SHR Soundbites

Marcela Ceccacci Brown, Director of Sales, for Virgin Hotels, in Dallas, Texas, joins Jason on this episode of Soundbites. Marcela talks about the healthy uptick in not only social leads, but corporate as well, Virgin's sales org chart, their 'all hands on deck' mentality, and what photo shoots with local talent is doing for their social media presence.

Raul Moronta, Chief Commercial Officer, Remington Hotels, joins Jason from one of their properties in Santa Fe, New Mexico to talk about his new role. Raul talks about Remington's decision to create the CCO role, his background that led up to securing a the position, the necessary skill sets for the role, understanding customer behavior, the importance of understanding operations, and more.

Patty de Gruiter, Vice President of Revenue and Sales, for Sircle Collection, joins Jason from her office in Amsterdam, Netherlands, to talk about alternative revenue streams. Patty talks about the enjoyment and frustrations of managing revenue amid the pandemic, the adjustments she's had to make—running lean, minimizing risks, and then there's the creative campaigns: win a year-long stay, popup stores, music festivals, housing, and more.

Josh Spurlock, Client Success Manager, SHR, joins Jason for a quick chat on being hired in early 2020, only to be let go once the pandemic started taking its toll on hospitality, to then getting the call in early 2021, to come back.

Maria Corpas, hospitality and travel tech Copywriter, joins Jason from her office in Germany. Maria talks about messaging that turns lookers into bookers amid the pandemic: protocols in place, amenities, and nearby attractions, the mistakes she sees hotels are making, and how your love for your hotel gets in the way of good copywriting. She also suggests, oddly for a copywriter, that hotels compliment their written messages with video messages.

Sharon Vaughn, Associate Director of Sales, Hotel Effie Sandestin, joins Jason from her office in Miramar Beach, Florida. Sharon talks about being furloughed by Marriott, Effie's recent opening, a busy spring break (G-rated), lead volume increasing with groups, adjusting to the new normal, and more.

Garine Ferejian-Mayo, Chief Commercial Officer at Sonesta Hotels, joins me from her office in New York City.

Garine talks about her background in Operations, Sales, Digital Marketing, and Revenue Management, Sonesta's rapid growth from 53 to 278 hotels, and how they came to the decision to create the CCO position.

Martin Reichenbach, Founder, apaleo, joins Jason from his office in Munich, Germany. Martin talks about the company's recent Series A Funding, what makes apaleo different, the 'closedness' amongst the PMS's, and what the 2nd half of 2021 looks like.

Nicolas Durand, Vice President, Revenue Strategy, S Hotels and Resorts, joins Jason from his office in Bangkok, Thailand. Nicolas talks about the lack of cases in Bangkok, but also the lack of travel, S Hotels moving from owners to a management company, with hotels in Thailand, Maldives (Hard Rock), and the U.K. He goes on about how his role has changed, doing more with less, and the putting together of their technology stack: channel manager, booking engine, BI, and optimizing all that he can, given the different markets.

Luis Weir, Director, Integrations and APIS Strategy, with Oracle Hospitality, joins Jason, from Royal Leamington Spa, England. Luis breaks down Oracle's Hospitality Integration Platform or OHIP, the streamlining and consolidating of all the interface technologies, to build integrations to Opera, simpler, quicker, cheaper.