On The Road To Americinn Conference in LV, Florida VRMA in Orlando, Gulf Shores, AL, and Mt. Pleasant, MI
After ending March on the road it was wonderful to be home for the first 11 days of April straight through. Of course being home also means catching up in the office after so long out, but although it was still very busy it was wonderful to just be home. The best part was that I arrived back just in time to take a long weekend with the kids, who were on spring break, to celebrate Easter. To their delight, my wife Cathy volunteered once again to dress up as the Easter Bunny for the Easter Sunday events at Marriott Harbour Beach, where her office is located although she works for Marriott headquarters in DC. Adam worked most of the day as the Easter Bunny's assistant, helping "him" walk through the resort areas pausing to interact and take pictures with the guests and children. Here's a picture of the kids with Cathy that day:
After a full week in the office, next up was by coincidence another trip back to Las Vegas, which was to be my third in 4 weeks only because the Americinn Conference was being held there at the Golden Nugget, which was yet another coincidence as I had conducted training there in 2007 (See "On The Road With Doug May, 2007") and even before that in 1991. It was very exciting to be speaking at the Americinn conference once again, as I have done at least three or four times in the past but not since 2007. It was wonderful to reconnect with some of my contacts, such as Jim Bridger, who is now Director of Franchise Services, and to hear about all the new initiatives they have in place, such as the launch of their new "America's Welcoming Neighbor" brand initiative. Best of all it was great to see how many participants turned out for my two break-out sessions, as every seat was filled and the audience was very focused. Here are some pictures of me presenting that day:
After the Americinn Conference next up was another week in the office, which was very nice to catch up as I was about to embark on the first of two weeks of consecutive travel, but fortunately for me to include a 48 hour pit stop at home between trips. After having the kids for the first part of the weekend, Cathy drove me up to Colleen Tuttle's house in Boca Raton, where we were to embark on the road trip to Orlando where we were to co-present a pre-conference workshop for the Florida Vacation Rental Manager's Association's annual conference at Disney's Coronado Springs. We arrived late but not too late to make a side trip over to the nearby Disney Boardwalk where we just had to stop into Jelly Rolls, the dueling piano sing along bar there that is always packed with a fun crowd. It didn't fail on this occasion and we did end up staying out late, but the good part is that our session didn't start until 1pm the next day. After our workshop we attended the opening reception in the exhibition area, and it was wonderful to see some of our alliance partners who are also suppliers to the industry. We even snapped some great pictures of Colleen and I visiting the various booths and also later that night, when we had a wonderful dinner with our clients and friends Steve Milo and Kyung Bishop from VacationRentalPros and also the folks from Escapia who also joined us for dinner. Unfortunately, somewhere along the line my camera was left behind and never turned up despite several well-handled calls to Disney's lost and found. Of course the worst part was the lost pic's, as the camera was getting old anyways since I hadn't lost one for at least 3 years.
After the FVRMA Colleen dropped me at the Orlando airport and headed back home while I continued on to Gulf Shores, AL. I flew in on the smallest commuter flight I've ever taken - except for the GulfStream Airways to Key West. 16 Passengers and two pilots but no attendants nor any bathrooms. After renting a car I was making the drive to Orange Beach, AL and listening to the radio just as the news was launching about the possibility of the oil spill hitting there, as it was 100 miles due south. By the time I had left 3 days later emergency crews were deploying at the shoreline and oil booms were already visible in the water. Fortunately the weather has turned and as of this writing several weeks later we are still hoping with the rest of the US and the world that this problem can be resolved quickly for the benefit of all parties including but well beyond tourism interests.
For the next two days I conducted a series of front office hospitality and guest service excellence workshops for the front desk teams from the various resorts under mostly the "Phoenix" brand which are managed by Brett-Robinson Real Estate vacation rental division. Although I've been back there about four times already this year, I had been working to date with their call center so this was my first time training the front desk staff. For the next two days I had a wonderful time presenting training for these groups, meeting many new associates, and also reconnecting with associates who had been through my training many times over the last 13 or 14 years I've been working with this client. Here's a picture of me with my three of my four groups that week:
It was also very convenient to have my own beautiful condo overlooking the bay side of the island, complete with kitchen and a very large bath and balcony. The best part was that it was only a very short walk down the road from the famous Florabama Bar, a beachside pub made famous by Jimmy Buffet and numerous others who have played there. Lucky me as it was the day after their Famous Mullett Toss. Although the party was all over, the cash machines empty, and the wait staff looking a bit wrung out from working a long (but no doubt profitable) event weekend, but the music was great and they apparently had extra stock of oysters as I enjoyed a dozen for just $3. Below is a picture of the stage and one of the singers that night. It was only after I sent this to my wife Cathy that she noticed the articles of female clothing hanging down from the roof, which I didn't even notice until she texted back. This might have gotten me in trouble with a different wife, but fortunately Cathy knows she can trust me anywhere.
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My wake-up call came extra early on Thursday, and before knew it I was back in the rental care before dawn driving to Pensacola to fly through Atlanta to Flint, MI, where I would drive 2 hours to my last stop for the month. Although it was a lot of travel I had no other work scheduled that day so it was mostly relaxing, especially since I had just scored Gold Medallion status with Delta and received a free upgrade to first class! After driving through some beautiful rolling hills and farmland of central Michigan, I pulled into the grounds of the most beautiful Comfort Inn I've stayed at which was the one in Mt. Pleasant, located adjacent to the campus of Central Michigan University. I was in town to speak at the last day of Labelle (hotel) Management's week-long "Labelle University" which is one of the best such in-house training programs I've seen. Although my team had KTN has been providing reservations mystery shopping services for Labelle, they have done their training in-house so we had not yet had the chance to meet in person. It was really wonderful to meet contacts such as Glen Stanton, their Hotel Division Manager, who took me out to dinner that evening. We have really enjoyed having them as a client and they have been a wonderful partner to have a chance to serve. The audience the next day for my program on current sales, RM, and guest service trends called "Cooking UP New Sales" included not only their "graduates" from the in-house program, but also most of their GM's and corporate contacts. Here is a picture of me with the group that day:
Afterwards I had a chance to stay for lunch and enjoyed getting to know everyone that much more. I only wish I could have brought Cathy along and stayed over for the weekend, as they had me in a very nice suite with as large of a jacuzzi as I've ever had and there seemed to be a lot of fun activities and music venues for the weekend. Instead I headed out for the two hour drive back to Detroit and my non-stop flight home for the weekend.
After a full week in the office, next up was by coincidence another trip back to Las Vegas, which was to be my third in 4 weeks only because the Americinn Conference was being held there at the Golden Nugget, which was yet another coincidence as I had conducted training there in 2007 (See "On The Road With Doug May, 2007") and even before that in 1991. It was very exciting to be speaking at the Americinn conference once again, as I have done at least three or four times in the past but not since 2007. It was wonderful to reconnect with some of my contacts, such as Jim Bridger, who is now Director of Franchise Services, and to hear about all the new initiatives they have in place, such as the launch of their new "America's Welcoming Neighbor" brand initiative. Best of all it was great to see how many participants turned out for my two break-out sessions, as every seat was filled and the audience was very focused. Here are some pictures of me presenting that day:
After the Americinn Conference next up was another week in the office, which was very nice to catch up as I was about to embark on the first of two weeks of consecutive travel, but fortunately for me to include a 48 hour pit stop at home between trips. After having the kids for the first part of the weekend, Cathy drove me up to Colleen Tuttle's house in Boca Raton, where we were to embark on the road trip to Orlando where we were to co-present a pre-conference workshop for the Florida Vacation Rental Manager's Association's annual conference at Disney's Coronado Springs. We arrived late but not too late to make a side trip over to the nearby Disney Boardwalk where we just had to stop into Jelly Rolls, the dueling piano sing along bar there that is always packed with a fun crowd. It didn't fail on this occasion and we did end up staying out late, but the good part is that our session didn't start until 1pm the next day. After our workshop we attended the opening reception in the exhibition area, and it was wonderful to see some of our alliance partners who are also suppliers to the industry. We even snapped some great pictures of Colleen and I visiting the various booths and also later that night, when we had a wonderful dinner with our clients and friends Steve Milo and Kyung Bishop from VacationRentalPros and also the folks from Escapia who also joined us for dinner. Unfortunately, somewhere along the line my camera was left behind and never turned up despite several well-handled calls to Disney's lost and found. Of course the worst part was the lost pic's, as the camera was getting old anyways since I hadn't lost one for at least 3 years.
After the FVRMA Colleen dropped me at the Orlando airport and headed back home while I continued on to Gulf Shores, AL. I flew in on the smallest commuter flight I've ever taken - except for the GulfStream Airways to Key West. 16 Passengers and two pilots but no attendants nor any bathrooms. After renting a car I was making the drive to Orange Beach, AL and listening to the radio just as the news was launching about the possibility of the oil spill hitting there, as it was 100 miles due south. By the time I had left 3 days later emergency crews were deploying at the shoreline and oil booms were already visible in the water. Fortunately the weather has turned and as of this writing several weeks later we are still hoping with the rest of the US and the world that this problem can be resolved quickly for the benefit of all parties including but well beyond tourism interests.
For the next two days I conducted a series of front office hospitality and guest service excellence workshops for the front desk teams from the various resorts under mostly the "Phoenix" brand which are managed by Brett-Robinson Real Estate vacation rental division. Although I've been back there about four times already this year, I had been working to date with their call center so this was my first time training the front desk staff. For the next two days I had a wonderful time presenting training for these groups, meeting many new associates, and also reconnecting with associates who had been through my training many times over the last 13 or 14 years I've been working with this client. Here's a picture of me with my three of my four groups that week:
It was also very convenient to have my own beautiful condo overlooking the bay side of the island, complete with kitchen and a very large bath and balcony. The best part was that it was only a very short walk down the road from the famous Florabama Bar, a beachside pub made famous by Jimmy Buffet and numerous others who have played there. Lucky me as it was the day after their Famous Mullett Toss. Although the party was all over, the cash machines empty, and the wait staff looking a bit wrung out from working a long (but no doubt profitable) event weekend, but the music was great and they apparently had extra stock of oysters as I enjoyed a dozen for just $3. Below is a picture of the stage and one of the singers that night. It was only after I sent this to my wife Cathy that she noticed the articles of female clothing hanging down from the roof, which I didn't even notice until she texted back. This might have gotten me in trouble with a different wife, but fortunately Cathy knows she can trust me anywhere.
;My wake-up call came extra early on Thursday, and before knew it I was back in the rental care before dawn driving to Pensacola to fly through Atlanta to Flint, MI, where I would drive 2 hours to my last stop for the month. Although it was a lot of travel I had no other work scheduled that day so it was mostly relaxing, especially since I had just scored Gold Medallion status with Delta and received a free upgrade to first class! After driving through some beautiful rolling hills and farmland of central Michigan, I pulled into the grounds of the most beautiful Comfort Inn I've stayed at which was the one in Mt. Pleasant, located adjacent to the campus of Central Michigan University. I was in town to speak at the last day of Labelle (hotel) Management's week-long "Labelle University" which is one of the best such in-house training programs I've seen. Although my team had KTN has been providing reservations mystery shopping services for Labelle, they have done their training in-house so we had not yet had the chance to meet in person. It was really wonderful to meet contacts such as Glen Stanton, their Hotel Division Manager, who took me out to dinner that evening. We have really enjoyed having them as a client and they have been a wonderful partner to have a chance to serve. The audience the next day for my program on current sales, RM, and guest service trends called "Cooking UP New Sales" included not only their "graduates" from the in-house program, but also most of their GM's and corporate contacts. Here is a picture of me with the group that day:
Afterwards I had a chance to stay for lunch and enjoyed getting to know everyone that much more. I only wish I could have brought Cathy along and stayed over for the weekend, as they had me in a very nice suite with as large of a jacuzzi as I've ever had and there seemed to be a lot of fun activities and music venues for the weekend. Instead I headed out for the two hour drive back to Detroit and my non-stop flight home for the weekend.
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