77 – TMG Hospitality Heroes Pt. II

Suite Spot: A Hotel Marketing Podcast

In part 2 of 2 of this special edition of the Suite Spot, we take a moment to recognize stories of resilience and excellence in hospitality throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. Host Ryan Embree highlights some incredible hospitality professionals across the country and what they did to make them a hospitality hero during this trying time for our industry. This a feel-good episode that showcases the qualities and values that are at the heart of the hotel industry. To get more information about becoming a special guest on the Suite Spot or to submit a question or topic for future episodes, call or text 407-984-7455. Episode Transcript Our podcast is produced as an audio resource. Transcripts are generated using speech recognition software and human editing and may contain errors. Before republishing quotes, we ask that you reference the audio. Ryan Embree: Welcome to Suite Spot. Where hoteliers check-in and we check out what's trending in hotel marketing. I'm your host, Ryan Embree. Ryan Embree: Hello everyone, and welcome to the Suite Spot. This is your host, Ryan Embree. Today's episode is going to be part two of our Hospitality Heroes segment. Recognizing those hotel employees that went above and beyond during the COVID-19 pandemic. Enjoy. Ryan Embree: Our next Hospitality hero is Debra Roberts, Laundry, Houseman and Breakfast staff at Gibson Hotels. Debra is nominated by Brandy Crawford. Brandy writes, "Debra is truly a team player, always offering to pick up shifts. So we're short staff. She's also dedicated to making sure all of our guests are happy. She'll bring in items for coworkers and our guests if they mentioned they liked something. I wish I could clone 10 of her because she is that amazing. Great attitude always reaches out to manager with follow-ups on items needed. And she'll also tell me not to do something, as she can take care of it when she comes in for her shift. She goes above and beyond daily. She has been my go-to person for the last 15 years." Wow. 15 years in the hospitality industry. A lot of hoteliers haven't experienced anything like this before. Great job Debra, and very cool story to hear. Continue the great work. Ryan Embree: Our next Hospitality Hero is Scott McKay, general manager at the Capitol Hotel Hartford, Avalon Hospitality Group. Scott is nominated by Robin Grazioso. Robin writes, "Scott held down the fort. He made sure all the operation aspects, including housekeeping, were done, meaning doing it himself. Front desk: he pulled multiple shifts a day; sales: trying to find business in any organization that was traveling and continued to be GM reaching out to organizations that were helping the homeless or those less fortunate to see how we could assist during the pandemic. Not one time did Scott complain and absolutely stepped up to the plate going above and beyond. He was actually closing sales leads for 2022." Wow. What a great story of a positive mindset. Scott, you're doing some incredible work over there. Keep up the great work. Ryan Embree: Our next Hospitality Hero is Seth Kines, founder and CEO at Scarlet Boom. Seth is nominated by Drew Dunstan. Drew writes at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, Seth lost his hospitality job that he held for years. He decided to turn a negative into a positive and created Scarlet Boom: hotel sales and marketing firm. And less than a year, Scarlet boom has partnered with more than 30 hotels and hired five full-time hospitality professionals who were also laid off from their hotels during the pandemic. Seth and Scarlet have been able to create jobs in the middle of a pandemic that has devastated our industry, and we need to share his success story." Well done, Seth, that's an awesome story like Drew described there. Definitely turning a negative into a positive and reaching out and helping our hospitality brothers and sisters out there. Thank you so much for sharing Drew and congratulations Seth.