Joe's Tales from the Road

On the Road Again
Friday, July 30

Narrowly missing the hottest weekend in DC all year, I arrived in New Orleans last Friday for the Council of Hospitality and Restaurant Trainers (CHART) conference.  Saturday I was able to experience Bourbon Street in style, by dining at New Orleans’s oldest restaurant, Galitoire’s, accompanied by Mary Pat and Don Landry, former CEO of Choice Hotels, whose nephew, Brian, is the executive chef.

I spoke at a general session on Sunday at the CHART conference, and it was great to see how well-attended the event was.  That evening Brenda Moons, MHS, vice president, lodging sales, and Monique Donahue, CHT, MHS, vice president of research & development, with the Educational Institute (EI) hosted a 25-person dinner for the hotel trainers, which was a lovely event and is going to become a tradition.

Finishing my time in New Orleans, I met with Louisiana Hotel & Lodging Association President Bill Langkopp for breakfast.  He filled me in on the state’s recovery from the BP oil spill, and we discussed issues and opportunities as a result of the incident, and later I had a Fox interview on the subject. I ended up having a second breakfast Monday morning with longtime friend Mary West, who hosts Real New Orleans on the local ABC affiliate.

Having been properly fed, I headed to the Travel & Tourism Advisory Committee meeting, presented by the Department of Commerce.  The session was chaired by Nevada CVB President and CEO Rossi Ralenkotter and drew in a noteworthy crowd.  Chuck Floyd, chief operating officer – North America, Hyatt; David Kong, president & CEO Best Western, and AH&LA Chair; and Nancy Johnson, executive vice president and chief development officer for Carlson Hotels, and secretary/treasurer of AH&LA (who was filling in for Carlson President and CEO Hubert Joly), were all there to represent the hotel industry, as well as our good friend Doug Shifflet, chairman, DK. Shifflet and Associates.  And I was fortunate to have several conversations with Secretary of Commerce Gary Locke, both at the meeting and on our shared flight back to D.C.

But before I headed back, I had an opportunity to talk with New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu, who we had helped post-Katrina.  It was nice to see how well the city is doing with him as the mayor, and he’s truly been doing a great job since his election earlier this year.

Tuesday I had a quick trip to New York with Kimberly Miles, AH&LA SVP of industry relations, for the Venture Board meeting.  November’s International Hotel, Motel + Restaurant Show is coming up fast, so we were finalizing programming.

By Wednesday morning I was on a plane to Puerto Rico for the Council of Hotel and Restaurant Industry Educators (CHRIE) annual conference.  But before it began, I joined EI SVP of Marketing Brenda Vazquez to meet with Puerto Rico Governor Luis Fortuño, who is a friend of AH&LA EVP of Public Policy Marlene Colucci.  We discussed the travel and tourism industry and the particular advantage Puerto Rico has over other Caribbean destinations in that a passport for U.S. citizens is not necessary.  He was also interested in learning about the EI products that could assist in increasing customer service throughout the country. 

Thursday I gave a keynote speech at the conference, and was happy to finally be able to deliver good news.  Attendees were certainly happy to hear the economic recovery is upon us and that plenty of opportunities lie before the industry. I enjoyed the conference as well, as I saw many old friends and made many new ones.  And EI’s booth had prime placement right by the entrance to the exhibit floor, and it became a meeting place for everyone.

Shortly after my speech I was on a plane to Michigan and met Ruth at the Grand Rapids airport.  We were supposed to head on to Saugatack for a family reunion, but since her flight was four hours late, we ended up spending the night at the Hampton Inn.  Today we made it to our destination, and now I’m watching boats sailing down the Kalamazoo River and looking forward to catching up with my brothers, sisters, their children, and their children’s children.

Back in the office, AH&LA, in partnership with Seyfarth Shaw law firm, hosted a record-breaking Webinar on the new Department of Labor regulatory changes, with 457 attendees.  Additional changes to ADA regulations were also enacted on July 26, so we sent members information on what to expect.  For detailed information, see this memo.

I’m looking forward to a relaxing weekend on Lake Michigan catching up with my extended family, and I hope you have lot to look forward to this weekend as well.