Areas of Expertise
Operations Management and Strategic Thinking
I am honored to be one of Swan and Dolphin’s trained Break Through Leadership Coaches, Since 2017, training provided in 2017 and 2018 through Marriott Corporate. The program is consistently active during a non-operational crisis.
Budgeting
Create an operational budget for the next year by September of the year prior. The budget is based on current year business fluctuations, known contracted revenue for the next year, and routine or planned expenses for the operation.
The greatest challenge of creating a budget this far in advance is Recreation is a department almost entirely dependent on weather and leisure which by nature are fairly unpredictable. My predictions due to pattern recognition are reliably accurate.
The budget includes:
Revenues for three sections: Camp Dolphin (kids activity center), operational sales, group recreation sales.
Expenses include, but are not limited to: Staffing, contract labor/expense, holiday event expenses, and group recreation event expenses, and overall operational needs and subscriptions.
Forecasting
In the month ahead I am expected to make any alterations to our budget, moving expenses that may not arrive on time, predict additional or reduced revenue fluctuations, and staffing needs.
With 2020 this process has become more critical as unprecedented attendance losses and lack of group guests have required us to budget and forecast twice monthly. Once to create the locked forecast, and the second to make any adjustments based on the continuous fluctuations in business.
This year once our hotel opened for leisure I have continuously exceeded revenue predictions due to new department initiatives, as well as retaining a level of expense that is consistently under forecast.
This was accomplished through close daily analysis of our expenses, tracking of shipments, and positively received staffing adjustments. This put the power to leave early in the team’s hands, rather than cutting them. As well as getting their buy-in for new programming.
Managing Operational Budget.
Worked with Capedia analysts to develop business strategies to cut major costs.
Monitor daily labor reports to maintain department labor expenses.
Inventory products and plan for advance ordering for incoming fluxes in leisure occupancy dependent on season, weather, and Holiday.
Create monthly P&L documentation and verbatim to explain fluctuations in budget positive or negative. With additional notation with respect to the year prior.
Seek out new vendors to use competitive pricing.
Seek out new revenue-generating opportunities, inclusive of trending fitness offerings to drive leisure experience which in turn drives revenue.
Notable Highlights
Engaging the Challenges of 2020
Implemented: activity management, Realtime Reservations, software which generated consistent record-breaking revenue during covid for our new COVID friendly In-Room holiday decorating options.
This software paid for itself in one month with our Deck-the-Halls package exceeding our expected revenues in the month of December 2020 by 500%. It also generated 140% of Elf-Tuck-in, the pre-covid in-room offering, revenues from 2019. In 2021 we plan to offer both as long as safety guidelines are lifted. By utilizing this reservation system we increased booking capacity and saved our department over 120 hours of managerial labor which would have been spent managing the reservations through excel individually coordinating with guests through email and phone.
Implemented: Resortpass Software and marketing package at no cost. This is designed to generate revenue from what was before an operational hindrance/staffing drain. By offering a legal and affordable way of “pool crashing”. This software also managed the inventory of the cabanas and pools while creating a convenient solution for in-house guests who wanted to reserve chairs/cabanas in advance of their stay.
Revenue Based Accomplishments
2020 Exceeded forecasted revenues by 170%
2020 implemented the in-room decorating program, mini-melts, and Resortpass.
the in-room decorating program has been an occupancy driver due to its success and is now a highly anticipated amenity. It looks to continue in 2021 and beyond.
In 2019 the year-end department revenues exceeded budgeted goals by 12%
In 2019 Group recreation saw its largest 5k ever generating 22k in sales which exceeded the average 5k revenue by 275%.
in 2019 I Redesigned sales and marketing material, due to trending feedback, and pricing to fit the dynamic needs of different convention clients. Creating an ala-carte or all-inclusive package which provided more flexibility in booking group recreation events.
in 2019 the Recreation department exceeded the revenue budget by 112%
in 2019 our kid’s activity center (camp Dolphin) exceed its yearly revenue budget by 153%
Expense Based Accomplishments
2019 within 3% of the budgeted cost, to the good, for the operational expense and staffing expense.
2018 saved 20k in continuous yearly losses of pool towel inventory over the span of a year by implementing a new storage and delivery system. Which made the cast members more efficient, no residual risk of injury and towel quantities were maintained by storing in our area rather than in a public hallway where they were pilfered by other departments for non-pool-related needs.
This system is still in place today and is remarked by my staff as one of the best practices I have implemented since becoming Director. Staffing injury cost to that point had exceeded $6k for injuries to their ankle requiring a boot and light-duty, and surgery on a cast member’s wrist, requiring leave of absence and light duty.
2017 Saved 70k in lounge chair repairs. Despite the timeframe being out of factory warranty, due to my predecessor not following through on the continued degradation of inventory. I Retained proof that the new lounge chairs were defective upon arrival. Sought out market research on that model with operational peers at other resorts, and the end result was the company repaired the chairs with parts provided complimentarily, our hotel only had to submit a supplemental payment on their labor to complete the repair of 400 lounge chairs.
Capital Budgeting and Project Management
Project Creation
By April of the year prior I have to evaluate the needs of my area and developed purchasing propositions that would make a positive impact on my team, my guest experience, the efficiency of the operation, and revenue-based opportunities.
This includes seeking out new and existing vendors who are capable of providing the opportunity.
Partnered with Hotel Owners in regard to design and review of new Hotel installation. Operational overview of new waterpark, pool deck, staffing operations, and product. Inclusive of re-design of hotel gym with new brand standards, trending equipment, and improved guest flow experience.
Forecasting
In the month ahead I am expected to make any alterations to our budget, moving expenses that may not arrive on time, predict additional or reduced revenue fluctuations, and staffing needs.
With 2020 this process has become more critical as unprecedented attendance losses and lack of group guests have required us to budget and forecast twice monthly. Once to create the locked forecast, and the second to make any adjustments based on the continuous fluctuations in business.
This year once our hotel opened for leisure I have continuously exceeded revenue predictions due to new department initiatives, as well as retaining a level of expense that is consistently under forecast.
Completed Capital Projects: 2017-2021
Almost 1 million in the capital budget over the past three years has been allocated to my proposals; which have made a permanent and positive impact on my hotel.
180k Smart Outdoor Sound System that eliminated cast member risk of injury and injury. Increased guest enjoyment of the pool by providing continuity in their sound experience. Proposed 2016, 2017, and implemented 2018
It increased safety by having the ability to activate a lightning announcement that spread through the whole deck simultaneously. It played continuously on a 4-minute queue throughout the storm, rather than having cast members individually seek out guests across 5 pools, 4 hot tubs, and beach area, and chase guests out who entered through non guarded entrances.
This system prevented one lawsuit and could have prevented a second if they had implemented it when recommended.
Request for proposal issued in 2020 by Hotel GM for extension of the system to our sister hotel.
500k+ in Fitness Center and Equipment upgrades. Inclusive of the proposal, vendor partnering, aesthetic selection, design, implementation, and operational management. 2017-2019
15k Fitness on Demand- provided virtual 24hour on-demand fitness classes for resort guests. Which was more conducive to varietal schedules and fitness levels of guest profiles.
15k GYMRAX suspension unit- equipment provided; increased storage, trending classes such as aerial yoga and suspension training, battle rope attachment, punching bag attachment, and ninja-warrior style training bars.
163k in new Fitness Equipment- Complete overhaul of current fitness equipment inventory from weight machines to cardio. Inclusive of the TRX Rack suspension trainer, three Peloton bikes, rower, power mill, 40+ cardio/weight training pieces.
100k Dolphin Gym Vinyl and Wall Marquis. Designed new murals for Dolphin gym. Project so successful owners implemented an additional unplanned redesign of fitness to fit the new aesthetic.
200k Swan Gym Bathrooms.
37k in new lighting.
200k+ in new furniture inventory for the pool area. Inclusive of Selection, vendor partnership, and installation. 2019
64k in Swan Paddleboats for guest amenity. Inclusive of selection, proposal, negotiation, vendor partnership, and installation. 2021
43k in inventory refurbishment. Inclusive of selection, proposal, negotiation, vendor partnership, timeline coordination (concerning future business in 2021), and installation.
And that is just my capital upgrades; throughout the years, I have also instituted minor upgrades that have had a tremendously positive effect on employee experience, guest experience, safety, and efficiency.
Event and Entertainment management
Christmas Show
An award winning, 14 day impromptu leisure focused show. Which also included Christmas spirit show in the lobby, meet and greet with Santa, complimentary cookie decorating, and Elf Tuck-in.
For 2020 I had to reinvent the entire experience, but was able to keep a safe version of each experience, and made record breaking revenues despite lower occupancies and non-traditional experiences.
From 2018-present I was also asked to dream up pop up entertainment options for the last week of Christmas. I am given a 25k budget each year to surprise and delight our guests with holiday themed delights and surprises. Including free caricatures, stilt walkers, talking plants, acapella groups and more.
Easter
12 thousand Easter eggs are just a small portion of what it takes to accomplish this event. In total this holiday actually has six events/activations within it.
Five Easter Egg hunts. Three are on Good friday and are glow in the dark events with a family focused entertainment area in accompaniment.
Easter Sunday we average 60 Easter Bunny Basket Deliveries, two easter egg hunts with over 4,000 eggs each, and a full roster of guest events throughout the day.
Fitness events
Over the course of six years I was given the responsibility of planning, organizing, advertising, coordinating, obtaining merchandise, (sometimes with only one week notice), and even physically running group fitness events. The events we organized slowly evolved from ones like you see here to fully tracked, chipped 5ks.
In addition to a wide variety of cast member and conference purchased 5ks organized by myself and my department we also were in charge of conference fitness classes, Westin’s Wellness themed brand launch event, and many others.
Banquet Events
I whet my whistle so to speak on banquet events. I began in 2007 at a hometown country club, as a server and banquet captain. My leaders would love to just tell me to go for it and create, and I would. They loved what I would do with a room for a special event, and often times brought me back from school in another state, just to create events and event décor.
The event on the right was one myself and one other cast member were specially selected to create. It was the annual Food and Beverage Department Rally. There were so many unique aspects to this event that I would love to showcase, but my favorite were the employee gifts. I have a passion for gift giving in my personal life and I wanted to emanate it here. I wanted to make sure what was received truly recognized our team’s work for the year. So I created a survey that asked the cast members about what they love to do in their free time, hobbies passions, favorite shows, etc. We then spent long nights coming the web to find gifts that uniquely suited each cast member within a budget. Those that did not answer still received a beautiful coffee table organic cookbook.
Oher highlights of the event.
custom event logo shown in the image.
Chef Apprentice competition.
We wanted to give our chefs as much of a chance as we had. So instead of creating a menu we created a competition. Cast members signed up to showcase their skills, and attendees voted for their favorite. The winning beverage option, DJ’s Brewhub, and food option, Cib’s Smokehouse, became a staple of their banquet sales menus to this day.
Vendor Partnerships and Brand Management
As a runWESTIN brand ambassador and the hotel’s runCONCIERGE; it was not just about running with guests, but coming up with ways of ensuring our guests associated the runWESTIN brand with their running adventures.
Our hotel happens to be a runDISNEY partner hotel, we have transportation already running from our hotel to the races. So the question was how do we make it memorable?
What you see to the right is the result of several year’s of growing partnerships. This kit filled 400 running bags with each of these items. The ELITE kits had the Mandara spa discount, and 10 dollar coupon. Everything was 100% donated to the effort. (3,200 units of product donated for this run alone).
I cultivated the program that eventually vendors like Raw Threads asked to be a part of it, which built the first ever Swan and Dolphin exclusive trunk show for the Disney races.
The challenge was how do you tack in the brand, when Disney does not allow branding? I used the brand colors and verbiage, to identify with the brand. This initiative was a highlight of the 2019 runWESTIN Brand summit, and recommended to the other ambassadors as an initiative they should incorporate within their hotels.