AXIS Hospitality International

AROUND THE WORLD IN 60 YEARS

MY FIRST DECADE of six (1958-1968)

The confusion, the uncertainty, the fascination, the friends, the huge opportunities, the travel.

ENGLAND

I am 15 years old, sitting in the family dentist chair with both of his hands in my mouth, he asks 'Well what are you going to do when you leave school?" Without any opportunity to respond coherently, he continued. 'I have a young patient just like you who went into the hotel industry. He started at the Grand Hotel in Eastbourne and he absolutely loves his job'. On my return home, my parents asked how did it go? What did Dr Evans talk about today. I told them and so my story began.

I knew that my schooling was coming to an end since I was not able to attend University because there was not sufficient space. The military draft had been eliminated and all those kids leaving high school were joining those soldiers who were decommissioned and all together were far too many for the few spaces in the universities in the UK in 1958.

The Grand Hotel in Eastbourne sounded like a great idea and an interview with Richard Beattie, the General Manager was set up. My Dad accompanied me on the drive down there from Walton on Thames in Surrey but was stopped at the door to Mr Beattie's office because the interview was to be .......with me alone!!

My sports accomplishments were impressive. My academic accomplishments were not. Neither mattered.

"Do you like people" Mr Beattie asked. "Yes I do, sir" I replied. 'Well that will change in this business', Beattie retorted.

"Do you like sports" Mr Beattie asked, " "Yes I do, sir" I replied. 'Well there's no time for that in this business, Beattie continued, trying to dissuade me from the industry.

"Do you like weekends?" "Yes sir" I replied. "Well that will change because we work seven days a week" Beattie retorted.

After a few more similar type questions and conclusions, I was offered the job as a Trainee Manager, living-in in a shared room with a young chap, Charles who became a lifelong friend. My Dad and I returned home, I packed a few days later and I left home for Eastbourne.

My first job was in the cellar making ice cubes by hand for the bar with an ice-pick from a large ice block three feet long, eighteen inches wide and twelve inches thick. Only once did the ice pick pass through the ice so easily that it continued into my leg bone and stuck. No blood because the pick was ice cold! It didn't happen again.

My second job was as a busboy in the huge dining room of this gracious seafront property for which I was taken to the uniform room to get my white cotton jacket. Buttons came separately with hairpin like clips. It took me an hour to figure those out and an hour to find my way back through the endless Back of House corridors to find the Dining Room with what seemed like dozens of employees running in all directions.

My third job was as vegetable peeler in the kitchen where the Irish Sous Chef took great pleasure in screaming at me for whatever he needed referring to me as a 'bloody Tory' because of my private school education and clipped English accent.

A month later he promoted me to my fourth job as 'Aboyeur' where I acted as the 'caller' of all food orders presented by the waiters to the different prep stations in the kitchen, testing the dishes for presentation and temperature before releasing them to the waiters. I had gained my confidence, become hooked on the business and obtained dozens of new friends, including one from Ireland!

My fifth job was in the reception where I learned the processes for registration, cashiers, night audit and how to manage sleep when shifts changed from morning to night to evenings and split shifts.

After about eighteen months of induction into the industry, I was encouraged to travel to Europe, expand my outlook and advance my skills in French. I was sent to visit Miss Jackson in London who was in charge of exchange at the BHA (British Hotel Association) that arranged for British boys and girls to work in European hotels and restaurants and Europeans to work in British hotels and restaurants while learning English. She was a wizard! She moved young hoteliers-to-be around the world. She was to become a friend. One of the oldest people I knew.

SWITZERLAND

A week later I boarded the train for Villars-sur-Ollon in Switzerland with my passport, my introductory letter from Miss Jackson and the address of the Villars Palace Hotel at the foot of the massive Ski Resort on the slopes of the Swiss Alps, my first experience of real snow and the great sport of skiing, ready for my job as a Stagiaire in this famous Swiss Hostelry. On arrival in Villars, I was instructed to report to the police station where I showed my introduction letter to the hotel and surrendered my passport that I would only get back on completing my commitment to the hotel at the end of the season.

Ready to absorb everything I could in French, I joined the exuberant crowd of waiters.........all of whom were Italian. Thirty five Italians and one Englishman.

My bed was in a dormitory within the red roof rafters of this hotel with about a dozen other chaps, none of whom had much knowledge of English, but we got by handsomely. Meals were an experience that would forever effect my ability to eat spaghetti with nothing but a fork. It was essential for my survival because spaghetti lunches and dinners were served to us daily in one dish per table of eight with eight forks. If one knew how to use it, one could eat. If not, you went hungry. Everyone ate from the same dish. By the third day I was starting to understand Italian and twirl spaghetti.

My first job in the Villars Palace dining room was not in the Dining Room, it was in the pantry. The pantry was just outside the dining room on the way to the kitchen where dirty glasses were dropped off, washed, dried and polished. I started as the polisher. It started in the morning at 6.30AM. It ended after dinner at about 11.000PM. That's when we went out to party!

The break came after lunch when everybody took off for the ski slopes where I learned the hard way with newly bought second hand or third hand, lace-up leather ski boots and a second or third hand set of wooden skis and bamboo poles, the skis so long that I could not reach the tips even though I was over 6 feet tall. My Swiss-born friend and teacher was a great skier. I would ride up with him, see him momentarily at the top of the ski lift as he shot off into the distance.

My second job in the dining room was as a Commis Waiter (Busboy), responsible for setting the tables, clearing the tables and fetching the food and drinks from the kitchen and service bar. All the serving and guest interaction was done by the Waiters and the Captains, usually one of whom spoke English or French, Italian not a problem except from the one English Stagiaire whose Italian was improving........ but only in the Cafeteria.

My third job there was as a Room Service Waiter where I learned to carry a full tray of everything over my shoulder and deliver it (eventually) accident-free to its destination. My school French was sufficient for most customers, although all knew that I was struggling heroically, and humoured me. One such client and I were enthusiastically exchanging pleasantries about ski conditions, the weather etc in French when I realised she was English. We changed to English and I realised that I was talking with and serving the very famous and lovely Debbie Reynolds.

FRANCE

My next job at the end of the winter season, thanks to Miss Jackson in London, was to be in Paris at the prestigious Hotel Meurice starting in April 1961, living out. The train ride to Paris was uneventful and rewarding. We had celebrated the end of the season in true Italian style with lots of wine and song. The bars and dance halls of Villars-sur-Ollon were crowded with boys and girls who had toiled hard and long for the season and were now celebrating the end of the season in style.

I found a room in Paris on the Rue St Roch, a ten-minute walk from the Meurice, on the fourth floor of a rooming house with a sink, a window and a huge double bed. It is now, 60 years later, a luxury Boutique Hotel!! The stairwell was lit with a switch that shone for twelve seconds before reverting to full darkness, sufficient to get up four floors at a full sprint but not on arrival with a full suitcase...... and a hangover.

My first job in Paris at the Meurice was as a Stagiaire (Busboy) in the Dining Room, now known as 'Le Meurice Alain Ducasse'. Under the stern direction of my Captain, Guy. My job was to fetch the food from the kitchen with the hot empty plates to be served by him and his Waiter and to clear the dirty dishes from the 'gueridan' (sideboard), both of which were down a very long staircase into the kitchen. We all did it two at a time.

The system for pick up involved first picking up the hot plates from the heater cabinet and taking them to the kitchen where the food was assembled by the 'explosive' Chef de Cuisine. He had one famous move for each order. Without looking, he would reach across the hot plate counter and touch the plates you had selected. If they were not hot enough, he would, in a flash, pick up the top plate and break it over your head. This would only happen once!! Everyone had to learn that one!

My French skills improved!

The biggest setback to this assignment was that there were no free employee meals at the Meurice. This lead to an oft-told story about my first month in Paris. Running short of money having overspent my final payment in Switzerland on wine, I stooped to the local delicious habit of buying a baguette and some cheeses that often went unfinished and remained in my room, more specifically on the windowsill where it was cooler. When my money ran out, I reverted to the stale baguettes.

My second job in Paris was on loan from the Meurice to their associates at Maxims where I was assigned a job as a Waiter. The major challenge at this historic location was the circular service staircase between the kitchen and the four floors of the restaurant. Not only were the floors worn into a 45 degree slant but the width of the circle was so tight that the tray over the shoulder was not a feasible option, it had to be  carried over the head. In addition the ovens were all coal fired and our coal-carrying Algerian co-workers were using the stair also to bring coal sacks to the stoves, over their heads.

My jobs at Maxims came frequently and I enjoyed the change in scenery. I do not remember being paid by Maxims but I suspect that my Meurice salary did not change and the book-keeping was handled between the two. My day started at 7.00AM and finished at 11.00PM, when we all went out to party, every night!

My efforts to move into the Reception were thwarted. I am not sure why but I have no regrets. My French was sufficiently good to be asked by the General Manager to translate some French promotional text from French to English involving the hotel's sister relationship with two other legendary Paris hotels. All that I remember from those days was the palatial design of the General Manager's Office where the results of my translations were reviewed.

ENGLAND

My return to England came 'out of the blue' perhaps through the influence of Miss Jackson.

It lead to my first job in management as Assistant Manager at the Mitre Hotel in Oxford, a 45 room Inn with a famous Dining Room, a huge reputation for afternoon teas and three bars in a special section that resembled an old, rambling British Pub. Not out of character because the Inn dated back to about the 12th or 13th century when the religious orders started their lectures and educational efforts in the cellars of the Mitre that ultimately spun out to become Oxford University through its many distinct colleges. The job was very focused on the food & beverage operations which were humming.

Two or three interesting anecdotes came from my 18 months in this position. First was a very loyal guest in the dining room who gave regular speeches at the Colleges and returned to the hotel for all his meals. Winston Churchill became that most favourite of our regulars, always preferring one table in the corner that was private and 'out of the way'. No-one bothered him ever. He did however arrange for me to visit his gardeners at his home, Bleinheim Palace, where we made an arrangement to buy vegetables from their expansive gardens on a regular basis. Margaret Rutherford was also a frequent guest and there was often a time when Margaret was at her favourite table facing Winston over at his corner.

Anecdote. The Front Desk called me to ask if they could extend credit to a small group of guys that had a 'gig' in town, would share rooms and would pay us tomorrow. I approved and they did pay the next day. They later became more successful than me as a group called, The Beatles' 

The opening of the London Hilton was organised by a famous City 'mover and shaker' who was, by my good fortune, my Mum's best friend. We received invitations for the family where I was introduced, as a budding hotelier, to the Hilton senior executives from New York whose loose offer was most welcome. Simply put, it was 'whenever you get over to the US, let us know and we will find something for you'.

In the meantime, another opportunity arose. I still believe that Miss Jackson was behind this new seasonal opportunity.

My first job in a resort was at the Woolacombe Bay Hotel in North Devon as the Assistant Manager. A similar set of responsibilities mostly focused on the food and beverage operation but with wider responsibilities for recruitment and training. It was a seasonal post and it coincided well with my plans to move to the USA where the big opportunities seemed to abound.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My first major mistake was to attend a meeting in the fancy lounge bar area with the Owner and his wife. I was a little late because of some staff shortages in the kitchen so I ran the short distance to the staircase that led down to the lounge bar. I tripped and fell down the stairs with sufficient speed that propelled me spreadeagled across the polished wood floor of the lounge bar to the feet of the Owner and his wife who were standing at the bar.

It was an interesting assignment that took every bit of 24 hours a day to cover for the major staff shortages that we suffered as a single season resort many miles from anywhere except the gorgeous ocean and the magnificent surrounding hills.

 

 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

The fare to the USA was steep but it was a one-way trip by sea. The German ship SS Bremen docked in Bremerhaven was the cheapest way to the USA at that time so I sold my bug-eyed Austin Healey Sprite and headed to Bremen and then to New York City and a meeting with the Senior Vice President Hilton Hotels who I had met briefly at the London Hilton opening. Referred immediately to the Savoy Hilton at Fifth Avenue & 59th St to meet their GM, Mr Tony Carpenter, a charming, elegant gentleman who put me to work immediately.

My first job in New York, I was told, was to buy a pair of shoes to replace my suede shoes, a British style that I had not shed yet! The real job however was at Reception of the Savoy Hilton, the 1200 room wedding-cake building at the corner of Central Park and 59th St on Fifth Avenue opposite the Plaza Hotel. Almost permanent residents there at the time were Judy Garland and Peter Lawford, both of whom seemed to consume rather more alcohol than they could reasonably handle.

One afternoon, I was arranging a party from the back office in our Upper-West Side apartment with friends when a guest overheard me and asked if she could join us at the party. Who could refuse Zsa Zsa Gabor? She was a great hit and my reputation went through the roof......for that evening.

After about a year at this great hotel, the hotel was sold and the new lady owner, Mrs Benatar was the first to order a ladder so that she could climb up the wall and personally dislodge the portrait of Conrad Hilton and dramatically smash his picture and frame onto the lobby floor. Hilton was out and major changes were to be made to the management. I was delighted to be informed by senior management that I would be one of the very few to be transferred to the Waldorf Astoria.

My second job in New York was as Assistant Manager at the Waldorf Astoria, a position that was held by about six of us located prominently in the lobby of the Waldorf close to the famous Waldorf Clock. It was here that we met and dealt with the hundreds of over-bookings that were the rule rather than the exception during the New York World's Fair of 1962. It was here that I met briefly with Conrad Hilton who toured the hotel and met me and everyone else for a few seconds as he did his rounds.

One of the curved balls that came my way in my early days at the Waldorf. I received notice from the authorities that I was drafted into the US Army with the ultimate destination of Vietnam. I was required to proceed to the testing centre for a medical examination and other tests. This blip in my career path was brought to the attention of senior management who leaned on a local Senator who arranged for a deferment for a year, and one year later, another deferment until the Senator concluded, 'Get him out of here!!". I was then transferred to a Commonwealth country where Brits were welcome and the Flagship of Hilton International, the Queen Elizabeth Hotel in Montreal. My French skills assisted in this transfer.

Anecdote. My French skills were based on my French Grammar from school and my experiences in Paris that were of limited use to me in French Canada where the accent in Canadian films requires French subtitles in France. I needed to adjust my accent that I am still doing to this day. 

CANADA

I arrived a the Queen Elizabeth Hotel and met the future president of Hilton Canada who was Personnel Manager at that time. He briefed me on where I would go and said go find a room somewhere. I found a room in the student sector of downtown Montreal where thousands of students enliven life in this great city. I bought a bed and a dining set and made a wooden frame for the bed so that it resembled a sofa.

My third job with Hilton was a temporary step backwards from Assistant Manager at the Waldorf to Room Clerk or Receptionist at the Queen Elizabeth Hotel Montreal. Time would correct that but I was there because of my US military Draft Status, not a promotion. The promotion came quickly. In the meantime, my French was 'Canadianized' and I grew to love Canada and the Montreal ladies.

My fourth job with Hilton was as Assistant Front Office Manager at the newly opened Montreal Airport Hilton. That worked out well and I was soon moved to a new position toward a new area of our profession.

My fifth job with Hilton was as Assistant Sales Manager at the Airport property that sounds impressive but was far from easy. The sales function required direct sales calls to multiple commercial and office buildings along Airport Road where buildings were spaced out 50-100 yards apart and the only way for a young assistant sales manager with no car to accomplish this was by foot. In summer sweating, in winter, nose running...... through huge snowdrifts. But that is where I learned where past complaints could be rectified.

My sixth job with Hilton came when I was transferred back to the Queen Elizabeth as Assistant Manager, somewhat similar to the position at the Waldorf but a lot closer to my apartment in Downtown Montreal, and at the centre of the action in this bustling, successful hotel with a couple of dozen F & B outlets and a huge convention business, connected to Union Station and the underground shopping trails that snake under the city for miles.

JAMAICA

After about a year, Out of the Blue I was summoned to the office of the President of Hilton Canada and invited to accept a position as Front Office Manager at the Jamaica Hilton and to report to the Hilton International VP Personnel at their offices in the Waldorf Astoria as soon as I could wrap up my affairs in Canada. This involved breaking my lease, updating my passport in Ottawa, settling my income taxes and Canada, severing some precious relationships and packing. Within a week, I took off for New York City and my meeting with Hilton International's senior executives.

Anecdote. At a business lunch with the VP HR at the Peacock Alley off the lobby of the Waldorf Astoria, I was 'knocked over' by Conrad Hilton who was dining there at that time, who tapped me on the shoulder and said....'Aren't you David McMillan that used to work here?'. I was speechless I think. I have never forgotten that........... and actually never will.

My flight to Montego Bay, Jamaica was uneventful and the two hour trip to the hotel was highlighted by the darkness that permeated the poorer areas of the country on the gorgeous country roads. On later trips between Ocho Rios and Montego Bay to pick up VIPs, I was amazed and shocked, after the rainstorms, to experience oceans of crabs crossing the coastal road and cracking under the wheels of the car. The subsequent construction of a highway connecting Montego Bay with Ocho Rios has eliminated this experience as well as the charming routes along the ocean and through the picturesque villages and sugar plantations of the gorgeous North Coast.

The property is located on a white sand beach protected by a magnificent coral reef that runs along much of the North Coast about two kilometres from Ocho Rios with the spectacular Dunns River Falls 'en route'.

My seventh job with Hilton was as Front Office Manager at the Jamaica Hilton in Mammee Bay in November 1966 started in the height of the winter booking season in which pressure for rooms from Christmas to Easter was astronomic at a time when technology had not kept pace. Reservations from Hilton Reservations Service (HRS) were communicated by mail and the lag time was +/-one week during which +/- 100-200 reservations could be taken, confirmed and deposits deposited. No system existed to track this avalanche of confirmed reservations and deposits that had started before my arrival. A senior experienced colleague from our Trinidad property was seconded to assist us to dig-out. In the meantime, over-bookings filled every hotel and villa on the island plus hotels on neighbouring islands.............. aside from those furious guests that were sent home. This was perhaps the most painful experience of my whole career. My second and third high season were paradise compared to that first one.

My eighth job with Hilton was as Rooms Division & Project Manager at this property. It was basically the same as Front Office/Rooms Division Manager but, in addition they put me in charge of the renovation of all the guest rooms and corridors. A job that was hugely rewarding since, as anyone knows who has done this kind of work, nothing goes as planned and creativity is at the source of all solutions. My weekly trips to Kingston through Fern Gully were awe-inspiring and my meetings there with the contractor who was re-building the existing case goods that were shipped out, a half of a floor at a time and loaded back up to the floors with a rope lift we constructed over the room balconies.

Anecdote. Martin Luther King was a daily lunch client whom we got to know well. He was writing a book in a neighbouring house and he enjoyed taking a break and visiting the property and socialising easily with us and our guests. Harry Belafonte, one of my favourites from earlier years visited but was a very difficult client, also not liked at all by our Jamaican employees.  

After two great years in Jamaica, my Canadian sweetheart and I married and, shortly after, Jose 'Pepe' Menendez, Hilton's Area VP for the Caribbean and Latin America, who also was my Best Man at our wedding, offered me a new challenge in their newly opened Curacao Hilton as Rooms Division and Sales Manager with the charming Peter Howard, the GM, a previous colleague from our days at the Savoy Hilton in New York. 

 

TO BE CONTINUED

 

THE SECOND DECADE OF MY CAREER

MY SECOND DECADE (1969-1979)

The confidence, the gain of job security, the fascination, the new friends, the huge opportunities,

CURACAO

From the lush countryside and gentle beaches of Jamaica, we were introduced to the dry, rocky, arid island of Curacao in the Netherlands Antilles, some 35 km from the coast of Venezuela. The Curacao Hilton is a stylish property on the rocky ocean coast on Piscadera Bay, a brief drive from the picturesque capital of Willemstad, a shoppers' paradise, entered over the wooden, floating, openable Queen Emma bridge.

My ninth job with Hilton was my first experience at a location at which I could not understand either of the two official languages. Dutch was pure but difficult, actually impossible. Papiamento was musical but unintelligible, a Creole blend of African, Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, French, English, and Arawak Indian. However everyone speaks both English and Dutch. The predominant market driver for this hotel and others on the island was gambling and the casinos were humming with junkets organized from the US on a weekly basis. This market also drove a thriving entertainment scene with entertainers brought in from New York and Las Vegas weekly.

Charming John Scarne, Co-Owner of the Casino with Bud Sweet, was a well-known 'card manipulator', special advisor to the Mafia and the US Government, at the same time and author of the book, 'The Odds Against Me', apparently found on the shelves of every Casino Managers' Office in the world and he was also banned from playing in every casino in the world. He was a fascinating companion every night in the casino where my wife played and I observed in an official capacity.

Anecdote. One of our most memorable experiences while here was an opportunity to ride on a Dutch built prototype of a 'boxboat', built by a local Dutchman for the Dutch Navy. It was a rough wooden box for the pilot and about 4 passengers. The box was about eight feet long and five feet wide with sides of maybe eighteen inches. A small table in the middle contained a bone china tea set with an ornate teapot and four delicate cups and saucers, Strapped onto each side of the box were two huge steel tubes of about twelve feet long and a diametre of about eighteen inches.... with a pointed end in front and a flat back-end. The roughly constructed frame attached both sides held the box several feet above the water. Two huge outboard motors were bolted to the back of the box with propellers with extendable shafts. We headed out to the open sea, the torpedoes travelling below the surface, the box suspended high above the undulating waves, the tea was poured and not a drop was spilled. As we went into more serious waves, the box was winched up and the torpedo tubes continued to pierce through the water ignoring the waves. We returned to the hotel dock after an hour of travelling through huge waves on one straight plane. Not a drop of tea was spilled.

My ten year career with Hilton came crashing down while I was attending a senior management course in Montreal at the Hilton International Career Development Institute at the Queen Elizabeth when Peter Howard, the GM in Curacao was transferred to Bogota Colombia and was replaced by Georg Engelhart who decided to bring his whole team from the Athens Hilton and fired the whole team in Curacao, without cause. My career with Hilton was over, days before my first ever vacation to London for my sister's wedding. My severance pay was about $600.

The VP Human Resources for Hilton later told me that this would never be allowed in future.

Lesson learned 50 years later. On processing a request for a State Pension from the UK, then a EU partner, my service in Curacao needed to be verified by the Dutch authorities to get a much needed credit. However the Curacao authorities had destroyed all records for the 1960s to the 90s. No strings could be pulled, no influence was recognized, those records were destroyed.  Gggrrrr!!

CANADA

After attending my sister's wedding in London one week later, my now very pregnant wife and I started looking for the right opportunity and accepted a post with an old friend, Jurgen Bartels of Gabriel Management back in Canada. Jumping on the Polish Ocean Line's Stefan Batory, a voyage that was the most reasonable method of travelling at that time ......with a car, although not the most comfortable on the rough ocean crossing, 'we' being six months pregnant at the time. The rough crossing to Montreal from Tilbury took an extra three days and my wife and our 'son-to-be' stayed together............. while she tended her sick husband!!

My first job with Gabriel Management was at the Mont Gabriel Lodge as Assistant Manager, a 45' drive north of Montreal. It was a short assignment but a very welcome one at a difficult time. We returned to Canada pregnant, dragging a Fiat 850 from Curacao to London to Montreal. The property was and still is a successful ski destination for Montreal families that enjoy skiing a short 45' drive from the city whether for a weekend or an evening of night skiing. Summertime golf nearby and excellent corporate meeting room space rounded out the offerings and it remains successful to this day. Similar to other well located destinations, its success has been solidified by the sale of a great real-estate collection of Chalets and Villas.

Anecdote. I learned a lot at every assignment and no less at this assignment. The engineer had perfected the new art of man-made snow and I learned as much as I could, mostly after dark and sometimes after midnight. I also learned the delicate balance of profitability in this great ski area that showed black ink for the season only if the skiing started in November. I also learned that skiiers have huge appetites at the buffet and energetic creativity on the dance floor!

While still living in Montreal, the daily trip to Gabriel was an easy 45' drive and amazingly our Fiat 850 was a wizard in snow and on ice, a skill definitely not learned in tropical Curacao where she was bought!! Fifty years later, we still regret having sold her..........replacing her with a chunky Thunderbird.........that drove like a heavy overweight wrestler but benefitting from its front wheel drive.

Having previously lived and worked in Quebec, my French was relatively fluent and my Canadian French accent was acceptable. I loved , and still do to this date, the ability of most Quebecers, whether francophone or anglo, to switch effortlessly between the two languages, sometime in the middle of a sentence and sometimes for just one word. 

My second job with Gabriel was as General Manager of the iconic Algonquin Hotel in St Andrews New Brunswick, a 200 room classic originally built in the latter part of the nineteenth century with an 18 hole Golf Course designed by the team from St Andrews Scotland. Basically a 100-day resort that opens in the Spring and closes after Labour Day, it was a challenge to operate both from a staffing perspective and from a revenue standpoint. The solution that we, actually I, proposed to New Brunswick's Premier Richard Hatfield was to adopt it as a Hotel School in the Winter and morph into a Resort in the Summer was accepted although in reality the property was winterized and now operates year round under Marriott's Autograph Collection, albeit still with some challenges in the winter season.

As a 100 day resort, it opened in about April and closed in September enjoying the youthfulness and excesses that a student workforce provided every summer. The 100 days however was insufficient to make ends meet and the idea to winterize it was not new nor was it obvious that winter would attract sufficient business to allow any black ink. The idea was hatched to turn it into a Hotel School in winter with some of the students remaining for the summer.

Anecdote. Before opening I was asked by the locals if I played golf. I had learned as a youth but had not played very much since. I said 'Yes, sort of'. In the week before we opened our 18 hole course, I dusted off my old wooden' clubs and snuck out to play a round alone. The course is spectacular with sweeping ocean-view vistas from many tees. I teed up half way through on a par-three hole with a magnificent raised tee and a green way below me. I selected an eight iron. It was a hot early spring day. I had of course seen no-one because it was closed. I lined up and swung, connecting quite well. It rose ......in slow motion as I recall...... and landed softly about two feet beyond the hole spinning back slowly and dropping in......for a hole in one!! Applause erupted from behind me in the trees and bushes where three or four of the locals who had asked me if I played golf, were hidden. I did not live that down nor did I play much golf after that. My reputation however was intact!

Anecdote. Shortly after our opening, while sipping tea on the magnificent balcony overlooking the front lawns and the sweeping driveway that curled around the front lawn to the canopied front entrance, we all admired the arrival of a sleek silver, aluminum Classic Airstream pulled by a proud American family as they arrived to check in. As it approached the front entrance and its ancient wooden and tiled canopy, it did not slow down or park in the spaces provided for registration, he drove through slowly and in what seemed like slow motion, the canopy mounted the Airstream and ripped itself clear of its Tudor anchor and crashed in pieces around him.

It was cleaned up and fixed tentatively while a new model was designed and built........to new sizing standards.

My third job with Gabriel at the end of the Summer was as VP Operations of Gabriel Management so we returned to Montreal with our one year old son to this new position that included a number of hotels and several restaurant operations, my first experience at multi-unit operations and a second year of oversight of the Algonquin, albeit with a new, personally chosen GM, my assistant in the previous season.  

My predecessor as VP Operations had become a close friend over the years, in fact it started before I left for Jamaica. Jurgen Bartels was destined to make history in the industry and later to become successively President of Westin Hotels, Carlson/Radisson and later with Starwood and then Meridien Hotels. In the meantime he had become VP Operations of Commonwealth Holiday Inns of Canada (CHIC), Holiday Inns' largest franchisee and he called to bring me in to open the largest Holiday Inn in the World, the 700 room Holiday Inn Toronto Downtown.

My first job with CHIC was as Assistant Innkeeper at the Holiday Inn Toronto Downtown. Prominently located next to Toronto's City Hall, it opened to great fanfare and immediate success with a crack team of professionals that delivered a high level of quality throughout. La Ronde the rooftop restaurant was Canada's first revolving restaurant under the expert leadership of Maitre d'Hotel, Emilio Calderon, a colourful, handsome Spaniard whose skills in selecting the best candidates for all positions and then personally training, leading, guiding them all to great success.

Out of the blue, as I recall, I was asked to interview for a position with Four Seasons Hotels and was interviewed by Ian Munro, EVP Four Seasons and Georg Schwab VP Western Canada. I was hired as General Manager of the Four Seasons Hotel Calgary which included management of the operations of the Calgary Convention Centre.

The company, known at that time as Inn on the Park and headquartered at the Toronto property of the same name had a total of four properties of which two were Five Star properties.....the Inn on the Park (Toronto & London) and two small three-star properties, the Four Seasons on Jarvis Street Toronto, a low-rise property in the centre of Toronto's red-light district .......and a small Ramada Hotel east of Toronto. The decision to launch a group with the Four Seasons name based on its questionable reputation was never questioned........ or ever a factor. 

My first job with Four Seasons was to familiarise myself with the architectural plans for the hotel that was under construction. The review involved the detailed planning of the facilities that included such minutiae as the size and shape of the cafe and restaurant tables, the width of the table mats, the height of the seats of the chairs and their position under the tables to ensure comfort for seating and eating. Not a centimetre was left to chance. With responsibility for a 3,000 seat banquet room in the Convention Centre, we drew up the requirements for holloware and flatware that included my design of a one-piece, stackable 'supreme' dish for seafood/shrimp cocktails to replace the standard supply that consisted of three interlocking pieces that did not stack. The item was not patented and WESTIN Hotels was quick to order several thousand from the same supplier. Our work during this phase at the headquarters of the company touched on similar work for the new Four Seasons hotels in Vancouver, Edmonton and Paris.

My real job with Four Seasons, now re-branded as a Marriott Hotel, started a few months later when we moved to Calgary with our three year old son. I walked the hotel building daily from top to bottom as the construction and fit-out continued. We interviewed potential department heads and managers and gladly accepted talented managers and employees from our sister property, the Inn on the Park Toronto. Training programs were assembled and perfected and administered as the days counted down to the September 15th 1974 Opening, two and a half years after we had opened the Holiday Inn Toronto Downtown. A handful of those department heads had joined us in Calgary. Two or three events were planned for the opening to include an employee champagne breakfast for about 200 employees and departments heads, a VIP lunch for about 50 and a huge Reception for about 3,000.

 

Anecdote.  In preparation for these events, our star Pastry Chef Gunther Engels had prepared thousands of delicate Petit Fours and special desserts for the various events while the City Engineers were attaching the water supply valves to start the registers in a small cubicle of a room no larger than 8'X8'. Unknown to anyone was the fact that the joint sleeves were reversed in error and the larger supply tube fed into the smaller receiver tube forcing the pipes apart and the cubicle to flood, the water pressure breaking the walls of the first room and a secondary area plus the bakery and the pastry shop. The water escaped at full volume then flooded the main ballroom in which the 100% wool Ming carpet, custom woven in China flooded and rose gradually up the exquisite panelled walls of the ballroom.

DISASTER. We all had 3 sleepless days before the event and all hands were ON DECK albeit under water.

Seventy two hours later, the ballroom had been rescued, the Petit Fours replicated by the Inn on the Park Toronto and flown out, the carpet was vacuumed and blown dry by a battery of gas heaters and the panelling restored by an army of wood specialists. Waiters and waitresses were trained in French Service, heretofore unheard of in Calgary, and my stackable, silver-plated supreme dishes were stacked and loaded with the first 3,000 appetisers for the opening banquet.

The launch was a huge success and the battle began to gain a fair share of the Calgary market, largely dominated by Denis Forestal GM at the Calgary Inn for so may years, now renamed the Westin! The next two years went like a flash as we gradually changed the image of 7th Avenue from a decrepit, ugly back street to a respectable five-star, vibrant destination and the new headquarters of the famous Calgary Stampede's Party Central!!

After a great four years, a new GM was brought in by a new VP who arrived with his whole team of department heads and we all headed out to find new green pastures, again.

 

DOMINICAN REPUBLIC

Three interviews later having declined opportunities in Toronto (Harbour Castle), Mexico and a couple of other locations, we accepted a position of General Manager at the Hotel Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic a newly built, Oscar de la Renta designed, Gulf & Western Hotel.

This first job in Latin America was at the Hotel Santo Domingo was a massive change in style, in substance, culturally and linguistically. My Spanish was non-existent but my French helped. Within six months, I was getting by, in ten months I was fluent-ish! I understood everything and made myself understood. The first challenge was to host the Miss Universe Pageant, a six-month process of planning, programming, preparation and promises. I brought some Spanish speaking comrades from Toronto to assist in the training of the restaurant staff and a former Chef from Mexico....German. We became the favourites of the Diplomatic Corps and hosted the most honourable presidents from all around Latin America, and some that were not so honourable. None however were as impressive or eye catching as the 70-80 contestants for the Miss Universe Pageant.

Anecdote. John Kennedy Junior became a regular at the hotel and requisitioned the VIP limousine (or the company helicopter) to get to our sister property as Casa de Campo in La Romana. He was single at the time and I am sworn to secrecy so the rest comes with me to my grave!

Anecdote Israeli illusionist and a Miss Universe Judge, Uri Geller became a great friend and we dined most nights together as he carried out his amazing feats that included fixing clocks and watches of thousands of TV viewers holding their broken clocks and watches in front of their TV sets while Uri did his magic and most famously bending spoons.

Anecdote. My prowess on the hotel's tennis courts did not last long. I had prided myself for years amongst friends and hotel guests but I was to lose my prowess in a matter of minutes at the hand of the company's travelling 'Celebrity Pro', Aussie Davis Cup player, winner of the 1970 US Pro
Championship, coach of both Federer and Lendl.........left hander...... Tony Roche. We were to play an exhibition match and Tony agreed to play right-handed. My recollection is not very clear but I do not remember winning one point.

The inevitable changing of the guard came after a couple of glorious years when the hotel President was fired and we both left for greener pastures with a host of happy memories of a couple of hundred of wonderful fellow employee colleagues.

Within three weeks back in Montreal, we were invited to an interview with Hyatt International in Chicago for a position as GM at their new property in San Salvador, El Salvador in a hotel that was designed and built in six months by the government of the day to host a convention that had been invited to the country, and that Hyatt had agreed to staff, equip and open in six months. Three months had elapsed to find me so I got on the next flight to Central America.  

EL SALVADOR

My good fortune was that the convention for which the hotel was built cancelled their event because of 'civil unrest' in Salvador and they went elsewhere. We still had three months or else under our contract to buy the operating supplies and equipment, hire the management team, find and train the employees and open the property. I went to Mexico for the uniforms and Collins Avenue in Miami for the supplies!! The Hyatt team were fantastic, fun and the whole experience was splendiferous.

This second job in Latin America at the Hyatt Presidente San Salvador was a joy and a threat. The joy was the people and the place. The threat was the political unrest and the risk of life for anything that included the Salvadorean government and the Americans. The hotel was owned by the government and Hyatt is an American company, a double whammy! I was provided with a remote control car starter to avoid a potential car bomb and my German diplomat tennis partner and I went to the tennis club each day.............. by a different route, as prescribed for most expatriates.

Anecdote. A few months in to my assignment, my secretary announced the arrival of two government agents who she suspected were undercover police who were here to meet with me. She advised me to accept the 'invitation'. It did not take long. They showed me a crumpled piece of paper with two names on it. One was the name of the Swiss diplomat who had been assassinated a few days prior and the second name was mine. They recommended that my family and I who were resident in the hotel, change rooms every night and exercise special precautions in our movements to avoid or reduce the possibility of a kidnapping or assassination.

During our first year there we picked up another management contract down on the Pacific Coast and we opened the Hyatt Tesoro Beach. In the pre-opening days I walked down to the deserted beach to test out my Browning semi-automatic pistol that I had been given by our Maintenance Manager. Taking up a stance epitomized by Miami Vice actors, with two hands on this tiny semi-automatic gun, I pulled the trigger and blood erupted out of my thumb joint. I was certain that the pistol had back-fired. I wandered nonchalantly back through the not-yet-open lobby to the GM's office. 'Got a Kleenex?' I asked. I wrapped my bleeding hand and made light conversation about the opening date. I later realised that the semi-automatic action slides the loader backwards and that the gun is actually designed (for a woman) to be held in one hand, not two.

Anecdote. A call from our SVP Operations in Chicago came in to ask me if I knew the Miss Universe Executives from my time in Santo Domingo. I confirmed that I did. I was told the Pageant was headquartered in the Hyatt Regency Acapulco flagship hotel in Mexico and that Miss Universe were threatening to pull it out. Could I take over the management of the hotel and the coordination with Miss Universe executives because the current VP Mexico could not handle the situation? Without hesitation we accepted the challenge. 

I left Salvador for Acapulco leaving my dear wife and our 9 year-old son in Salvador to finish the school year. I never did find out if the company had taken out kidnap insurance for us while there.....nor did I ask!!