Top Floor

Tammy Gillis doesn't want to be pitch-slapped, and she doesn't think your customers want that either. A self-described lost soul in her youth, Tammy found herself and her calling in hotel sales. Susan learns how Tammy suggests hoteliers approach the recovery and how salespeople should pursue business conversations to make a positive impact.

Calvin Tilokee's first meme was printed out and hung on his office door.  Since then, he's created @revparblems, a hospitality comedy account on Instagram with 20,000 followers.  Susan learns how Calvin navigates the highs and lows of being the funniest account on Instagram and helps hotels with social media through his company, RevPar Media.

In the course of her hotel career, Kate Burda learned the business inside and out, from Minneapolis to Miami. Along the way, she figured out that the sound and fury of the hotel business could truly signify something by focusing on a traveler's point of inspiration vs. a hotel's product offering. Susan learns how Kate's company helps hotels and other businesses ignite the connections between financial performance goals and sales and marketing strategies.

As a teenager, Cat Meek took any restaurant job that would have her, working her way to becoming a certified sommelier and manager of a "very fahhncy" restaurant. Over romantic dates spent writing the business plan for a future fine dining establishment, she met and married her husband, who was conveniently also a chef. Susan learns how Cat built a multi-unit restaurant empire by making the guests part of the story.

Susan Barry started her hospitality career sleeping in her car between parties as an off-premise caterer. Since then, she's worked with hundreds of hotels, restaurants, and other hospitality companies to improve commercial strategy performance, gathering a bevy of wild experiences and crazy stories along the way. Top Floor explores how hospitality businesses can tell their stories, with expert tips and entertaining tales from engaging guests.