Monday, July 6, 2015

Guest Speaker Marathon

School began today different than other days. As I walked into class, I realized two chairs in the front of class. Hastily, I took out my schedule and found out that today we had three guest speakers. I could already tell today was going to be fun. Our three special guests are Bob LaFleur, Rick Massey, and Alana. The three of them informed and helped me understand the hotel business much better. 

Both Alana and Rick were interviewed together by Mark. Mark asked both separate and specific questions in order to extract the best answers from them. Rick works at the Statler Hotel. He has work hours as long as 8:00 A.M - 8:30 P.M. However, with his long work day, Rick says it is all worth it in the end. Working at the Statler Hotel, Rick is held to high expectations from their guests. If they do not meet up to what the customers are paying for, occupancy and the average daily revenue would both decrease. 

Class dismissal for lunch after Ricky and Alana's interview

Alana was alongside Rick while answering Mark's question. Alana has similar hours to Rick, but helps run two hotels. Alana is different than most people. She enjoys taking the leap of faith to get to places and believes the hotel industry is all a number's game. Alana also believes in her housekeeping staff to pay attention to every detail within the hotel. Both Alana and Rick were intelligent and very successful in life. 


After our first two guest speakers, we had a lunch break in Trillium. Trying to be different today, I ordered a quesadilla for the first time. Surprisingly, it turned out to be really tasty. I ended up walking back to Statler with my friends Bonnie, April, and Skylar. 

Everyone began to trickle back in after lunch. While settling back in, a man's face appeared on screen and our table microphones began lighting up. What was going on? Finally, when everyone settled down, Mark explained that we had another special guest, Bob LaFleur. This was our first time Skyping and interviewing someone in front of the entire class. Bob covered many topics such as hotel stocks, REIT's, and time shares. We also got his opinion on which hotel stock to invest in and why. According to Bob, he believes Hilton is the best choice due to the consistency and that U.S buildings are more profitable. 

I would like to thank all our special guests this year and that I respectively learned so much about the hotel industry and financial information. Also, I would like to thank Mark and Reneta for giving us the opportunity to speak to these fabulous speakers. 

The beautiful lake view during my jog
Office hours began right on time and my group and I began to diligently work. We quickly began checking off assignments as we completed them. Even with all our hard work, office hours ended and I still had to study in my dorm room. However, thanks to Bonnie and Jeffery, they printed out study guides that they made for everyone. 

After dinner, I took a jog around the lake to get my daily exercise. Once I showered up, I hung out with Nick to study the quiz. Even though it was a quiz, I made sure I studied everything we had learned today. Night check-in came around and I went downstairs to sign in. After I returned to my own dorm to blog and finish up my studying. 

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