Here’s a picture of me with Bill Brett and Marie Curren, who is the Director of Marketing and Reservations Operations:

                                                               

My last trip of the month was certainly my easiest, most enjoyable, and most memorable.  The occasion was for me to come back to the Outer Banks to attend the mid-summer “kickback” celebration which is held each year at the mid-point of the peak summer season in recognition of everyone’s hard work.  I was very honored that Doug Twiddy himself had invited me to attend to help celebrate a very successful year.  As I said in my short talk at the celebration, in 20 years of training this was the very first time anyone had invited me to attend a company celebration such as this, so it really made me feel welcomed in as one of the company “family.”

Upon  my arrival I knew it was going to be a fun afternoon when I was immediately ordered to do shot of chilled vodka, which I rarely drink liquor and don’t usually do shots at all!  But then again I was assigned one of the Twiddy Managers to keep me in line, which she did a pretty good job of other than she should have sent me off to my nearby hotel room a little earlier, since the alarm rang way too early the next morning for my long drive back to Norfolk and connecting flights home.  When my wife Cathy later asked how things went, I was really glad I know she completely trusts that my heart (and conscious) always comes home with me.  I was especially glad she wasn't the jealous type when I had to tell her I "had" to spend most of the party dancing to the DJ music, since there was the usual shortage of guys for dance partners! 

I was glad to be home for the rest of July, especially since it allowed me to attend the birthday party Karla (from our KTN team) held for her two young children, which was to be attended by our entire KTN team and their families, plus Karla and her husband’s friends and family, who are from Brazil and Puerto Rico.   (That should say how good the food was!)  Here’s a picture of me with the KTN team that day (from left)  Colleen Tuttle,  Managing Director, Kathleen Olarte, Account Executive, Shelly Skroch, Account Executive, and Karla DeCastro, Administrator:  

                                       

Since my wife Cathy took the above picture and was left our, here’s a picture of us right after:

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