On The Road To Orlando, Dallas, South Beach Miami, Lakeville, PA, and Annapolis, MD
After my rewarding and enjoyable but long business travel journey to conduct the November training dates in Moscow, Russia and Kiev, Ukraine, it was a wonderful feeling to be back home in South Florida for the Monday starting the week of Thanksgiving. Since the public schools were out of session for the week, my 13 year old daughter and her mom were off to New York City for her first ever visit. I would myself normally be heading off to my wife Cathy’s family farm in the Poconos of PA for the Thanksgiving holiday. But after so long on the road, I was glad that Cathy was so understanding of my need to just be staying put in one place for a week, and the special “guys time” with my son Adam made it all that much more rewarding.
Although the business travel can sometimes interrupt and interfere with family life, I am always grateful for the long stretches I get at home. Adam and I had a great time just hanging out, playing video games on Wii, and doing guy-stuff. The weather was wonderful too and it was great to be wearing shorts and sandals most of the week this time of year. By the weekend, my Julia was back home too, and the three of us enjoyed our tradition of decorating the Christmas Tree and starting holiday preparations on the weekend. Here’s a picture of us starting to decorate:
Although it was only a week, it felt like I had been a kid again on Summer vacation. So with Cathy still on the farm, and with Adam and Julia back to school, I was well-rested when I hit the road again. My first stop was a short drive to Orlando on Monday, where the next day I was to train the newly hired call center reservations agents at Travel Click’s new third party call center in Orlando. It was a blessing to have such a wonderful group of enthusiastic participants, who were on their second day on the job as the founding team for this new call center and the day passed quickly and I was back in my minivan to drive home to South Florida Tuesday night. On Wednesday morning I was back at the airport for an easy flight to Dallas, where I was to again train a group of brand new reservations sales agents, this time for the new staff of Synxis, who where brought on as a group to for an exciting new account they had, the Fontainebleau Hotel in South Beach. It seemed a little odd on one level to be in Dallas training a team on how to sell such a familiar local Iconic hotel, but when I met the team that Synxis had recruited for the task, I could easily see they were going to be very successful.
After these two back-to-back trips I was once again back in town, and thanks to that I live close enough to my next two clients on the schedule, I was home for two weeks. The first week was mostly an office week of catch-up. The second week was one I had blocked out a long time ago, which was the week of the Middle School Band concerts on Monday and Tuesday, and my son Adam’s performance in the holiday play put on by his performing arts school. On Monday and Tuesday I reported dutifully as a band-parent volunteer to help their band teacher get the 90+ beginning band students from 3 periods organized into the semblance of a symphonic band. I can tell you I learned a lot that day from Ms. Weiss and the other parent-volunteers. I spent most of the two days serving as the enforcer of time-out sentences and reminding band students how they have to “bring it” every day. After that I felt like my job of running a hotel industry training company was an easy job for sure. Here’s a picture of my kids at their band concert:
After the band concert Tuesday night I headed down to South Beach Miami, which although it was only a 35 minute drive, was where I wanted to be sleeping over to make sure I was ready for another day of training on Wednesday morning. What a great day it was training the front desk, reservations, and sales department teams of the South Seas Resort and the Avalon Hotel South Beach. I have to say honestly that I was pleasantly surprised at how especially interested and engaged the group was that day, since sometimes the labor market in South Beach Miami can be somewhat transient and generally not too interested in the hospitality industry as a career choice. Yet I found myself training a group of about 10 people, most of which had at least 5 or 10 years of experience working in their current positions. It was very energizing. Here’s a picture of me with the group that day:
We ended early enough that I had time to head back home, pick-up my wife Cathy after her workday, and head to see Adam in his stage debut in the musical show they put on called “Crazy Camp,.” We were all so proud of how well he had memorized his speaking lines and the songs and movements. But I was especially proud to see how much energy he put into the show and his stage presence.
After the show I had to head right back to South Beach Miami, this time to conduct training for one of my call center clients – Denihan Hospitality. Their call center agents were on a FAM and training tour of the company’s latest acquired new hotel, The Royal Palm South Beach. It was wonderful to conduct the training that afternoon. For one, I had the chance to bring Vanessa, Samantha, and Karla from our KTN team to attend the training, which was a great chance to get them out to interact. Also, it was great to reconnect with my client and good friend Stephane Mozziconacci, who is now their Director of Revenue Management but who is also one of the best rooms operations managers I have ever met. Best of all perhaps was seeing some of the same reservations agents in this new context; participants I have had in my workshops for over 20 years. Here are some pictures of us that day:
After finishing up with a cocktail reception at Royal Palm, I headed for a very short drive a few blocks north to stay over and to conduct the second half of the training for South Seas Resorts on Friday. Here’s my picture with the second group at South Seas Resort:
By Friday night and for most of the weekend I found myself in the madness of Christmas shopping at the local malls and stores, getting ready for the big day now only 10 days away. Good thing Cathy was back in town to help, and we got all of the gifts purchased or ordered online on just two days. Sunday night I was back in a rental car headed for a relatively short drive to The Peabody Orlando, where I was to conduct training for their PBX/Communications Department, which like so many traditional PBX/Telephone Operators departments is taking on a new role as the “storefront window” to the hotel. I also conducted a half-day workshop for the newly hired reservations sales agents at the Peabody Hotels call center, which is based in Orlando. As always it was an extremely welcoming reception at The Peabody, just as most every guest receives. Everything was enjoyable, from the food and beverage I enjoyed at their new bar called ROCKS, to the two classes I facilitated the next day. Here’s my picture with the afternoon group:
As the day ended, I was right on time to turn in my one-way rental car at the Orlando Airport, and to take my flight to Scranton, PA, where another rental car was waiting for me to drive about an hour to back to another visit at The Cove Haven Resorts in central PA. This being my third visit, I knew upon arrival I would have a lighted fireplace, my own private indoor pool in my suite, and other amenities. But best of all I knew I would be working with one of the best call center teams in the business, lead by one of the very best call center directors I have ever known, Mary Ann Olver, who’s incredible energy and enthusiasm is mirrored by her staff. Due to my very very late arrival, Mary Ann even had arranged for my workshops to start a little later the next day, at 11am and when I finished training that same night at 10pm I felt like the goals for 2011 had been accomplished. Next day it was just a half-day workshop left, and I knew the participants would be into it and easy to work with. Thanks once again to the dual travel angels that I carry on each shoulder, I was once again blessed with great weather (considering) and road conditions as I faced a 4 hour drive to Annapolis, MD for my final business trip of the year. The purpose was to visit the headquarters office of Thayer Hospitality Management for a pre-training consultation with the asset managers who have engaged KTN to present a customized training on the topic of front desk upselling for the coming year 2012.
They were very personable, warm, and accommodating, and the meeting even ended a little early since we were all efficient and prepared. Soon enough I was back onboard my favorite airline – Delta – headed home for over two weeks to Ft. Lauderdale/Hollywood, to the welcoming arms of Cathy my wife and with the kids soon to arrive to our house the next day from their mom’s house for our Christmas Holidays. On the flight I felt the adrenaline level drop, and my mind moved to a more meditative and restive state to take a break for a while with family and to remember why we as business travelers do all that we do, which is to provide for the ones at home. I was thankful in my heart to have been blessed with such a “busy” Thanksgiving and Christmas holiday season, and thankful for all of the many clients that made 2011 a prosperous year and allowed for the kids to have their Christmas wish lists be fulfilled.
By Friday night and for most of the weekend I found myself in the madness of Christmas shopping at the local malls and stores, getting ready for the big day now only 10 days away. Good thing Cathy was back in town to help, and we got all of the gifts purchased or ordered online on just two days. Sunday night I was back in a rental car headed for a relatively short drive to The Peabody Orlando, where I was to conduct training for their PBX/Communications Department, which like so many traditional PBX/Telephone Operators departments is taking on a new role as the “storefront window” to the hotel. I also conducted a half-day workshop for the newly hired reservations sales agents at the Peabody Hotels call center, which is based in Orlando. As always it was an extremely welcoming reception at The Peabody, just as most every guest receives. Everything was enjoyable, from the food and beverage I enjoyed at their new bar called ROCKS, to the two classes I facilitated the next day. Here’s my picture with the afternoon group:
As the day ended, I was right on time to turn in my one-way rental car at the Orlando Airport, and to take my flight to Scranton, PA, where another rental car was waiting for me to drive about an hour to back to another visit at The Cove Haven Resorts in central PA. This being my third visit, I knew upon arrival I would have a lighted fireplace, my own private indoor pool in my suite, and other amenities. But best of all I knew I would be working with one of the best call center teams in the business, lead by one of the very best call center directors I have ever known, Mary Ann Olver, who’s incredible energy and enthusiasm is mirrored by her staff. Due to my very very late arrival, Mary Ann even had arranged for my workshops to start a little later the next day, at 11am and when I finished training that same night at 10pm I felt like the goals for 2011 had been accomplished. Next day it was just a half-day workshop left, and I knew the participants would be into it and easy to work with. Thanks once again to the dual travel angels that I carry on each shoulder, I was once again blessed with great weather (considering) and road conditions as I faced a 4 hour drive to Annapolis, MD for my final business trip of the year. The purpose was to visit the headquarters office of Thayer Hospitality Management for a pre-training consultation with the asset managers who have engaged KTN to present a customized training on the topic of front desk upselling for the coming year 2012.
They were very personable, warm, and accommodating, and the meeting even ended a little early since we were all efficient and prepared. Soon enough I was back onboard my favorite airline – Delta – headed home for over two weeks to Ft. Lauderdale/Hollywood, to the welcoming arms of Cathy my wife and with the kids soon to arrive to our house the next day from their mom’s house for our Christmas Holidays. On the flight I felt the adrenaline level drop, and my mind moved to a more meditative and restive state to take a break for a while with family and to remember why we as business travelers do all that we do, which is to provide for the ones at home. I was thankful in my heart to have been blessed with such a “busy” Thanksgiving and Christmas holiday season, and thankful for all of the many clients that made 2011 a prosperous year and allowed for the kids to have their Christmas wish lists be fulfilled.
Comments