Having started the month on the road with Colleen in the middle of conducting  a week-long program at the Superclubs call center in Runaway Bay, Jamaica, September was to bring me to a diversity of locations once again.

My second trip for the month took me back for a ride down “memory lane,” as I was headed to Orlando to conduct training for the Walt Disney World Swan & Dolphin Resort near EPCOT.   I was glad to have a trip within the region, which enabled me to drive up from Ft. Lauderdale/Hollywood and also to bring along two of our key executives from KTN, including Karla DeCastro, our Administrative Manager, and also Kat Olarte, one of our Reservations Coaches who is also understudying  to be a KTN trainer.  This was a great opportunity for them to see one of the top resort call centers in our industry and also to meet some very long-term client friends of mine.

Having been conducting training for the Swan and Dolphin since the early 1990’s, it was exciting to see so many of my client friends there such as Cristina Chylinska, the Reservations Manager, and also Margo Napoli-Bryant, the Group Reservations Manager.   It was also wonderful to meet new contacts, especially Kushan Abayesekera, who took us all out for a wonderful evening of drinks and appetizers at Blue Zoo, the trendy new seafood restaurant there.

Here’s a picture of us at dinner that evening: (Left to right: Kushon Abayeserkera, Director of Revenue, Paul, Reservations Supervisor, Kat and Karla from KTN, Margo Napoli-Bryant, Group Reservations Manager, Karen, Reservations Supervisor, and Doug.)

                                                       

The next day we conducted two, half-day workshops for their entire reservations team and had a wonderfully engaging time.  About half of the team had been  through my training probably a dozen times, yet they seemed very eager to participate once again as always.  Here’s a picture of us with the two groups that day:

                           

                           

Cristina, who has worked at the hotel for well over a decade, is always fun to work with and I admire here incredible organizational skills and her enthusiasm.  I will always appreciate how wonderfully supportive was this past June when I had to call to reschedule the workshop just 3 days out due to my Dad’s passing.  Here’s a picture of her doing  her “Charlie’s Angels” moves with Kat and Karla:(From Left, Karla, Cristina, Doug, Kat.)

                                                      

Next up on my dance card was my third visit to Brett-Robinson Vacation Rentals in Gulf Shores, AL, who is now registered for our Annual Training Plan so I’ll be seeing them throughout the year.  It is wonderful to see how so many of the long-term reservations sales agents there are excited about their new goals, call standards, and the training plan we have them on.  I look forward to making many more entries about their  success stores this coming year.

My last trip of the month started with a cross-continent non-stop flight from Ft.  Lauderdale to Los Angeles, where I rented a car and began the 2 hour drive up to Big Bear Lake, CA.  This was to be my first time visiting, although I had met the client contacts Monique Rangel and Rebecca Hrabia two years ago at the CRADR (destination call center) conference. I know Monique and Rebecca have been pushing for this training diligently ever since that time and so it  was very exciting to receive Monique’s call.  Through their offices at the Big Bear Lake Resort Visitor’s Association they were able to organize and market an area-wide reservations training session which was attended by about 35 participants from area lodging facilities.  This included a diversity of companies ranging from large to small, including resorts, B&B’s, and several mountain cabin rental companies. 

The participants were really wonderful that day and all very eager to participate in our day of interactive activities and exercises.  The group was so large that I had to take several pictures to include  them all.  In the first picture, on my immediate left, you can see Monique and then Rebecca.  
                                                                                                                                                                                                       

                       

                       


                       

At the end  of the workshop I decided to drive back down the mountain to Ontario, CA, since I had such an early morning flight back home.  As I descended the 7,000 feet of elevation down the mountain around  sunset, I felt very blessed to have a job that takes me to such incredibly beautiful and diverse places every month.  Although it doesn’t begin to capture the beauty of Big Bear Lake, CA, here’s a picture I took on my drive back home:

                          

With the end of the month involving so much travel, it was nice to have another full week in the office to work on some special projects with the team.  We also got to host Angela from Brett-Robinson, who has just been promoted to trainer and coach for their reservations center.  She was in town to be trained by our reservations coaches on setting up her own in-house program for call monitoring and coaching. 

It was also nice that my next trip was the highlight of our summer, which what has become an annual summer beach vacation with two other families we are friendly with from our kids Elementary school who have children the same ages.  It was really great to have a fully equipped luxury vacation condo, and each family took turns cooking a different night so it was never too stressful to feed such a large gang.  Plus the parents got their own table too!   Here’s a picture of most of the kids from our summer vacation.  (Adam and Julia are on the far right side.)  

                                            

Here’s a picture of our family on the beach:

                                            

In addition to having the wonderful resort and beach to enjoy, we also had a great location.  Cathy and I took the kids one day to visit Kennedy Space Center, and a second day all the families went to historic St. Augustine to visit.  I hadn’t been there for many years and was very impressed by how beautiful this quaint and historic gem was.  Being the oldest city in the USA, we got to see some interesting museums and attractions.  It’s definitely a place I’d return to with just Cathy to visit the museums, pubs and restaurants, or equally as eagerly with the whole family to spend more time at the museums. 

After dropping the kids back to their mom, Cathy and I each had only 24 hours to get ready to depart on business trips.  Hers was to visit the Marriott Headquarters in Bethesda, MD, which was also going to extend into attending a weekend visit for which I would be joining her.  As it was we both headed to the airport together since our flights were only 30 minutes apart.  We were both surprised to note that we were connecting through Atlanta, although on different flights, and would be able to meet for dinner during our layover, which was a very nice bonus.

I continued on to the Florida Panhandle, where I was to conduct pre-conference workshop and then do the opening Keynote for the Florida Vacation Rental Manager’s Association’s annual meeting.  Unbeknownst to me, I was flying right into the path of a just-named tropical depression named Claudette.  It was to hit later that evening.   As I was getting about 30 minutes out in my rental car I noticed how completely calm the weather was which seemed odd. I then turned on the radio and heard the announcement that the storm was to hit between Navarre Beach (which I had just crossed into) and Destin (which was my destination) at 11:30pm.  I looked at my clock and it said 11:25pm.  You can guess the rest of the story, and it did get a bit nasty as I was arriving.  Knowing the winds of this category storm cap out at about 50 MPH, I knew it couldn’t be to bad, but you can imagine it did add some adrenaline to the equation! 

The next day I had a wonderful time conducting the training for the 25 participants who had registered for my pre-conference workshop, and then catching up with many clients and friends at the FVRMA.  It was also great to meet new people, especially some of the interesting new suppliers who were there such as Jeremiah Gall, founder of the new FlipKey guest review site focusing on vacation rental companies, who has since gone into partnership with TripAdvisor.  It was also interesting to hear and meet other presenters such as Robert Kall, Presidentof Bookt, which is electronic distribution and branding specialist.  I have to say that I think this year’s conference planning committee did an excellent job putting together the agenda.   Here’s a picture of me with Paul Hayes, from RentKeyWest, who is this year’s FVRMA President right after my speech:  

                                                 

It was not by accident that my next stop was back home, which is where I needed to be for  the next two days as both Julia and Adam were about to start new schools, with Julia going into Middle School now.  Thankfully it all worked out that I was able to be there for
the Orientation on both days.  Here’s a picture of Julia and Adam in front of their new schools:  

                            

Next up was a quick trip for me to meet up with my wife Cathy in Washington, DC, where her business trip was now over.  Thankfully my flight was on time and we got a decent night’s sleep, because the next day we had a 2 hour drive to a remote area of Eastern Virginia, near where The Potomac River meets the Chesapeake Bay.  The 2 hours was just to the hotel, and thanks to Cathy we had left extra early, because the traffic and weather would be working against us.  After getting to our Holiday Inn Express room, we had about 4 hours to get ready for the 45 minute drive to the wedding.  Yet with each passing hour the rain intensified.  It was then that I turned on the Weather Channel and saw that for the second time in a week I going to be driving right into a tropical storm!  This time it was the outer bands of the power Hurricane Bill, which thankfully was a couple hundred miles due East, but still close enough to cause torrential rains which we had to drive through.  But then once we were there the storm passed, the wedding was beautiful, and we had a great time catching up with some of Cathy’s closest friends.  Since our flights back weren’t until Monday,  we even had a beautiful summer Sunday afternoon to visit Georgetown and some of the cafes and stores there.    Here’s a picture of Cathy and I before the wedding:  
                                                              

It was good to be back for most of the last week of August, which coincided with the kids first days of school.  Thankfully they are both doing really well at adjusting, which I was especially concerned for our Julia since she is also in the Honors program and has a huge academic load plus band.  But she is making it just fine and doing well. We are very blessed to have them both as our children.

August just wouldn’t give up before calling be back to the road once more, but I can’t complain too much about the travel since the destination was Runaway Bay, Jamaica, where I would be conducting training for the agents and managers of the reservations call center for SuperClubs, a resort hotel company having a diversity of upscale, all-inclusive, resorts throughout Jamaica, the Caribbean, and more recently in Brazil. 

This four night trip began on the last Sunday in August. Since we are now working so closely with this client on many levels, I also brought along Colleen Tuttle, our Managing Director, as she will be overseeing the monitoring-based reservations assessment and coaching reports which KTN will be producing in moving forward.  As soon as Colleen and I met-up with Sonia Hosein and Marjorie Garcia, the two executives from the Superclubs corporate office in Hollywood, FL office who would be traveling with us, we new we were going to have a wonderful time for the upcoming week.  Since their offices are located right here in Hollywood near ours, it was nice to be able to travel together to Breezes Runaway Bay resort, which is only minutes from their call center. 

Colleen and I had a wonderful time conducting the full-day workshops for the agents on Monday and Tuesday, and then also training their managers and supervisors on Wednesday.  What a special group of people they have on their team. They were one of the most enthusiastic, receptive, and interactive groups we’ve had in a long time and they really seemed to buy-into the main concepts of conversational selling from our SAILS program.  Here’s a picture of Colleen and I with our groups those days:

                                                        

                                                        

                                                       
 
                                                       
           
Since we were all staying at the same resort, it nice spending time socializing with Sonia and Marjorie during dinner and into the early evening.  The last two nights we were even joined by some of the managers and supervisors from the Superclubs call centers for dinner at the resort. On the last night, our entire group of about 8 attended the resort’s evening “Showtime” event, which included a trivia contest that Colleen won by a storm!  Although our evening included the group going to the disco followed by the piano bar, Colleen was back in that training room at 8am, as she’d volunteered to do a make-up session for two of the participants who missed the first part of the workshop, 90 minutes before the rest!  After our final workshop for the managers and a quick lunch at the resort’s buffet, Colleen and I had the rest of the afternoon off to visit a few of the sites and shops in Ocho Rios.  After meeting up with our companions for a final dinner back at Breezes Runaway Bay, we were all ready to turn in early for our early morning flight back.  Here’s a picture of Colleen and with with Sonia Hosein, Vice President of Distribution Operations, and Marjorie Garcia, Customer Service Manager:

                                              

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:

                                              :

After the blur of traveling to six cities in March, I was glad to see my travel schedule ease-up a bit for April. Aside from some regional sales calls, my only official trip brought me back to Duck, NC to once again work with Twiddy & Co., who is fast becoming our poster-child for reservations sales success. This being my third trip back after already conducting two rounds of reservations sales and e-mail sales workshops, I was very anxious to hear how things were progressing. It was really great to hear the good news from Jon Summerton, their VP of Operations, that they had been significantly increasing booking pace every month so far this year. Whereas they reported being about 25% behind booking pace for the summer 2009 season last December when we first started conducting the training and mystery shopping, through a lot of hard work on all levels they had amazingly drawn within striking distance of pace vs, last year. This was especially great news since I’ve grown quite attached to this client company and the wonderful people there. (By the way, if you're looking for a unique vacation opportunity this summer I would definitely suggest visiting them online at: www.Twiddy.com

This time I was there to conduct the hospitality and guest service training which was to be attended by the whole company, including housekeeping, maintenance, accounting, homeowner services, and of course the front desk reception team. It was really a great couple of days seeing so many familiar faces and also meeting some new ones. Below are some pictures from my trip. The first one is with their rental manager and supervisors who worked so very diligently to coach, train, and fully optimize their team (left to right): Lori, Linda Flannery (Rental Manager), Joanne, and Sara. 

                                              

Here’s a picture of me with some of my favorite participants (from left): Brooke, Courtney, Sara, Melanie, Jennie and Kristie.

                                      

Ron from maintainence was a little making it out for our first picture, so he got to do his very own photo shoot, which something tells me he must have really enjoyed!

                                      

Other than my week in NC, it was great to spend the rest of the month training our own new staff at KTN, as our little mystery shopping business is really growing now and we needed to add several new positions.  During this time in the office we were also able to forge ahead with our International expansion plans in Europe and elsehwere. 

It was also really great to be in town for some important school events. I got to see my son Adam earn a "Kids of Character" award and also my daughter Julia get another A Honor Roll recognition. I was also very happy to be in town for the annual Hollywood Hills Elementary Field Days event. Here are pictures of me with Adam and Julia that day:

                                                

                                                

                                                  

After returning from my long trip to Brazil, it was good to have the rest of February off the road, especially as I looked ahead to my extensive travel schedule for March.  My travels for the month began on the very first day of March when my alarm went off at 3:45am for my day-trip to Raleigh, NC, where I was to be a keynote speaker for the North Carolina Restaurant & Lodging Association’s annual conference.  I normally would have flown up the night before for such an engagement, but since my presentation wasn’t until 3:20pm I decided to save the association some lodging costs and to fly in and out of Raleigh on the same day. Although I usually check the weather channel before my trips, especially this time of year, it was a late night with Cathy and the kids and I never go around to doing so. Sometimes ignorance is bliss though, as had I checked I would have found about the major snow and ice storm converging on Raleigh!

About 5:20am while seated comfortably in my Delta flight to Atlanta, where I would connect on to Raleigh, I decided to take a quick peek at my Blackberry before dozing off for the flight.  That’s when I saw the message about my return flight that same evening being rescheduled for the same time – tomorrow evening!  Since I had no clothes nor toiletries, I knew this just wouldn’t work.  With the boarding door closing, I had just enough time to find learn out about the approach storming on the mobile-phone Internet.  Of all my travel essentials, my “estimated driving time” map has perhaps proven to be the most invaluable, and it certainly was that day as I immediately began thinking of alternate airports.

When we landed in Atlanta and I headed straight for the terminal monitors only to find that all three of the remaining flights to Raleigh were canceled!  Thanks to my well-worn driving distance map, I knew Greensboro was only 70 minutes away; seeing a flight departing for there in 30 minutes I bypassed the usual re-ticketing desk and instead grabbed one of the last seats.  Upon arrival I headed straight to Delta counter to see about my return flight, which was now postponed 24 hours.  Spiderman has his Spidey Senses, but Doug Kennedy as his travel angels which delivered me to a very nice Delta Airlines agent who was patient enough to check every possible option, including other airlines.  I couldn’t believe it when she came up with an AA non-stop back to Miami – close enough for a cab ride home – which was rare from a smaller airport like Raleigh.  (When I later heard how many passengers were stranded in Atlanta, Charlotte and elsewhere in the ice storm that night I felt even more fortunate to have made it home.)

With the travel stress now behind me, I headed over to the Marriott Raleigh Convention CenterlaceType> for the NC Restaurant & Lodging Association’s annual conference I was feeling much better now.  This conference was a special event, as it for was the first since the Restaurant and Lodging associations had merged.  Despite the late time slot on a Sunday afternoon, I was very happy to see that the room was mostly full for my session on Cooking UP New Sales.  This presentation turned out to be well-named for the occasion. Normally, it is a model where we use cooking and fine dinging analogies in exploring sales fundamentals.  Since this audience included several catering salespersons from restaurants, the theme worked especially well this time! (A picture of me with my main contact at NCRLA, Alyssa Barkley, can be seen above.) 

After making it home in time for a decent night’s sleep, I enjoyed an entire week in the office working with my team of KTN superstars which seems to be bonding more and more these days.  Knowing that I was about to head out on the road for three work weeks, Colleen suggested that I was time for KTN to have one of those off-premise team-bonding events.  But it was me that suggested the place which happens to be my wife’s favorite spot especially on weekend afternoons where you can always hear live Latin influenced bands and performers.  This time it was just me and the team, as Cathy was still at work.  Here’s a picture of our team that day from left to right:  Kathleen (Kat), Karla, and Colleen.

                                               
Monday morning I headed off early for my next stop, which was to work once again with one an old client and friend Ned Williams, who had about a year ago joined Brittain Hotel Management as their VP of Operations for their 9 resorts and also golf club operations.  I had known Ned from when he had the same title with Flagstone Hotels, which was at one time a major client of my first company; although we’d spoken by phone we hadn’t seen one another in person for several years. Since this was to be four straight days of on-site training for the on-site reservations teams, I had planned to head up early for an introductory meeting with his GM’s and corporate team.

Unlike my Raleigh trip, I did check the weather in advance and it was a beautiful day to fly.  The travel gods must have been laughing on this day, as it turned out that both of my flights experienced mechanical delays of a few hours each.  By the time I arrived it was too late to meet with the GM’s, but we were able to reschedule it during my visit.

It was very exciting to work with the room reservations and golf reservations sales agents from their nine resorts. I had a chance to also meet some very bright, talented and up-and-coming managers from Ned’s properties.  As of this writing, Ned and his team at Brittain management has ratcheted-up their level of focus and commitment to our training and mystery shopping, so I’m looking forward to two additional rounds of training in May and June.  Here’s a picture of me with the four groups from my full-day workshops.
                                                 

                                                

                                               

                                              

                                                

Here’s a picture of me with my client and good friend Ned Williams, V.P. of Operations right before I headed out to the airport:


                                              

It was good to be home for the weekend with Cathy and the kids, especiallu since it was St. Patrick’s Day and we got to take them to the annual parade in Downtown Hollywood, FL on a beautiful spring Sunday afternoon.

As I headed back out on Monday morning I was excited to be FINALLY working with a hotel company which I’ve pursued as a client for many years, which is Rosewood Hotels & Resorts.  Actually Rosewood had been a client of my first company and I remember well mailing them packages of cassette tapes with mystery shopping for Caneel Bay and Little Dix Resorts.  I also had many of their reservations managers attend our various public-venue training workshops over the years, but until now I had never had the chance to conduct private training for them.

This was an extra special engagement as I was also extra special, as I would have the opportunity to reconnect with another former client and friend, Lauri Graves, who is now the Director of Reservations and Channel Management for Rosewood. I had known Lauri when she was one of the Regional Directors of Revenue for Wyndham Hotels & Resorts in the late 1990’s and early Millennial years.  Here’s a picture of me with Lauri the week of the training:

                                                                       

It was also exciting to be a guest of a Rosewood property for the first time ever, and to have my first experience there be at one of their flagship properties The Mansion at Turtle Creek.  During my visit I learned that the Mansion is actually built over a real mansion, and the architectural style such that the hotel blended in with the quiet residential area to the point where you couldn’t really tell it was a hotel at a glance. The service was also very authentic and genuine, the true mark of a grand hotel, since they are mostly all good at service efficiency.  Although I didn’t get to stay at the Hotel Crescent Court, we did take a tour as part of our KTN training.  This hotel on the other hand was connected directly to of the most prestigious office and retail shopping complexes in the Dallas area.  Here’s a picture of the Hotel Crescent Court with the complex in the foreground:
                    
                                                           

Over the next two days I conducted training for the agents at the Rosewood  Hotels & Resorts reservations office in Dallas.  What an interesting and  well-traveled team they have there.  Most of the agents had been to most of the North American and Carribean properties and really knew their product.  Here's a picture of me with my groups each day:

                                             

                     
                                            

After finishing up my second day of training I was excited to be headed to DFW airport and thankful that one of the participants even dropped me off personally right at the terminal.  It's always great to return home but this time I was returning to my original home in Lexington, KY.  Although I have resided in Hollywood/Ft. Lauderdale for 23 years now and thus lived here longer, Lexington KY will always be my "true" home.  I was able to once again see my father George, who continues to amaze us all with his courage and will to live on despite his health challenges.  Best of all, I was able to be there for my Sister Kathy's birthday, which was the first time in decades since I was able to share this with her.  Here's a picture of my sister Kathy Bolton with my Brother-In-Law Don Bolton at dinner that night.  (I think the waitress sent out the wrong candles though!) 

                                                                 
After my visit to Lexington I headed home for the weekend and had just enough time to do some chores, unpack and then repack before heading out again on Monday.  My next trip was to work with a new KTN client which is also new to the hotel industry, a company called Customer Direct in Chesterfield, MO.  This client had identified us as a resource from reading some of my recent hotel training articles.  Although they were an established third party voice reservations call center of over 200 agents, they had so far focused on other industries such as retail fulfillment and customer service for cable companies, although they had worked with hotels to provide WiFi tech support call servicing.  Although they had just taken on reservations for their first hotel client and had gone live only two weeks prior to my arrival, they seemed to already have the basics down very well and their call conversion numbers had already increased from the previous supplier to prove it.  We had a very interesting couple of days of training and it was clearly evident they had done an excellent job in the recruitment and selection process.  Here’s a picture of me with my groups that day:

                                                           

                                              

Besides meeting their staff, it was especially wonderful getting to know their President, Rob Nolan, and also their VP of Sales, Charlie Noonan.  I knew we were off to a great start when they took me to dinner at a sports bar and were happy when I wanted to eat at the bar.  (It was after all still March Madness!)

After arriving back home late Wednesday night it was time for some real travel fun for a change!  Since the kids had four day weekend this year,  right after breakfast we loaded up the car and drove up to Orlando to stay at The Peabody Hotel once again and to visit Disney World with one of our best family-friends.  Here's our kids' picture with their friends right after the Peabody Duck march in the lobby:

                                            

Having had nearly two weeks at home base, the road was calling once again as I headed off for my first trip of the month, back to Duck, NC to conduct some additional training for Twiddy & Company, which is arguably one of the very best vacation rental management companies in the industry.  This was a follow-up engagement for the four days of consulting and training I had provided in December.  (See OTR December, 2008)  Once again, the leadership team at Twiddy & Co. extended the same warm and generous hospitality as during my first visit.

First of all, they put me in just the perfect home for my stay.   The home was perfect because for one of the few times ever I was able to bring along my wife Cathy on a business trip, thanks to her having to finally use stored-up vacation time before it expires!)  As it turned out, one of her closest friends Lisa was going to be in the area visiting her boyfriend Bill’s mom that same weekend and they were able to stay an extra night to help us enjoy our fabulous vacation home.  Here’s a link to the house we stayed in:  Link Celtic Shore home

After finishing two straight days of training I was really looking forward to having the weekend off with Bill and Lisa visiting.  Having mentioned this, the next thing I knew the Vice President of Twiddy & Co. Jon was offering-up his company SUV for us to take a drive up the natural beaches north of Corolla where we could see wild horses roaming the beach.  Next day our party arrived at the Twiddy check-in office to find Jon’s SUV ready for our adventure.  He even had the air partially let out of the tires and the gas tank full; we headed north only a mile or so more to “the end of the road” where you drive right on to the beach.

I have to admit Bill and I had enjoyed a couple of beers as he shared some incredible stories about his experience in Army Special Forces in the early 1980’s, so the girls had to drive.  As it turned out my wife was a quick learner about the four wheel drive stuff; must come from all her experience driving tractors and trucks on her family farm in PA.  I have to say she really did enjoy going over those bumps, and probably at a few miles faster than Jon usually drives on the beach!  The weather was perfect that day and it felt like spring.  I couldn’t believe the flocks of sea birds that were feasting right off shore, as the sun set over the sand dunes to the west.   We all wanted to see one of the wild horses, and we stopped at a spot that looked westward into what seemed like an endless skyline of sand dunes and sea oats. Although we did see a lot of tracks, we didn’t see the wild horses this time. Before heading back we took a great picture of us right on the beach in front of the Jon’s Twiddy Truck, but it somehow got deleted.  So the only picture we have from the whole trip was this one of Cathy and her friend Lisa on "one of" our balconies: 

                                                 

After getting back from NC it was good to be home for a week before heading out, especially with Valentines Day coming up with Cathy and the kids.  Cathy made this Valentine’s Day one to remember by bringing a new member into the Kennedy household, which is Max, our new Teacup Maltese pet.  Here’s a picture of us at the pet shop:

                                              

As the President’s Day weekend wound down, I geared up for my last trip of the month, which was to conduct four days of training and consulting for the Pegasus Solutions/UniRez reservations office in Sao  Paulo, Brazil.  It was exciting to be working with Pegasus again, as I’ve been conducting training for their third party call centers since they got into the business in the early 1990’s.  This office had just been expanded to take on some new accounts, so it was an exciting time for the 35 new agents who had been working there about three months so far.

Living in South Florida, where we have such a large Brazilian community that includes Sergio my neighbor and even Karla from our KTN team, I was excited to be able to experience it firsthand.  Although I’ve been to Mexico and Central America, it was also exciting to be taking my first ever trip to South America as well.  I’m sure I was the only business traveler taking pictures out the window that day as I snapped this picture out the window of the Amazon River: 
 
                                                      

Upon landing I was thankful for the gracious hospitality of my client contact, Adriana Benavente, the call center’s director, who had pre-arranged my ground transportation and lodging.  Having lived in New York and South Florida so long I could manage to find my way around signage in Spanish, but I have to admit the Portuguese language signs were confusing for me so late at night, so it was great that all I had to do was find the taxi company’s booth.  From there I was whisked away into a clean taxi with a polite driver and headed straight to the laceName w:st="on">BluelaceName> laceName w:st="on">TreelaceName> laceType w:st="on">TowerslaceType> hotel, where I found myself pre-registered and pre-paid.   The staff was very friendly and accommodating and very patient with my complete lack of understanding of the language. I even had a balcony with a terrific view of the endless skyline of Sao Paulo:

The best part was the hotel  was only a short walk to the Pegasus office, which was on the Advenue Paulista which my friend Sergio had told me was one of the most prestigious addresses in the country.  As soon as I entered the Pegasus Solutions/Unirez office I knew it is a special place to work, with a very nice cafeteria, a quiet room, an awesome espresso & cappuchino maker, and best of all one day a week they even have a massage specialist on staff!  The leadership team there was amazingly energetic, upbeat, and very motivated.  Despite working extra long hours because of my training and consulting,  Adriana still found time to take me to lunch and otherwise help me find my way around the city.  Here’s a picture of me with the team on the last day, which was casual Friday:  (From left, Fernanda, Karen, Karina, Renata, and Adriana.)

With the state of the hotel industry and the economy in general being what it is these days, I was feeling more blessed than stressed as I looked at my travel schedule for the month.  Not only was it feeling good to have business during this down market, but this month’s schedule would bring me back to visit some very dear client friends.  But the best part for me was that Cathy now has so much vested vacation time that if she doesn’t start using it she’ll lose it, so she was able to come along on my last trip of the month…

After returning for a weekend at home in South Florida, I have to admit I was glad the rest of my stops for the month took me to warmer climates as my blood has thinned having lived 23 years in Florida now.

Next up was a return visit to the new Intercontinental Montelucia Spa Resort in Scottsdale, which is situated at the base of the famous and picturesque laceName w:st="on">CamelbacklaceName> laceType w:st="on">MountainlaceType>.  Despite a 3 hour mechanical flight delay, I arrived with enough time to see this beautiful new resort in its full daytime glory.  Having visited last September for the consulting phase of the project, I was now returning to conduct the actual reservations sales training for the carefully-selected team they have assembled there to provide “one stop shopping” so that guests can book their entire experience without having to be transferred.  It is nothing short of amazing that my client Jason Thielbahr was able to navigate all of the reservations systems issues necessary to accomplish this goal.   It was also amazing to see how the construction project I’d toured back than had transformed into one of most beautiful spa resorts I’ve experienced. The best part for me was the view from my room, which looked over one of the four "villages" that comprise the resort:

                                     

Understanding how long I’d been sitting on the runway, Jason invited me to experience firsthand the Montelucia’s incredible spa, providing me with the most extensive menu of services to contemplate.   Having once had a Thai massage, which his performed on a mat by a therapist while you are wearing loose fitting gym clothes, gives you all the benefits of taking a Yoga class except that someone else does all the work!  My therapist, Heather, was very experienced and one could tell she had been hand-picked from a long list of applicants.  (Now I know I have  to bring Cathy back here next time to experience this all firsthand!)  Here’s a picture of me with Heather, my therapist at the spa that evening:

After my massage and an excellent light meal, I was thrilled to be clicking through the cable channels to land on a laceType w:st="on">UniversitylaceType> of laceName w:st="on">Kentucky BasketballlaceName> game, which is always a thrill to catch my hometown (and alma matter).  Tonight was a very special game in that I got to watch one of our players – Jodie Meeks – smash through a school scoring record set by Dan Issel that had stood for 30 years.

After a great night’s sleep I was ready and excited to be meeting Jason’s agents and conducing the workshop that day.  I was not to be let down, as the group was very engaging and had lots of active participation.  I could tell right away that they understood the concepts very well and I knew they’d eventually be another “poster child” client for us.    Here’s a picture of me with the group that day.  Jason Thielbahr, Director of Revenue, can be seen on the far left of the back row; Heather Haubrich, Reservations Manager, is in the front row on the far left:
                          
                              
After Scottsdale, it was nice to be back in the state of Florida for the rest of the month.   Colleen Tuttle, our Director, and I had scheduled several webinars for the next week, including a public-venue webinar she and I conducted for hotels looking to Maximize Reservations Sales this year, as well as a private webinar we ran for the on-site reservations agents at Kimpton Hotels & Resorts.

My last trip of the month was to be a road trip, and after all the time I spend on the road alone I was so happy to be bringing my wife Cathy, who has so much vacation  time she has to use or start losing.   After work on a Wednesday, we headed up to Orlando, where our dear friend and client Barb Bowden had once again arranged  accommodations for us.  As a bonus, Cathy got to see her friend Claudia who also works for Marriott, but in the vacation ownership division, who met us for a drink in their lobby bar.  Here’s a picture of Cathy and Claudia that evening.

                                 

Next morning we took our leisurely time continuing the drive to our destination, to train the reservations team of a vacation home rental company on St. George Island, FL, which is just past “The Big Curve” as we call that part of Florida connecting the main peninsula with the panhandle.  I had never been to St. George Island before, but I knew the client very well from having met their key staff at various association meetings and public-venue training seminars I’ve presented over the past decade. 

My main contacts, Dana Ingalls, and Diana Prickett, were two of the owners I knew the best and they had decided to bring me to up train their team directly.  Since  I brought Cathy, the also gave us one of the most beautiful homes I’ve ever seen to stay in.  Our four story house had windows that were nearly floor-to-ceiling on three sides.  It also had balconies on every level overlooking the Gulf of Mexico, along with a hot tub where we could sit and look out at the stars at night.  Cathy also loved the kitchen, which was full granite counter tops and all the most modern appliances.

On Friday I just had an introductory/consultative meeting, then Cathy and I were free to enjoy our house and the beach for the rest of the day.  Here’s a picture of the beach there and also of Cathy on our walk:
                                                  

                                   

That night Dana, Diana, Beth, and several of the other key managers took us to a very special dinner of fresh Oysters, which the nearby town of Apalachicola is famous world-wide for.   The next day (Saturday) I had a wonderful time training the frontline reservations and front desk staff of Resort Vacation Properties.  Their group did about the best job I can remember at some of the exercises, such as creating alluring and enticing descriptions.  Also, Josie their reservations manager provides a very in-touch, energetic leadership example, and I know they will do well long-term with our program.  Here’s a picture of me with the group that day:

                           

After visiting my dad in Lexington, KY at the end of November, it was good to have the rest of the Thanksgiving Holiday at home with the kids.  We mostly spent putting up our extensive Christmas display which took a long time since Cathy was home at her family farm in The Poconos hunting with her dad, which has been her tradition every year since childhood.

As I looked at my travel schedule which had me crisscrossing the continent for four stops in 9 days, conducting training on 7 of those and working all the way, rather than stressing out about the travel and time away during this busy holiday season I decided to count some blessings.  First, that we at KTN were fortunate enough to have so many clients in such bad economic times when training is the usually the first thing to get cut.  In looking at my client list that week I realized that I have some of the most excellent lodging companies in the business and it reminded me that the best in any field always reach for even higher goals, especially when under adversarial conditions.  Besides having dedicated clients in a down market, I also felt blessed to coming off the road for the rest of the month once I was back home in Fort Lauderdale with my immediate family for the holidays.

My first stop took me to a city I’ve always loved, San Diego, to train the reservations team at the soon-to-open Hotel Setai, which was yet another Gemstone property we were adding to our client list.  Since the hotel wasn’t opened yet I ended up staying at the San Diego Marriott thanks to my wife Cathy’s career and Marriott’s Friends and Family rate, I had a great room and view as well. The next morning Sausha Sherbin, the Corporate Director of Training for Gemstone Hotels & Resorts, who I’d met in October at another engagement, picked me up personally at my hotel and brought me to the training site at Hotel Setai.  While I thought this was a nice gesture, I appreciated it even more when we got there as the hotel was still very much in the final stages of construction and pre-opening and it was challenging to find your way around.

Despite all the would-be distractions, it was great have such a terrific group of participants for the reservations SAILS training workshop I was to present over the next two days.  Pre-openings are always such an exciting atmosphere, and it was clear that Gemstone was right on-track with this opening and that they had done the best job at recruiting and selecting just the right team.  Here’s a picture of me with the reservations team at the Hotel Setai that day:

                               

After finishing my workshop I made my usual mad dash to the airport to hop the very next flight home to Hollywood/Ft. Lauderdale.  Arriving home after 1am didn’t leave much time to unpack and re-pack for my next trip, but I was glad to be back in town as I had an extremely important duty to fulfill the next day. By 8am I was reporting for duty at Hollywood Hills Elementary, where I am only one of a few male volunteers who has gone through the necessary level two security background authorization process necessary.  Since our school board requires male chaperones on every field trip, it was important reason for me to be there.  But an even more important reason is that Julia really wanted me to do this.  As it turned out it was me who benefited the most as it turned out to be quite memorable.  The field trip was for their 5^th grade chorus to go and sing at the laceType w:st="on">Ft.laceType> Lauderdale/Hollywood airport; coincidentally they were performing at the same terminal which I was scheduled to fly out of right after school!  It was so enjoyable to hear them perform their holiday songs for the passing travelers, which surprisingly many stopped to listen to.  Now every time I walk past Terminal 1 I’ll have fond memories of that day.  Here’s a picture of me with some of Julia’s closest classmates that day:

                                    

After taking the bus back to school I hoped back into the minivan and headed back to the same terminal for my next stop, which was a non-stop Southwest flight to Norfolk followed by a two hour drive to the Outer Banks.  The road was familiar and thankfully the weather cooperated and the cold didn’t shock my Florida blood too much and the roads and traffic were clear.  But still I was definitely feeling the jet lag and lack of sleep.  So as I pulled up to the Duck office of Twiddy & Company I was both honored and especially relieved to be greeted personally by Clark Twiddy, their Director of Operations.  Although I’d known Twiddy & Co. for years through various associations as one of the top-tier vacation home rental companies in the Outer Banks, I’d only met Clark briefly once before.  As I worked with him to finalize plans for this engagement I sensed he was a special person, but as the three day visit progressed I realized he and his entire family truly understand they are in the hospitality business.  It’s not just a commitment made on some poster at a staff retreat, but something they live every day.

After taking me out themselves my first full evening there, the executive team had scheduled this special dinner for me on the second night to be able to spend time with some of their supervisors and assistant managers who are the foundation of the future.  We had a wonderful diner at the very best local fine dining spot, and Patrick our waiter (pictured far left) had us all enthralled with his stories of growing up in the mountains of Jamaica.  Turns out he had also worked at my next stop, The Breakers of Palm Beach, which made it that much more interesting for me. Here’s a picture of us that evening:

On the very last stop I had a wrap up meeting with their executive team, including Jon Summerton, Vice President, Laura, their IT Director, and others.  Afterwards I had just enough time to snap this picture of myself with the Twiddy family pictured here (from left): Clark Twiddy, Director of Operations, Sharon Twiddy, co-founder, Ross Twiddy, Director of Marketing, and Doug Twiddy, company founder and President:
             
                                 

Just a few days after this picture was snapped Clark Twiddy was headed back to Afghanistan for his second tour with the U.S. Military Special Forces.  Being in the Reserve, Clark was very enthusiastic about having been recalled and dedicated to his mission.  Clark, know that we appreciate all that you’re doing over there for our country and the world and we wish you Godspeed.  I look forward to tipping back another Bud Lite and taking you up on the offer to do some fishing when you’re back home soon enough!

The weather was even better for my drive back to Norfolk and my last airplane trip for the year, which was to conduct reservations sales consulting and training for The Venetian in Las Vegas.  It’s always exciting to arrive in Las Vegas just to be around the energy of the city, and although I was dragging a bit upon arrival I found it hard to go right to sleep.  But after taking in just a quick walk on The Strip I decided to turn in for the night as there were two more days of training ahead.

Thanks to the time change I managed to get a good nights sleep and was very energized to begin my day of consulting with a meeting with Mark Molinari, their Executive Director of Revenue Management & Strategic Marketing.  I’d met Mark a few years back at one of our HSMAI Revenue Management functions when I was the advisor to the association, and we’d stayed in touch by phone over time.  When I was last in Las Vegas we were able to meet, and Mark was very excited about our contemporary new reservations sales training approach. 

As I began my day of consulting for this, the world’s largest hotel, it was clear that this was also one of the very best run companies in the industry too.  Not only to they have the best systems, technology, and product possible, but also some of the best people too.  The  next day I conducted a train-the-trainer program for their reservations managers and departmental trainers.  It was amazing to see how much Mark carved out time to participate personally as he was there most of the day, despite all that was going on in this busy hotel.   Here’s a picture I took the first night outside The Venetian, along with a picture of me with the group that day.  (Unfortunately Mark wasn't there for the picture.)

                     

Again the alarm went off way too early but it didn’t matter, as I was finally headed back home to Florida through New Years.  Again my timing was perfect as my two-day pit-stop in the office also coincided with the date for my son Adam’s school holiday concert.  When I saw how much he actually performed the songs, to the delight of his wonderful music teacher Mrs. Million, I was so glad not to have missed it.  Adam is in the middle of this picture below doing the gestures:

                                

My last training engagement of the year was thankfully very close to home, as I was headed back to The Breakers in Palm Beach which is only a 45 minute drive where I was to conduct a Saturday workshop for the entire 20 person reservations team.  Having stayed there in October with Cathy I knew it was going to be a great guest experience.  Thanks to the incredible hospitality extended by my client contact, Jim Mostad, we also had a special family weekend.  Since Jim really needed a Saturday training I had fairly warned him that there were some strings attached in that the only Saturday I had left was my daughter’s 11^th birthday, which traditionally includes a sleepover with some of her closest friends.  Jim was extremely accommodating as not only did we have a two-bedroom, ocean front suite, he also invited us to dinner in their family-oriented Italian restaurant located right next to the kid’s activity center.  Here’s a picture of Cathy and I with the kids that day.

                                  

After the kids quickly consumed their food and headed back to the interactive play area Cathy and I were able to catch up on all that had happened while she was home hunting with her dad on her family farm in The Poconos and while I’d been on the road. The next morning I headed down to train, while Cathy ensured that Julia and her entourage had a wonderful day celebrating her birthday.  They even stopped by the workshop and offered a “focus group” of input about The Breakers from the grade schooler’s perspective.  The celebration continued the rest of the weekend when I was done with work. 

What a fun group of people they have on their reservations sales team at The Breakers. Their enthusiasm just resonated back with me that much more, which was really nice since most of them had given up their Saturday day off during the busy holiday season to be there with me.  I was especially grateful for such an energetic group at the end of such a long stretch of training.  Here’s a picture of me with the group that day: