After having just returned from the Outer Banks of NC (OBX) the week before, next up was a trip to the “Southern Outer Banks” SoOBX I suppose!  The occasion was to conduct training for the two largest vacation rental companies on Emerald Isle, both of which I have trained numerous times over the years.

First up was a day of hospitality training for Bluewater Vacations.  My good friend and client Kelly Nicholson who is the Rental Manager there had arranged for me to conduct two half-day hospitality training workshops for their entire guest services team, including housekeeping, maintenance, front desk, accounting, homeowner relations, even their real estate sales team attended.  It was especially impressive that Kevin Futral and Patrick Futral who are partners in the business and in charge of the construction and operations attended the who session.  They even participated in all the activities and training exercises.  Here are pictures of me with the two groups that day:

Kelly had me staying at a small motel they manage there called the Islander Inn, which was a terrific little gem of a property tucked off the main road and with an amazing view of the ocean.  The rooms were beautiful  efficiencies.  Interestingly, Kelly shared with me that she basically grew up at the inn as her childhood sweetheart’s parents originally owned the property.  She even learned to swim in the pool and beach there.  Here’s a picture of me with Kelly and also of my view in the evening.  I was trying to capture a picture of the pod of dolphins swimming and feeding in the waves right before me but you cannot see them:

My next stop was Emerald Isle Vacation Rentals, which is their direct competitor just down the road.  Impressively, these two companies work very well together when needed.  They obviously understand the benefits of working with – not against – the competitors for the good of the overall destination.  They realize that “the rising tide floats all boats” in the destination, and that the real competitors are often other destinations more so than the resort operator down the street.  This was demonstrated a couple of different ways.  First, my contacts at Emerald Isle called Kelly to arrange for me to stay on  in their Inn, so that I would not have to change rooms, which was extremely convenient and appreciated.  Secondly, Kelly then offered-up the use of her meeting room at the Islander Inn, to make it even more convenient, even though it ended up that the Emerald Isle folks had already arranged a meeting location very close by. 

 The next morning I awoke with extra enthusiasm as I was going to be training my dear friends at Emerald Isle, especially Jamie and Julie Wax and their husbands Nathan and Mark.  It is always an uplifting experience to be a part of their company for just one day as it is a caring and compassionate company.  This obviously has a benefit of attracting like-minded staff who are extremely dedicated and committed to the hospitality business.  Best of all was that both Jamie and Julie attended my full day workshop and participated fully.  This despite that both of them have been through my programs countless times, either during private sessions for their company or at the training sessions I’ve done for the Vacation Rental Manager’s Association.  Julie even invited me to come and visit with my family this summer and I just might take her up on that!  Here’s a picture of me with my group that day and then one with me and Jamie Wax.