Latest / Suite Spot: A Hotel Marketing Podcast / 178 – Suite Spot: Road Trip – Marriott Pompano Beach Resort
Transcript
- Ryan Embree: Welcome to Suite Spot, where hoteliers check in and we check out what's trending in hotel marketing. I'm your host, Ryan Embree. Hello everyone. Welcome to another episode of The Suite Spot. This is your host, Ryan Embree as you can tell, we are not in our Suite Spot podcast studio. Instead, we are on site at the beautiful Pompano Beach Marriott Resort. I'm here with GM, Leslie Weil. Leslie, thank you so much for hosting us here at your beautiful reimagined property. We're gonna get to it today. Leslie Weil: Thank you for having me. Excited to have you. Ryan Embree: And this is kind of a combination, of a couple different series and we're gonna share why that is special. Your alma mater, which we're gonna talk about in a moment. But we've got so much exciting stuff happening right here on property. But before we get into that, we always love to hear kind of the background of hospitality professionals. Sometimes you're jumping from place to place, sometimes you're local, born into the industry. Tell us a little bit about your story. Leslie Weil: So, I was not born into the industry, but I knew very young that this is what I wanted to do. At 15 years old I said I wanna study hospitality and I've stuck to it for over 30 years now. I absolutely love what I do and I'm from Peru. I was born and raised there. And then after high school, I studied for one year in Peru and I moved to Miami to study hospitality in FIU. FIU is a wonder for a school. It gave me a really great beginning in the industry and I have not looked back ever since. I've worked everywhere from hostels to luxury hotels at all over Latin America and the United States. So really I was lucky enough to start in housekeeping and in the kitchen and then I just got to grow to be in a GM and I love it. Ryan Embree: I love hearing that story. It's something that we're actually hearing more of now. Are people going to school for hospitality? Before it was, I fell into the industry, fell in love with it, and now we're seeing that intentionality into hospitality. I think it's because of stories that you hear sometimes from mentors about seeing and obviously just the love of travel. Right? I think that that's, that's comes with it. Leslie Weil: I really think the love of travel and the love of meeting people. Always merging into what can I do with those traits? And then all of a sudden it's like, oh, hospitality. And I think as a career, hospitality is a career that offers a little bit of every career into one. Yes. And hospitality is a world of sub worlds. So really it is true that still, I feel like there's a lot of people that fall into it. Like, you need a summer job and often sudden you love it and decide that that's what you're gonna do with your life. Yeah. But I think being able to study it and understanding all the components from a hospitality standpoint really gives you an advantage as you start your career. Ryan Embree: And a lot of transferable skills as well. Where you know, you can be at a property in the Midwest and then move to a beautiful property here right on the beach right behind us. And that's what we're gonna talk about next. Leslie, is this complete, we've visited at the perfect time, right? You would say the complete reimagining of your rooms, your suites, amenities, your pool restaurant. Talk to us a little bit about this project and kind of the journey that got you here. Leslie Weil: So I have not been here for as long as the renovation has been but my team has. And it was definitely, a very long but very well thought of project. It was fully reimagined. Sometimes you go into renovations and I have done 20 openings and many renovations, but this one felt like an opening because we really closed out the tower, the pool, the restaurant, while operating from one of the towers, which is not always easy on the team. And it's also not easy on the guest of course, but it's truly amazing to walk in and feel such a fresh outlook in what this property was supposed to be. It doesn't feel like it's the same building. Everything was redone. Every single room. The lobby is completely new. We have the new pool, which is incredible. And that was made of two different pools. So legitimately, I feel like we exploded the pool deck. And then just made something new and really try to stay true to our roots. Meaning we are from Pompano Beach, we've been here for a long time and we wanna big homage to that. So really everything was carefully thought of to how to be a guest hub and a community hub and honor the city we're in with the names of our meeting space, the restaurant and everything else. And we unveiled it last week. So it's been incredible to see. Ryan Embree: Well, congratulations to you and your team. They've done a fantastic job. I had breakfast out on my balcony overlooking that beautiful pool. It was a great place to work for, for the morning for sure. Leslie, you mentioned, you know that not a lot of people, I have family here, so I, I visited Pompano, but not a lot of people know about Pompano Beach. That downtown completely revamped, completely redone, beautiful. Paint a picture for those that have considered visiting Pompano Beach. What you get out of this, this location. Leslie Weil: I think Pompano is booming. It was like Dan known Jame in Broward County. Everything has grown so much and then it kind of moved north. Pompano is quiet, it's beautiful, it has pristine beaches. You have a pier, you have the lighthouse. So we're in a privileged location because from some rooms you see the lighthouse and from the others you see the pier. There is a lot to do. Great restaurants, not just ours, but there, there's a lot of things that are coming. We have a brand new residence, building right next to us, but there's so many coming up. So if you are looking for a little bit more of quiet and real restored experience, it's almost like you really feel like you're on vacation without the hustle and buzzle of other beaches in Florida. Ryan Embree: Sure. And that's the best place to be, right? Is where you feel like you can get away from it, but you're not too far removed from it where you actually feel like you have to get in your car and and drive. So, let's talk about those guests that maybe do wanna stay a little bit more tranquil. Like I said, enjoy maybe their breakfast or their dinner right here on the beach. Some of the amenities in that reimagination there. Leslie Weil: So, of course I think the pool deck is the biggest portion of the renovation. I think the best part of the last week has been seeing the faces of the guests saying like, whoa, this really came out. Okay. That's fun. But really we want the guests to have an amazing experience from the moment they walk in. So at the resort, obviously you have the pool with your resort fee, you will get chairs and umbrellas at the beach, which the umbrella is not something you typically get, but it does get very hot here. So we wanna make sure the guests are able to enjoy. It's a great benefit. Best of both worlds. And we do have, we call our beach and pool the citrus club, right. Citrus because obviously Florida is big on Cirus, like I said, we want to pay homage to where we are. So our citrus club pool and beach have a different menu than the restaurant and you can have bites there all day. And amazing drinks and frozen drinks. 'cause obviously we want you to stay hydrated, refreshed and happy. And you can go to the pool, then go back to the beach. There will always be at attendants and servers taking care of you. We also have a tiki bar at the beach, which is very unique to this property. Most times you won't find that. So you really don't need to go far. And if you just wanna have a drink while you wait to go on a business dinner, you can always go to the beach, which is beautiful. We want everybody to start their day amazingly. And we're starting putting a pot of coffee at 6:00 AM So if you wanna go see the sunrise outside, you'll have a cup of coffee and you can just watch it come up because it is really beautiful. I'm an early riser and I've enjoyed many of them. So I want the guest to enjoy that. Love that. And then for breakfast, lunch and dinner we have the Caster. The Caster is our brand new restaurant. Mr. Keer used to be, well a businessman that came in 1923 to Pompano for fishing and he stayed for business. So we say it's one of the founders of the city and we wanted to pick homage to his name. Our restaurant is American/New American Cuisine. And we've kind of gone around the menu so many times to make sure something people love and enjoy being very different from your breakfast experience to your dinner experience and being completely different than what you can get at the pool. But it's all interchangeable. And we also do in room dining from the restaurant. Ryan Embree: That's incredible. I mean from sunrise to sunset, you really have truly have something for every single guest. I love that. Some really unique experiences. I'm sure that's gonna pay off on things that we're gonna talk about later with like social media and people taking those photos and sharing. Those are the type of experience that if you can curate those and create them for guests, it pays off in dividends because they're sharing that type of content. Leslie Weil: A hundred percent. We're now finalizing our wellness program. We're currently doing daily yoga, but we're gonna enhance it with some other fitness offerings or wellness. You know, it might be sound healing. It doesn't necessarily needs to be like a hard workout. And we'll have the water sports. So if you're on a bit of a thrill, you can also go on your jet skis or kayaking and whatnot when the weather is not rough, of course. Ryan Embree: Yeah. That South Florida hospitality. Programming such a big part of resorts now and I think that's something that the guests really have come to expect over these last couple years. When they check in, they say, okay where's the programming? Where's the schedule for my stay? So having the opportunity to offer that is a huge competitive advantage over your typical hotel that might not offer that to guests. I want to go back to what you were talking about. FIU, Chaplain School of Hospitality. Very passionate about it. Last year we had the opportunity in our campus crawl series to visit with Dr. Chang, the dean there. Wonderful campus. I'm a UCF Rosen grad. So we love in hospitality, there's no rivalries. Everybody loves everyone. But talk to us a little bit about that experience of going to a hospitality school and how that prepared you for your career today. Leslie Weil: So FIU was incredible and it's even more incredible now. I was very determined and when selecting where to go in the United States, I had some convincing to do with my parents. And Miami was easier 'cause it's close to home. So I don't think I realized how much FIU was giving me until I graduated. And that's why I give back so much. And that's why I try to stay close to the school. I'm part of the alumni board as a volunteer. Every time they call me, I go and speak to the students because the one thing that FIU has today is that it has a great alumni network. And when you're in the chaplain school, you're forever in the chaplain school. So I think the best that I got was firsthand that people talking to me about the industry. And that's not something that was as common way back when. I think the curriculum at FIU was very hands-on. And it truly allows you to learn in a different way. So because they also expect you to work, to graduate, you have to work many, many hours to be able to get that diploma to make sure you know what you're doing right. I really feel like it developed a passion and it allowed me to start, not necessarily, oh I graduated and now I have to be the manager really allowed me to work my way up and understand every department. But with that level of knowledge that having a career in hospitality and really learning in the school allowed me to grow faster because I got it. And I could relate to other departments. So I spent most of my career at the front office, but my accounting classes at the chaplain school really made a big difference to them moving me to accounting afterwards for a couple of years because I got it in a different way. And since then, FIU has grown tremendously, keeps escalating through the charts and I'm very, very proud to be an alumni there. And I see how they are involving us, the alumni, into the day to day of the students so they can really see what a career means. 'cause there's this whole thing about, oh, you work in hospitality, you have no lives and in reality that's not true. This is a life we choose and yes, it is a business that's open 24/7, 365 days a year. But there is so much you can do there that it's not always those crazy hours, but definitely it's the most fun you'll ever have. Ryan Embree: Yeah. it's a very rewarding career. And I think, you know, more stories like you, Leslie, of hospitality professionals coming back and speaking to students and setting those expectations because you don't want those false narratives out there about the hospitality industry and saying that this can be a career. If you love travel, which most of this younger generation loves to do, this is the place to do it. Amazing perks sometimes that the best that come with your job. Leslie Weil: Right. A hundred percent. Ryan Embree: That you take full advantage of. Yeah, I mean everything that we saw at FIU and the Chaplain School of Hospitality, so many labs, hands-on, so many internships that they were sending students to, we just need to encourage that in this industry as much as we can. And so cool to see you in great connection with that. I was talking off camera about advice that you would give right now. You know, it can be a little scary right now for college graduates. They're coming in, you hear about AI, you hear about technology maybe taking jobs. I mean, what advice would you give to a young hospitality professional right now, Leslie? Leslie Weil: Think the biggest thing for me is staying curious. Don't think you have all the answers, but never be scared to speak up either. I find that I was successful in my career because I always wanted to learn more. And no matter where you start, just ask what the other person is doing. Just take advantage of everything because you have in the back of your head, you already studied it so you know it. And no matter which role you have, where you're front desk, cage and you're in housekeeping, you're in the restaurant, you're gonna see many things because in a hotel, everything blurs with everything in a really good way. So stay curious, ask, ask how you can help, ask how you can learn. And that will prepare the career forward because you already know a lot of the information. And I find that those that succeed the most are the ones that hold the best of different jobs, which is great. 'cause hotel, you have a lot of side work, upward diagonal mobility. And if you stay curious and ask all those questions and also speak up when you see things that can be done better, you'll always grow and succeed. Ryan Embree: Be a hospitality sponge out there. And I think it's great advice because I think you think back on the, we hate to do it, but back on 2020 and the lessons learned, there were a lot of GMs, front office managers doing task and jobs that they had hadn't done either ever or in years. And I think there was a lot of learning that came out of that. And that is just the perfect example and kind of parallel of just exposing yourself to every single department. 'cause you, as you mentioned at the top of the episode, so many aspects to this. You wear so many hats as a GM, the more exposure and the more skills and traits you can do are just gonna sharpen, sharpen your professionalism, moving forward, put you in a great position. Leslie Weil: And also earns the trust of the team, because they know you've done it and you are willing to do it. And yes, I opened the hotel in 2021 and we were cleaning rooms every manager from revenue accounting to myself. We were cleaning rooms every day. Some of them had never done it. Some of them were great at it without never done it. And then it also makes you think of the hard work that the housekeepers goes through every day because I can certainly clean 10 rooms in eight hours, but they're cleaning 17. Ryan Embree: Yeah. I mean empathy is huge in our industry. Leslie, I for one would love to host whether I'd, I'd love to attend a wedding here. I'd love to attend a meeting here. Talk us through, I saw some new courtyard space that you have for events. Talk us through what it's like that process, to have group travel here. Leslie Weil: So we have an amazing sales team and I love them. Not the job I would do, but when I have, do I do it? Yeah. And the great thing about this hotel is that we host a lot of business meetings, but we also host a lot of weddings. Sweet 16, quinceaneras. And they did in the past, it's just the spaces are now enhanced and reimagined. So we have indoor outdoor spaces 'cause of course South Florida. But the beauty of it is that we do have a courtyard that it's right next to the pool where you can have a small cocktail at a small event, but also you can have corporate games. We've done everything you can get married in the beach and come into the ballroom for the party and we have a great terrace in the middle of the two towers that we have that is space for whatever you want it to be. Whether it's a wellness event. We've had a food and wine festival in the terrace before as well. And then the sales team will walk you through everything. We have a sales team that helps with the group. We have a director of events that help with all the event planning and a catering manager as well. So really everybody comes together to ensure that they event goes perfect from the moment the guests walk in until they walk out with so many different spaces. Actually, where we're sitting right now is a meeting room that overlooks the water. Which is my favorite spot. Ryan Embree: Another place for a potential alumni mixer, right? Leslie Weil: Yes. Ryan Embree: Awesome. Well, let's talk about where we are right now in the season, wrapping up the summer that we'd love those snowbirds coming down, enjoying our sunny Florida weather. What do you have prepared for those in the fall and winter time? Leslie Weil: Excited to get into that. Summer is always, it's slow season. I say it's slow because it's not ever really slow. But we are getting excited to really our first season as our reimagined property. A lot of programming. We're working to have music series DJs in the coffee shop. We are really trying to do everything to be a hub, not just for our guests but also the community. And what I found over the last few years that I've got to work everywhere is that for the guest experience, the best you can do is mingle them with locals. Because that's how you really know what's going on. We want them to stay at the resort, but they wanna know where the best, you know, play to go snorkel is or if there's a surf lesson and then the locals will give you the best ideas. So really as we move along end of summer and beginning of fall, it's easier to do a lot of things outside too. You know, the rain is always giving you, oh my God, what do I do to change it? So we're working on a lot of activities for families as well where at least an hour a day the kids could be outside painting while the parents are having a cocktail by the pool bar or the beach. And really curating programming at least monthly where we will have a DJ, liquor sponsor partnerships where when you can have and try different cocktails while, you know, refreshing yourself outside by the pool and also inside. Ryan Embree: And that's what you were saying, Leslie, is you were like, I wanna get the local community involved because this does have a lot of history with maybe some locals and staying in this area, but it also is a completely reimagined place. And also paying homage to those, that local community. So incorporating that such a smart idea, social media obviously a great place to put that programming out, encourage all of our sweet spot listeners to obviously follow the property onsite. How does that play into social media and online reputation? How does that play into like when, when you do a re-imagining like this? Leslie Weil: It's huge and honestly, especially when you're a brand and there's a lot of photography guidelines. We rely a lot on social media for what's happening now, right? Like it's very immediate. So social media to me right now is really how we show the world what we're doing real time, right? There's a person having a drink at the pool already 'cause we just opened, right? And it's there. So the speed and really aesthetic, right? What message are you trying to portray? For us, it was really important to start from scratch because the property doesn't look at all like the prior property, even though it's the same. So I think social media is huge nowadays as everybody knows and being able to respond and show guests, we do care. This is what we're doing. You're not always gonna get great feedback. So I always say it's how you react to it. But really right now, if you go to social media, you'll be able to see real time what's happening on property and what's able to happen in on property, right? You can look back for a wedding and then you'll find the pictures. So as we build up, we have new social media for the hotel, but also for the restaurant. So we wanna make sure we showcase both. And like you said, we wanna be a part of the local community and that is the easiest way to get to everybody around because they're not always gonna be guests. Ryan Embree: It's so disappointing when, you go to a social media profile for a hotel, it's the middle of the summer and the last post is about, you know, happy New Year, right? Because that real time aspect and the authenticity is lost. And that's a real opportunity for guests both far and locals like we're talking about to really get to know you and the property a little bit better and show your, your hospitality and care for us. Leslie Weil: We also were delayed so many times, as with every renovation that I really feel a lot of people were losing face on the fact, are they really going to open? So for us it was very important to showcase it in social media as soon as it was done. Like, hello, we're really here. I know it took a while, but see us, you know, we're beautiful. Ryan Embree: And to tell your story as well, I think you get a lot of people invested in that, right? The local community have been, wow, this has been under renovation for months on in and now we get to experience this for the first time and people loving it. Leslie Weil: One of the big things here too is that, like I mentioned, like an inspector would come and say, Hey, you know, my daughter had her Sweet 16 here. Like a lot of people from the local community did things at this hotel. So for them to be able to see it come alive, and the most immediate thing to do is social media. Ryan Embree: So cool. So cool to see. Well, as we wrap up here Leslie, as general manager, you know, as you see those guest experiencing this, this reimagined almost brand new hotel for the first time, what is your hope that they say and feel about their experience here as they leave the Fort Lauderdale Pompano Beach Resort? Leslie Weil: I think the best thing I heard this weekend that makes me realize this is what I want, is that it felt upscale yet approachable. You know, I want you to feel like you're at home and that you can have a great time and be yourself, but really have memories that you're building while you're staying with us. I think that in hospitality, one of the most beautiful things is that we get to be a part of everybody's life. Sometimes in their best moments and sometimes in their worst. But you want them to create a memory that they always can look back or come back to. And as we are reimagined those that were here before, we wanna wow them by feeling like they're family and that they had a great time, but also those that have never been here to have that same feeling and that same approachability to the space that the others. Ryan Embree: I love that. It's truly one of the best answers I've heard on that question, Leslie. So thank you so much for hosting us here at your beautiful Property. Encourage all of our Suite Spot listeners, come check it out. Come check out Pompano Beach, see what Leslie and her team have done here in this incredible property. Thank you so much for being on the Suite Spot. Leslie Weil: Thank you so much for having me, and I look forward to having you back and all your listeners soon. Ryan Embree: All right, awesome. We'll talk to you next time on The Suite Spot. To join our loyalty program, be sure to subscribe and give us a five star rating on iTunes. Suite Spot is produced by Travel Media Group. Our editor is Brandon Bell with Cover Art by Bary Gordon. I'm your host, Ryan Embree, and we hope you enjoyed your stay.