Transcript: Episode 136: Understood the Assignment

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[00:00:00] Susan Barry: This is Top Floor Episode 136. You can find the show notes at topfloorpodcast.com/episode/136. 

[00:00:13] Narrator: Welcome to Top Floor with Susan Barry. This weekly podcast ride up to the top floor features tangible tips and excellent stories from the experts and characters who elevate hospitality. And now your host and elevator operator, Susan Barry.

[00:00:32] Susan Barry: Welcome to the show. I'm back with part two of our loading dock stories from the 35th Hunter Hotel Investment Conference. As you may recall, the loading dock is the best place in the hospitality business to tell tall tales, share secrets, and just generally dish the dirt. This year our second episode is made up of stories from the Hunter team themselves recorded soon after the conference. And when I tell you that these people understood the assignment, please enjoy and check the show notes for links to all of our past hunter episodes.

(Elevator ding sound plays.)

[00:01:14] It's your old pal, Susan Barry, and I am so excited because I am here with Shruthi Balachander, who was the conference intern for the Hunter Hotel Investment Conference this year. And I have to know what was your experience like at the conference? Or getting ready for the conference, I guess. 

[00:01:34] Shruthi Balachander: Yeah, um, conference and getting ready for the conference was amazing. To be honest, Hunter was, um, kind of like a surprise for me. I didn't even expect that I would get the interview or even start working here because it's my first year in college, but I have learned so much from being here.

[00:01:48] Um, it was definitely like the pace picked up as soon as conference got close, but I got to learn so much only not from a hospitality and hotel perspective, but from a marketing design environment. Perspective or even, um, like events and logistics and organization that went into it. Um, a lot of the work that I did was with design and media, but it was also just like, you know, going through like every speaker, every registration, um, like the customer service perspective.

[00:02:15] And even just like when I was onsite, the entire registration was my job. So, you know, checking in all of our 2, 100 attendees.

[00:02:23] Susan Barry: That's huge.

[00:02:25] Shruthi Balachander: Yeah. Um, and then like some people, you know, like forgot to pay, refunds, but yeah…

[00:02:29] Susan Barry: Forgot to pay? Come on!

[00:02:33] Shruthi Balachander: Um, refunds or like, Hey, can I have the early bird raid? But I'm here on site. Like, yeah, we'll talk about it. But, um, there was definitely interesting, but I definitely had like a dimensional experience and I wouldn't trade it. 

[00:02:47] Susan Barry: That's so cool. So you said you're in your first year at GSU. I assume you're doing a hospitality degree or no?

[00:02:55] Shruthi Balachander: No. Yeah. Um, so I'm a business and law major. I want to go to law school, but hospitality kind of goes in with it. I really like design and marketing, but I'm still at that stage in business where I'm trying to figure out what like specialty I want to go into. So it's been good because I've gotten to explore a lot of different things. And while I love hospitality, I feel like, um, I'd rather experience it than study it, if that makes sense.

[00:03:18] Susan Barry: Yeah, I get that.

[00:03:20] Shruthi Balachander: It's been a good way to experience it, but I do want to get a degree in something that's more technical, like economics or finance or real estate. 

[00:03:27] Susan Barry: It's interesting. One thing that I have learned in my years of being in the hospitality industry is that you think, or at least I thought, because I didn't get a hotel degree either, I was an English major. And you think that there's only operations, like there's only the jobs of running a hotel or running a restaurant or whatever, and the more you're in this industry, the more you realize how many different fields there are, how many different specialties, all that stuff. Like a friend of mine is as hospitality specific lawyer, that is what she does as an attorney. So yeah. All right. Well, enough chit chat. It's time to get down to business. Shruthi, please tell me a story that you would only tell me on the loading dock. 

[00:04:22] Shruthi Balachander: Okay. So, um, my story might not be the best, but, um, the cool thing about like being in hospitality right now and just, I was born in India, right? So I've gotten to experience hotels from India to like, my dad used to travel a lot for work. So India, Tokyo, Hong Kong, and like recently Costa Rica, Puerto Rico. And so, um, we're a Marriott family. So wherever we go -

[00:04:45] Susan Barry: I love when people say that, “We're a Marriott family.” “We're Hilton family.” Okay.

[00:04:54] Shruthi Balachander: The Marriott's in India were amazing. And so when we went to Costa Rica in December, we stayed at like a Marriott. It was great, right? And then the next day we had to travel to a different part. of Costa Rica. And so we booked this AirBnB. Pictures look great. Everything looks great. We're driving at 7 p.m. Sun goes down. And something to remember in Costa Rica is that all the roads are rocky.

[00:05:14] Like you literally feel like you're in the middle of the forest, which you are. We go 45 minutes deep into the forest. At this point, we see no lights or anything. Um, we make it to the Airbnb. It's up a slanted hill and there's a house right next to it and the lady comes out and she is she's very like Texas lady like blonde hair everything and right next to their house they have built another house which is the AirBnB. And so we get in there um there's two really big i think they're like doberman dogs outside you know like guarding the place.

[00:05:50] Susan Barry: Oh my gosh.

[00:05:51] And then it, it's an interesting place. And then I try to use the bathroom because that's the first thing I'm trying to do. And they're like, Oh, um, you can flush toilet paper down there. So all the toilet paper you use has to go in the trash, uh, like in the trash can. I know. And then I was like, okay, so maybe I'll just take a, like I'll take a shower, right.

[00:06:11] I get in the shower and the shower and the light doesn't work at the same time. So every time you turn the hot water a little and this is like two droplets coming in at a time, the light starts dimming down, right? And they have these crazy decorations of skulls in the bathrooms. It's so weird. And then all of the thing is surrounded by glass. And like, if you look through the glass, you can see their house on the other side. And then they come -

[00:06:39] Susan Barry: From in the bathroom?

[00:06:41] Shruthi Balachander: From like, the like bedroom area.

[00:06:44] Susan Barry: Okay, good. I thought you were… ugh!

[00:06:46] Shruthi Balachander: Um, and at the same time, we decided to watch this Indian movie about, um, this woman that killed her entire family. It wasn't really helpful, but, um, anyways, this family, they come in, they greet us. They're really hospitable. That's like their hospitality was on point, but I think they were trying to overdo it for making up for their really shitty Airbnb. Um, and the funny thing is we paid like $500 or $600. And I, this was the most expensive, this was more expensive than the Marriott we stayed at, which is, um, and so they come in and then the mom and the daughter are like two blonde ladies from Texas. And they're like, yeah, this house has been in our generations. But like, um, like it was like they, when they passed away, we didn't know what to do with it. And so we just wanted to turn into an AirBnB and we were like, we got to get the hell out of here.  

[00:07:38] Susan Barry: Their ghosts were still there! That's what was happening. The ghosts were turning off the light while you were taking a shower.

[00:07:45] Shruthi Balachander: Oh God, please don't say that.

[00:07:46] Susan Barry: That is crazy. Well, I very much appreciate you joining me on the Loading Dock, thank you.

[00:07:53] Shruthi Balachander: Thank you.

(Elevator ding sound plays.)

[00:07:56] Susan Barry: I'm so happy to be here with Ray Rosa, who is the Operations Manager for the Hunter Hotel Investment Conference. Ray, before you started working on this conference, what was your background? Like, have you always done this or did you do other stuff? 

[00:08:16] Ray Rosa: My background is mostly in hospitality, but I started like out of high school in theater in central Florida. And, uh, we, you know, we had the economy crash. So I actually went back to school and I actually went to culinary school. So yeah. 

[00:08:32] Susan Barry: What? How cool, I didn't know that.

[00:08:33] Ray Rosa: Yeah. That's actually how I came to Atlanta. I worked at the W downtown.  

[00:08:36] Susan Barry: I opened that hotel. I was the first employee at that hotel. 

[00:08:40] Ray Rosa: That's wild!

[00:08:41] Susan Barry: Are you kidding me? What - did you work at… 

[00:08:43] Ray Rosa: BLT Stenk. 

[00:08:44] Susan Barry: Oh my gosh, when? 

[00:08:46] Ray Rosa: Uh, 2011 2012? 

[00:08:49] Susan Barry: Oh my goodness. I opened that hotel. I was there in 08 and 09 and I left like this time of year in 2009 to start my company. So we did not cross paths. However, I'm now know where I can go to get a lobster Cobb salad, which is one of the most delicious foods that I have ever eaten in my entire life. Man, that is so crazy. So then what got you out of the kitchen? 

[00:09:14] Ray Rosa: Well, I always, like I said, you know, I did, I was a stage manager in theater. So that was my big, my first big dream job, moved to New York, do Broadway, all of that. So production background, logistics, all of that was already in my wheelhouse. And I knew going into the call, getting a culinary degree for me was always like to cook, but I knew I would get into catering and at the event side of the business.

[00:09:33] So that was the plan from the beginning for me, um, knowing what I know about the industry behind the scenes. So I, took a job after working at the restaurant and catering sales. And that's where a lot of people know me in the Atlanta industry because then I did that for about six years before I went to work for the event design company.

[00:09:55] Susan Barry: So were you doing catering at hotels or off-premise? 

[00:09:59] Ray Rosa: Off-premise. So worked for a private family company in Sandy Springs and I worked for them for about five, six years. And we did everything from a lot of lunchtime catering, but we did bar mitzvahs, weddings, birthdays, um, a lot of really, like, really cool home parties and events. A lot of business stuff. We did stuff for Georgia State University's master's program. We felt like a lot of their students. So, yeah. 

[00:10:25] Susan Barry: It’s so weird to hear this because you know, that's what I did. That was my first hospitality, like grown up job. I ran an off premise catering company in a college town and did all of the things for FSU in addition to, you know, tons of political stuff and all this other stuff. That is so crazy. I love it. 

[00:10:43] Ray Rosa: I mean, it's a great, uh, to me it's a great industry, especially for young people that are looking to establish themselves in a career space. You know, it's, you can really just apply yourself. That's really what I did is, you know, there's so much to get done and so much to do. It's like you can really make a good name for yourself. 

[00:10:58] Susan Barry: Totally true.  

[00:11:00] Ray Rosa: Yeah.  

[00:11:00] Susan Barry: So then that led to the event design company? 

[00:11:04] Ray Rosa: Yep. So I worked for them for about six years as well. So they're just, you know, that was just a bigger, much bigger beast. We went, I went from, you know, a small catering company to a very large event design company.

[00:11:16] We were doing over 300 events a year. Then I got the opportunity to work for Hunter after the pandemic. It was a very happy marriage because even after the first year, I think that we were able to implement a lot of really cool changes and design opportunities a really just kind of, you know, start to upgrade some areas of the conference that I think, uh, worked out pretty well.

[00:11:36] Susan Barry: It must be interesting to go from doing 300 events a year to doing one event for the entire year. What is that like? Is it, does it feel more satisfying because you can really impact or does it feel like you have to really change things up every year to keep yourself excited? 

[00:11:57] Ray Rosa: I mean, I think it's a little of both. Um, for me personally, it's definitely more suited for my personality. I'm a type of person that likes to do a lot of research or someone that likes to really delve into things really deep. So being able to fine tune and really like get into every little minutia when it comes to conference, um, is really cool as opposed to having to manage a team of people that are working on things.

[00:12:25] And, you know, you have that that disconnect. Those things that are going on. You have to let people go and do it. Now I get to, you know, ask all the questions and get my fingers and hands into every little piece of it. So I really, I enjoy that a lot more. Um, that's the difference. Yeah. 

[00:12:40] Susan Barry: Interesting. Okay. So if not from your conference background, then certainly from off-premise catering or working as a chef, I know you must have some amazing stories. So let's get down to it. What is a story you would only share on The Loading Dock? 

[00:12:58] Ray Rosa: So I think I'm going to share a personal story of how I went from having, uh, helping a friend with no wedding cake to now having three wedding cakes. 

[00:13:07] Susan Barry: Oh my gosh. 

[00:13:09] Ray Rosa: So I have a friend who says, Hey, I'm engaged. We're getting married. Um, it's a beautiful venue, but it's like an hour out of the city. So they said, Hey, we've got everything covered. The venue has a lot of stuff. We need a wedding cake. And they're like, right. We know, obviously you should know. And I said, of course, and I'm thinking I'm going to be able to like a superstar.

[00:13:28] Um, I connected them with an amazing pastry chef who does beautiful wedding cakes. They said, you know, they really wanted something that was different and unique. in the flavor and the cake. They're like, we just don't want it to be just pretty. They had a very specific design. They are, um, a like mushroom cultivator.

[00:13:48] So they wanted this kind of like fanciful fairy kind of like little mushrooms on the log and in a tree.

[00:13:54] Susan Barry: Cool.

[00:13:55] Ray Rosa: Yeah. And she was like, loved it. They met. Everything worked out well. Um, they were super excited and she gave him a great rate. So I thought go for me. Well, the week before the wedding communication started to fall out of sync and they were reaching out to the bride and groom reaching out to me saying, hey do you know anything about the um, the pastry chef?

[00:14:19] She works for a large catering company. So I knew she was busy. She is the executive pastry chef for the team So I'm like, oh, she's probably just You Well, I get a phone call later that night from a random number. I answer it. It is her family member telling me that she literally suffered from exhaustion and ended up in the hospital.

[00:14:37] Susan Barry: Oh no!

[00:14:39] Ray Rosa: And that means that there is no wedding cake. 

[00:14:42] Susan Barry: And that's the week of the wedding. 

[00:14:44] Ray Rosa: Yes. 

[00:14:45] Susan Barry: Holy mackerel. 

[00:14:46] Ray Rosa: As a person with a culinary background, I know that even in the simplest of settings and the simplest of designs, you can make a wedding cake in two days if you're, you know, hustling, going crazy. So 

[00:15:00] Susan Barry: And if you have nothing else to do 

[00:15:03] Ray Rosa: And what we know better than in Atlanta or just in any major city, there's something to do. There's no, there's no off time for the weddings, especially in the southeast. You know, we don't have winter enough that it stops people from getting married. 

[00:15:16] Susan Barry: Totally. 

[00:15:17] Ray Rosa: So I'm like, okay, now I got to figure out. These are my friends, like I can't let them down. Like I went from, you know, getting them the coolest wedding cake to now having to possibly tell them there's no wedding cake, which I was not about to do.

[00:15:31] Susan Barry: Oh my God. My stomach hurts hearing about this. 

[00:15:35] Ray Rosa: So I'm like, okay, it's fine. You know, I know everybody in the industry. I will literally call anyone and everyone that I know, you know, other event people, other caterers, um, every bakery in town. Um, I asked everyone I knew that for a favor. And within 48 hours, I not only had three offers for more wedding cakes, I had one from the apprentice of that pastry chef. 

[00:15:58] Susan Barry: Oh, nice. 

[00:15:59] Ray Rosa: She had very similar flavors of cake, she had very similar flavors of filling, and she got the original, she, she went upon herself to get the design from the pastry chef originally and was like, Oh, I can make this exact cake. She's like, I have the time, we can make, make it happen. 

[00:16:16] Susan Barry: Oh my gosh. 

[00:16:17] Ray Rosa: And she did. And it looked amazing. She made this fully structured cake in two days and sent me pictures the whole way through. She sent them a cake tasting kit and it was, they were floored at how fast she did it and how it was still going to be great flavors.

[00:16:33] Everyone was super stoked and it was the day of the wedding and I was ready. Um, There were some logistics issues on getting the cake there. She's like, Hey, I can make it. And you know, um, she's like, let me work on getting the cake. That was the last piece of the puzzle venue. Cause it was so far away. It's like an hour. So day of the wedding, she's like, I've used, um, one of these like online delivery type things. One of them is called, uh, I forget, but an app that you get stuff from pointing. 

[00:17:01] Susan Barry: Yeah. Yeah. 

[00:17:02] Ray Rosa: She's like, I've used it multiple times for cakes, blah, blah, blah. And I was like, okay, great. Uh, coordinated with the venue because they're going to receive it. Venue person was industry professional, they were ready to go. So I get a call a couple hours before the wedding from the venue and they're like, Hey, we have a problem. 

[00:17:21] Susan Barry: Fantastic. Tell me more.

[00:17:26] Ray Rosa: No, we don't. And she's like, the cake is here, but the cake is not usable. And I said, why is the cake not usable? And she goes, the cake got smashed in delivery. It slid and hit the side of whatever the container was. And that cake is not usable. And I said, send me the photos of how bad this cake is. I can ice a cake. I can do a lot of things.

[00:17:50] Susan Barry: Listen, if you have ever done off premise, you can do work some magic without anybody ever finding out. 

[00:17:57] Ray Rosa: I'm like, we put that cake against a wall, you know, is it cracking? We're going to figure it out somewhere along the way. So she sent me photos of the cake and I was like, oh. The top, like the, it was three tiers. The top tier had slid one way. The other tier slid the other way. The icing on the side was smashed. And I said, there's no way. So I called the baker that made that cake and I was like, here's the deal. Like she apologized, of course, but I'm like, that's not my problem at this point. We have a wedding and we need cake. So longer story short, we determined the cake is edible, right?

[00:18:33] It can obviously be cut and used and we can figure that part out. So she goes, I have a display cake, you know, a styrofoam cake, but it's iced. And she goes, I can get you that. And I said. I can work with that.

[00:18:47] Susan Barry: Wow.

[00:18:48] Ray Rosa: So I was, but mind you, we have this hour distance between us. We're talking in the city and I still have to get that cake to where it needs to be. So I then also, I'm like, well, I have to turn this cake to somewhat match the theme. Cause this is a white ice cake and their theme is woods and floor and forest, mushrooms and greens and bark and birch wood. And I'm like, this is not going to match. I can't drop this giant white wedding cake in the middle of that.

[00:19:14] So call up a design company friend and I was like, Hey, I need whatever you can to decorate this cake. She's like, I got you. They had little mushrooms and tree bark pieces and all of that already wired. So I ran across town for that while still being on the phone, trying to get this styrofoam cake to the actual venue while still thinking I have to get ready for a wedding.

[00:19:37] Like I'm in the wedding. I have to also like get the suit ready and all of this. So then wedding cake, styrofoam, we get it on its way. I'm on the way, I'm like, hour 15, I'm looking at the days, timeline is going down, and I make it to the venue, maybe like 30 45 minutes before the ceremony's supposed to start by getting all this stuff. We make this cake happen. So we put the styrofoam, I start decorating it. The venue people are all sitting around me because they're just amazed that this is even going to happen. 

[00:20:13] Susan Barry: Yeah, of course. Your stunt cake. 

[00:20:16] Ray Rosa: Right. So they were like, do you want us to tell the bride and groom? And I said, definitely not. You're not telling them anything. It's their wedding. You're gonna, we're going to have the reception. We're going to cut cake and serve it. I said, I will tell them about the cake at some point in the day. Ceremony goes off wonderfully, right? We start, right before the reception starts, I go to the groom and I'm like, Hey, here's the situation with the cake. He's like, okay, gets it. The bride luckily was not a big dessert person, so the cake was not on her wishlist. It was on the grooms. 

[00:20:48] Susan Barry: Oh, good. Thank God. 

[00:20:49] Ray Rosa: So the funny thing is, is that many people never realized that the cake was styrofoam because they didn't plan to cut cake because they don't like the tradition of like smashing the cake in each other's face which is not what they wanted to do.

[00:21:02] Susan Barry: Gotcha.

[00:21:03] Ray Rosa: The cake was on display, the cake got cut, the cake got served, no one ever thought, wait the cake's still out for the display. 

[00:21:11] Susan Barry: Right, this is amazing. 

[00:21:14] Ray Rosa: The wedding photos, people commented, oh the cake looks so beautiful.  

[00:21:20] Susan Barry: It was like perfect, as though it were fake. Oh, imagine that. Oh my God. What a story. Listen, I was in there with you sweating every single minute on the clock and every detail. Getting down to the wire, but I'm not at all surprised that you saved the day. 

[00:21:36] Ray Rosa: I used to have no white hair before that wedding. And then all of this, all the white hair came in. So I always say the joke is, you know, no good deed goes unpunished. And I was, you know, thinking, yeah, here I am. I'm going to be so cool. I'm like, I've got all this industry contacts and I can get them this awesome wedding cake. And I became, uh, more stressed than working an event. 

[00:22:00] Susan Barry: Well, thank you so much for joining me at the loading dock. I probably need to go have a cocktail now to recover from this story. Have a wonderful afternoon. 

[00:22:10] Ray Rosa: You too. Thanks so much. 

(Elevator ding sound plays.)

[00:22:13] Susan Barry: I am here with Sarah Moss, who is chief of staff at Hunter and the mastermind, or at least one of the masterminds behind me, Hunter Hotel Investment Conference. Also one of the most fashionable people in the hotel industry. Tell me a couple of your highlights from this year's events.

[00:22:34] Sarah Moss: I hosted a session this year that was a big highlight for me, the table with Rachel Humphrey. Um, one of, uh, so that was a big highlight for me. Um, my second probably biggest highlight was, it was Pearlman this year. We tried to do something a little different for lunch, taking a mental break.

[00:22:51] Susan Barry: Everyone talked about that like crazy. Tell me, tell, explain what that was. 

[00:22:55] Sarah Moss: Yeah. So when we go to conferences here, even at Hunter, I guess it attended other conferences. I mean, we're just in meetings all day long. It's like nine to five, eight to five, eight to six, and you're going out afterwards for a dinner and you're going out for a party.

[00:23:10] And so we were like, what if we, this year for lunch, what if we just took a mental break and had something fun? And so we, um, brainstormed here in the office and O’s Perlman came up. He's a mentalist. Um, don't ask me what that means cause I'm not exactly sure. Um, but what I can tell you is he's a great reader of people.

[00:23:32] And so, um, we had him perform at lunch on one of the days, someone called performer entertain us, and he was really interactive with the audience. And it was just a really great time. And I think after that, everyone was just in a great mood. It was something just lighthearted and fun during the day and just something different for people.

[00:23:49] And that's what, um, that's what we love to do here at Hunter. Just provide something different for people, something fun, memorable, I think is probably the word I'm looking for.

[00:23:57] Susan Barry: Yes.

[00:23:57] Sarah Moss: In the most way there. So yeah, that was O's this year. Super fun.

[00:24:00] Susan Barry: Did he read your mind?

[00:24:04] Sarah Moss: I was terrified that he was going to come read my mind. He did not. One of the girls in our office said he did. Um, she was like one of the ones that he picked in the audience. Um, for those who ask, cause I've had a million people ask me, nothing was planned. It is completely random who he picks in the audience. Nothing, um, was set ahead of time, you know, nothing about the conference. We had one pre call just to kind of help him understand logistics for the day, but it was completely random. 

[00:24:31] Susan Barry: That is amazing. Speaking of amazing, I can only guess that you have some amazing stories from your travels and your career. So why don't we head down to the loading dock and you can tell me one of those stories.

[00:24:51] Sarah Moss: In college, I used to, um, side hustle as a wedding planner, just bring in some extra dollars for myself. And, um, I've probably done more than 50 over the past five or six years. And I was at a wedding. It was really small, like garden wedding. It was beautiful, like 150 people. And they wanted this beautiful like garden party for dinner.

[00:25:19] And when I go to wedding plans, Susan, you know, me, like I'm, I'm all in, I'm, I'm there. I'm setting up stuff. I'm rolling out chairs, throwing out tablecloths, you know me.

[00:25:28] Susan Barry: Yes.

[00:25:29] Sarah Moss: So, um, it's like maybe like 11:30, noon and like all the stuff is basically set out. I'm like waiting to throw down tablecloths and stuff cause we're outside and an unexpected wonderful rain shower pops up.

[00:25:44] And it's not just a little one. It is a gully washer, as they call them, and it is thundering in lightning, and where the ceremony is supposed to take place is under this, like, huge oak tree. It's in South Georgia. It's like hundreds of years old. And lightning strikes the oak tree. And basically like splits a couple of the limbs in half and they're like hanging precariously like over where the couple's supposed to get married in three hours.

[00:26:16] Susan Barry: What in the world?

[00:26:19] Sarah Moss: So this tree is hanging on literally by a limb. And the, like, like your reception is like rained out basically. And so in the next two and a half hours, I finally find a tree service. I'll come out emergency tree service, have them remove all the branches. The couple gets married where they're supposed to, because it was like why she booked the venue. She wanted to get married underneath this tree. 

[00:26:45] Susan Barry: Did she know that all the limbs were missing? 

[00:26:49] Sarah Moss: Yeah. I mean, like it was, it was not a small tree by any means. And she was like, we're going to make it work. And I was like, wonderful. Like I found a tree service for you. We're going to make this happen.

[00:27:02] Meanwhile, the tree service is going, I'm like rolling tables. I like find a tent company to come out and like tent it last minute. It was, it was a mess. But. The couple had a wonderful wedding. So happy. They're happily married now, three years. It was one of those moments in my life where I was like, why am I doing, why am I torturing myself?

[00:27:23] Susan Barry: That is insane. I'm going to tell you that when I did catering, especially off-premise, and it would be like in any random venue or whatever. I used to be like, Oh, you know that that's like an old Southern tradition that when it rains on your wedding day, it's really lucky. It means your wedding, your marriage is going to last forever.

[00:27:45] Girl, I made that up. I mean, maybe it is true, but I would make up the omens and good luck signs and all that stuff all the time. So now we have to add a new one to the list. If a tree gets struck by lightning on your wedding day, you will last forever. 

[00:28:03] Sarah Moss: Yes. What is the movie? Like lightning ever strikes the same place twice or whatever it is.

[00:28:09] Susan Barry: Oh my gosh, that is crazy. Well, thank you so much for joining me on the loading dock with not one, but two amazing stories. Thanks.

[00:28:19] Sarah Moss: Thank you for having me, Susan.

(Elevator ding sound plays.)

[00:28:21] Susan Barry: I am here with Katherine Camak and she is the Marketing Coordinator at Hunter. Katherine joined us last year when we collected up stories at the Hunter Hotel Investment Conference and she is fresh off of another very successful event. Katherine, what were a couple of your favorite moments or favorite things about this year's conference? 

[00:28:46] Katharine Camak: Well, first, thank you for having me, Susan. I'm so excited to be a two timer on our podcast. Um, so thanks for having me. Um, you know, what's funny is we did this last year and I'm new to the industry. I started freshly after graduating, um, college.

[00:29:05] So last year I was three months in to my journey at Hunter. They kind of just threw me in right before the conference. Um, It was great. I think my like biggest highlight from this year is just the fact that I was able to do it, you know, from the very beginning phases this time. Seeing everything come together after working on it for literally a year.

[00:29:31] Um, and it was just cool to kind of, you know, be a part of the early stages of the planning process this year. Whereas, you know, last year I was just kind of thrown into the mix and it was like, you know, do whatever you can do, you know, be an expert in hands. And this year I just got to see literally everything come to life.

[00:29:50] And it was an awesome event. Um, you know, biggest attended event. Um, I got to meet so many more people this year cause you know, I actually knew people this time around. Um, so just running into faces and, you know, just meeting everyone and from the sessions to. Literally, the speakers, everything. It was just a great event. I couldn't be more happier to be a part of it. 

[00:30:16] Susan Barry: Awesome. Well, now that you've got more than a year under your belt, I can only imagine that you have a good story either about the conference or about something else in your travels or your life. So why don't we head down to the loading dock and you can tell me your favorite story.

[00:30:36] Katharine Camak: Let's do it.

[00:30:37] Susan Barry: All right. What is it?

[00:30:39] Katharine Camak: So what's funny is right before this, I was actually working at a restaurant. I was a server for a long time. And those are really where all the craziness happens. I think everyone in the, um, F&B world can definitely agree. Oh my God. Yes. So, you know, I have, I have too many, so I'll just keep it to a few.

[00:31:02] Um, so I'll kind of set the scene. It was an Italian restaurant in my college town, you know, not the craziest, most upscale restaurant. I'll say that. Um, and one night I was working a shift and you know, we kind of get out late around, you know, midnight. Um, I think it was a weekend and we, you know, do what you do in college, you hit the town after. 

[00:31:29] Susan Barry: And what you do when you work until midnight. Cause you can't just go home and go to sleep. Like you have to decompress a little bit. 

[00:31:35] Katharine Camak: Right. And it was so much fun working with this crew. And one night we were all walking out together. And one of the guys I worked with, his name was Lil Jon. So if that doesn't paint the scene for you, um, I don't know what else does. So we were all walking out and Lil Jon goes, Where is my car? And his car was stolen.

[00:32:03] Susan Barry: What?

[00:32:04] Katharine Camak: From the parking lot after we got out from our shift.

[00:32:08] Susan Barry: No way. Was it a really fancy car?

[00:32:12] Katharine Camak: No, it was like kind of a beaten down Mustang. But what's funny is we were like, how did that even happen? Turns out he left it unlocked and then left a spare key on the dash or something like that. I know literally.

[00:32:33] Susan Barry: And then put a big sign outside that said, please steal me. What in the world?

[00:32:38] Katharine Camak: I know. And it was so, I mean, now it's looking back. It's funny. I mean, at the time it was funny too, but you didn't want to laugh because it was in chaos mode. Um, and so we, you know, called the cops and they like did a report and then it wounded up three days later in the parking lot, actually across from our restaurant. I guess someone took it for a spin. I don't know. They left some crazy mess inside too, and they just left it across the street. So they were nice to return it.

[00:33:10] Susan Barry: That is so weird. Why steal the car then? Like what is the point? 

[00:33:15] Katharine Camak: I know. I'm like, I have no idea what they did in those three days, but I don't know if I want to know. 

[00:33:22] Susan Barry: That is ridiculous. Well, I'm glad it wasn't your car, but I appreciate you joining me at the Loading Dock. 

[00:33:30] Katharine Camak: Yes. Thank you so much for having me, Susan. 

(Elevator ding sound plays.)

[00:33:34] Susan Barry: I'm so happy to be with Lee Hunter, a man who needs no introduction, but is Chief Operating Officer of Hunter and chairman of the Hunter Hotel Investment Conference. Lee, I had so much fun at the conference this year. What were a couple of your favorite things? 

[00:33:52] Lee Hunter: Well, good morning, Susan. I'm glad you had fun. I think, I think everybody had a good time from at least from what I've been told, um, everybody enjoyed themselves. So, so I think it was, it was great. I think what, what, what was I most pleased with the conference was, uh, our speaker lineup this year.

[00:34:09] You know, we were intentional, um, with getting some new voices on stage, uh, and, and, and championing, championing, you know, again, the, the underrepresented, uh, areas of our industry. So, you know, we got some new voices on stage and I think everybody appreciated those voices. Uh, and it went really well. 

[00:34:29] Susan Barry: It was wonderful. And for those who don't know, Hunter, I think is the first and only conference to achieve 51 percent diversity on the podium, meaning that it was 51 percent women, people of color and gender. That was a huge step forward for the industry. So I congratulate you. All right. Now that we've been serious and gotten deep, it's time to do what we're here to do, which is head down to the loading dock where all of the best stories get told. Lee Hunter, what is a story you would only tell me on the loading dock? 

[00:35:06] Lee Hunter: It probably has to deal with, you know, speaking of the conference with the conference. And that is the 2020 conference. And the lovely experience we all had with COVID. 

[00:35:18] Susan Barry: Oh, man. 

[00:35:20] Lee Hunter: Yeah. And, you know, it was, you know, in 2020, we were scheduled, um, the conference was Wednesday, March 18th to Friday, March 20th. Here in Atlanta, the marquee, you know, we're, we're planning, we're ready to go. Um, and then about a week out, I distinctly remember it was Wednesday, March 11th. Um, I'm leaving the office, it was my son's first baseball game this season, you know, 5:30 first pitch. So I'm leaving the office, I go to my brother Teague's office and I said, Hey, I need you to call these two sponsors to make sure, hey, if we, if we have this conference next week, that they're on board with it, but they'll still come and attend.

[00:36:04] Um, and just to get their temperature, you know, you call these two or three sponsors, I'm going to call two or three different sponsors, get their temperature on all this. And, uh, and I'll call you from the baseball game. So I go to the game, talk to the sponsors that I was responsible for talking for. He talked to the sponsors he's responsible for.

[00:36:24] You know, I call him at the game. I'm like, what, what do you say? They said, Hey, if we do it next week, they're all here. I said, great. I got the same response. I'll see you tomorrow. And by now it's like 5:45 on Wednesday, the 11th, right? Um, so I'm watching the baseball game and during this baseball game, which mind you at that age was a two hour time limit game.

[00:36:47] During the game, it comes out, President Trump has closed our borders to all inbound international travel, that the NBA has indefinitely suspended the remainder of the season. And this is all while we're at this baseball game that night and, you know, you know, texting with the team at the game, get home that night.

[00:37:11] Okay. How's everybody doing? Yeah. Okay. We're still good. Well, about 9 PM, uh, the Atlanta Business Chronicle comes out with, you know, breaking news and that breaking news is. The Henman conference, which is a big if you've attended our conference prior to 2020, um, you know, that's a big dental, uh, conference.

[00:37:33] It's a citywide conference here in Atlanta. And it overlapped us at the time we were Wednesday, Thursday, Friday. It was Thursday, Friday, Saturday. So, um, but it's a citywide and Atlanta Business Chronicle announced that they've canceled. And we're like, okay, um, again, emails, text to the team, you know, all hands on deck meeting in my office at 10 a.m

[00:37:58] You know, on Thursday morning, so we get my office Thursday morning and it's a very short team conversation as to what our options are. And on Thursday, March 12, we inside of a week, right? Because the conference was supposed to start the following Wednesday. We made the decision we were going to cancel the conference.

[00:38:22] Susan Barry: Oh, Lee.

[00:38:23] Lee Hunter: You know, it's, it's not as easy as it might think. Hey, we're going to, right? Because you have to think about all the things that you have to do. You have to, first of all, inform you know, all your, your, your speakers who are scheduled to come in and speak at the conference that we're not going to go.

[00:38:42] You have to inform all your sponsors who have, you know, their booths prepared being shipped here and their teams prepared to attend, you know, have to inform them that they're not coming. And then you have to inform all the attendees. Um, that it's been canceled. So we sent out, you know, three emails to those respective groups, you know, on Thursday.

[00:39:06] Um, and we said, Hey, stay tuned. We'll, we'll get back to you. Um, okay, now what? Are we going to postpone this for, you know, a couple of weeks? And if you remember, everybody thought COVID was just a passing thing, right? You know, a couple, three weeks. We're beyond it. We're moving on. Well, you know, obviously it was longer than that. Um, and so we ended up, you know, obviously canceling it and, you know, again, it's a lot harder to unwind a conference than you might think. 

[00:39:38] Susan Barry: Absolutely. I'm just thinking about all of the decor pieces and all of the rentals and the food and everything else. Like, you just got to say forget it, right? 

[00:39:50] Lee Hunter: And think about refunds because, right, we get sponsorship revenue, we get attendee revenue and to and we get that revenue to produce a conference and to host a conference. Well, we didn't host a conference. So what do you do with all the money that these sponsors and, uh, you know, attendees are paying? Well, you know, again, like you said, we have food and we have decorations and we have AV bills. So yeah, we got a lot of, you know, we got revenue, but we also had expenses that we've already used that revenue to cover, right?

[00:40:28] So, you know, fortunately all of our, um, our sponsorship partners, you know, I called all of them and I said, Hey, here's what we're planning. Here's what we're going to do. We're going to roll you to 21. You don't know us, you know, anything, your sponsorship has already paid for, for 2021. And, you know, it had already been in their 2020 budget.

[00:40:51] They had already paid for it, and they now were not going to have to worry about that for 21. So they were all on board with that, thankfully, and, you know, appreciative that we were doing that. Um, so that, that was the easy part. The, the not so easy part was attendance.

[00:41:06] Susan Barry: What did you do?

[00:41:08] Lee Hunter: Oh, because we were, we had some attendees just say, hey, roll me to next year. We're like, no, that, Logistical, you know, accounting. 

[00:41:16] Susan Barry: We don't have those kind of spreadsheets set up guys, come on.

[00:41:18] Lee Hunter: That's a lot. Okay, well, now, what do you respond? I mean, think about it, you know, you're a Marriott franchise development person. Did you pay for your attendee badge on a Marriott corporate card or on your personal card. Now, if it was a Marriott corporate card, we know that and I can refund Marriott, right? But if you put it on your personal card, now the question becomes: Okay, am I paying you or have you already submitted an expense report to Marriott who has reimbursed you? So now I'm sending my refund to Marriott corporate.

[00:42:00] Susan Barry: Oh wow. And remember also at that time, or at least very shortly thereafter, a bunch of those people were, uh, sent home for the duration. So did they even work there anymore? 

[00:42:15] Lee Hunter: Who am I refunding? You know, so it's you got to run those traps and then you say, okay, well, let's refund me. Oh, wait a minute. There's these things called credit card fees. And when you're refunding that amount of dollars, um, I asked the team to do some math for me and they came back and said, it's going to cost us $90,000 to refund everybody. 

[00:42:43] Susan Barry: Holy mackerel. 

[00:42:45] Lee Hunter: Yes. And so I said, you know what, for $90,000, I can write a lot of checks. What I did, I spent the best part of, you know, two weeks literally writing text to refund attendees, um, for the, for, you know, their registration. 

[00:43:07] Susan Barry: That is unbelievable and such a good peek behind the curtain of like some of the things you wouldn't anticipate. What I want to know is what was your mindset or like your emotion at that point? You know, I remember at that time, this time of year always brings it back, right? Because it's sort of similar weather and all that stuff here in Atlanta. And I remember being like, I mean, is this two weeks or is our industry over? Like what, what's going to happen? It was so unknown. 

[00:43:40] Lee Hunter: It was so unknown, you know, and I can remember, you know, obviously everything shut down and, you know, my, my kid's school was trying, hey, let's try this remote stuff.

[00:43:58] You know, COVID’s, looks like it's coming and might potentially be an issue. Let's have a test run of what we will, you know, what we now call virtual learning, right? Let's do a test run of our systems and make sure everybody's, you know, the school's good, that the students are good, that everybody knows how everything works and let's do a test run.

[00:44:19] So that test run was Thursday and Friday, right? I mean, what's the baseball game Wednesday?

[00:44:26] Susan Barry: So like the 12th and 13.

[00:44:27] Lee Hunter: That's right. 12th and 13 was the test run for school. Well, they never went back.

[00:44:33] Susan Barry: Oh, man.

[00:44:34] Lee Hunter: Went from a test run Thursday, Friday to yep it works for everybody. Y'all just stay at home.

[00:44:41] Susan Barry: Thank God I did because you're not coming back here.

[00:44:45] Lee Hunter: Y'all aren’t coming back. Um, so obviously for the rest of the school year, um, you know, they were remote learning and virtual learning. Um, you know, which was, you know, we did like everybody else did and went to a different location from Atlanta, but, you know, I came our office was, you know, our office building was open.

[00:45:06] So, you know, I came back in, um, but my kids and my, my wife stayed, um, up at our house at the lake and, you know, I would come back and I'd have a two and a half hour drive coming back to Atlanta and I'm on the phone, you know, with all our clients going, how are you doing? You know, and, you know, at first everybody was panicked and, oh my gosh, what do I do and, and how do I do?

[00:45:30] And then after we got, you know, three, four weeks into it, everybody seems more resigned to what was going on. And, okay, I have a skeleton staff. I, my, my hotel is still open. I'm not renting rooms, but the hotel is open. I have a skeleton staff. I've talked to my lender. You know, and I don't know any debt service payments and so then it was like, how are you doing?

[00:45:58] And after 3 or 4 weeks, you know, the owners and the management company seemed to be resigned to the fact as to what was going on and it was like, okay, here we are. Who knows how long this is going to last, but. 

[00:46:13] Susan Barry: It's, it feels a little too soon maybe to talk about like some of the positives of that period of time, but I do think that there were some resilience tests that really benefited us in the long term. So I, I hear what you're saying for sure.  

[00:46:30] Lee Hunter: And I think it fundamentally changed the way a lot of people go, you know, do their business. They change their business model, right? 

[00:46:38] Susan Barry: Well, look at us here. We are in the same city, but talking virtually. And aren't you glad that you didn't have to drive half an hour to meet me at some random place and do this quick conversation?

[00:46:51] Lee Hunter: Oh, and you know, I have clients that pre-COVID. You know, it was, you know, we, we would have the conversation of what should they do with their portfolio and, you know, maybe they should take some chips off the table, uh, and sell an asset or two, um, you know, cause they were gate wins for them and they should take some tape.

[00:47:08] And, you know, I just think we remember multiple clients saying, yes, I should sell this particular asset, but, um, you know, Lee, that's a legacy asset for our company. And my grandchildren are going to own that hotel. And Oh, by the way, my kids are only in high school, you know, to cope. That was pre-COVID, you know, that was November.

[00:47:32] Uh, we're having to come to that conversation and COVID hits. And then, you know, then the conversation changes to, yeah, let's sell it. Let's sell it right now. Um, and it fundamentally changed. Their business model, right? They went from being developers and, you know, owner operators, you know, they developed the asset, then they'd manage it themselves to saying, I don't want to be in the management company business.

[00:47:58] No, I love the development side, but the operational side of this. You know, having to deal with, you know, housekeepers and maintenance personnel because they had come through it with COVID. Right? I'm like, I don't want that headache. I'm selling my management company. I'm, you know, hi, engaging a 3rd party management company. I'm just going to be, you know, the developer of the hotel. So it fundamentally changed their business model. 

[00:48:23] Susan Barry: You're absolutely right. Well, Lee Hunter, thank you so much for joining me on the Loading Dock. And I think this piece of oral history is one that people are going to want to hear. So I appreciate you telling the story.

[00:48:37] Lee Hunter: Oh, it's my pleasure. Hoping I'll never have to go through it again.  

[00:48:40] Susan Barry: Me too. 

(Elevator ding sound plays.)

[00:48:41] Susan Barry: I am so happy to be here with Bobby Taylor, Executive Vice President of Hunter Hotel Advisors. Bobby, we've been talking to a lot of the folks who are involved in the conference, and I know that you aren't involved in the planning side of the conference, but you attend. So I'm curious what it's like from your perspective, what were maybe a couple of your favorite highlights? 

[00:49:05] Bobby Taylor: Well, I've been doing this for 30 years and, um, I'm one of the older, uh, uh, brokers and, uh, within Hunter, but, um, I love this conference specifically because of all the friendships. It's like old homecoming.

[00:49:23] I usually get there early and stay late, um, uh, and enjoy just the personal relationships that I've built over the years. It's such a wonderful industry. You know, my thought has been, if if you can't make a hundred people that come to your front desk feel like they're at home and they're welcome, then you're in the wrong industry.

[00:49:44] Go write code, be an architect, work by yourself. So there are a lot of open, friendly, warm, genuine people at this conference that are in consulting, owner operations, franchising, brokerage. Um, that I'm always just thrilled to participate and see, uh, all my friends. 

[00:50:10] Susan Barry: Oh, I love to hear that. Did you ever work in a hotel?

[00:50:13] Bobby Taylor: I did. I worked, I started with Days Inn way back. I was in QA and then I ran a restaurant. Um, over at Six Flags and the restaurant closed at nine o'clock and everybody at the restaurant made the nine o'clock bus. I couldn't figure that out. So I said, this isn't for me. Uh, but, uh, I went from operations to being a consultant with PKF and then was in franchise sales with days in and HFS, and then got into brokerage 30 years ago.

[00:50:44] Susan Barry: Excellent. Well, in the course of that career, I have no doubt that you have collected up some pretty spectacular stories. And as you know, in hotels and restaurants, the loading dock is the place to go to dish the dirt and share your best story. So I'm curious, Bobby, what is a story you would only tell me on the loading dock?

[00:51:08] Bobby Taylor: Well, I'll tell you one that's funny. Early in my career, coming from franchising, I, uh, I sold the Deauville on Miami beach, but um, I was at school and college and I came home to Fort Lauderdale and my mom said, look, there's a nurse that I work with and she has a daughter who has no date to a prom, would you take her?

[00:51:29] And I said, sure. We weren’t very wealthy. My mom had a little B210 Datsun and we put, we used to call it a boom box, but a radio, big radio in the back of the seat to listen for the drive and I took the young lady to the Deauville where, uh, the, uh, her prom was, and I sat there and she went off and talked with everybody for a couple of hours and came back and got me. And we went in the car and as I'm driving her home, I noticed that the boom box, uh, the radio had been stolen probably by the valet.

[00:52:04] Susan Barry: Oh no! 

[00:52:06] Bobby Taylor: And I was just like, you know, you're trying to do something. And, you know, I said, I don't know. Whatever. And about 12 years later, I sold the hotel and I'm standing under the portico shear where the valet probably had stolen my box.

[00:52:21] And I'm looking up selling a 600 room hotel that the Beatles had played in. Uh, it was when he was in the Ed Sullivan show, uh, the Beatles premiered at the Deauville hotel on Miami Beach. And I just, uh, looked up to heaven and said, you know, thank you, Lord. You know, you have a way of bringing it back around and they stole my box and I sold the whole hotel for him, so. 

[00:52:46] Susan Barry: Bobby, I have full body chills and I'm about to cry. So what a story. I love that so much. I cannot believe it. Wow. 

[00:52:56] Bobby Taylor: Karma's good. Just keep doing the right things that it always comes back around. 

[00:53:00] Susan Barry: Oh, that's amazing. Thank you so much for telling your story. I really appreciate it.

(Elevator ding sound plays.)

[00:53:08] Susan Barry: It's your old pal, Susan Barry, and I am here with Tim Osborne, Senior Vice President of Hunter Hotel Advisors. Tim, I have been talking to a lot of the folks who are involved in planning and executing the conference, but I want to hear about it from your perspective, sort of from the perspective of the brokerage. Tell me what it's like to attend the Hunter Hotel Investment Conference. Maybe what are a couple of your highlights?

[00:53:36] Tim Osborne: No, thank you. And great to be here and great to meet you. I, uh, the conference team works incredibly hard and it gets better every year and I'm grateful for them. I carry around the Hunter badge. It is the Hunter Conference. So we're unique in that respect. And I get a lot of credit for the conference and I, I, you know, I have to defer to the team, but I, I do appreciate the glowing reviews and thinking I did something, but it was great energy this year.

[00:54:05] There's certainly plenty to complain about and plenty of complaining happens. But in spite of that, there was still optimism, still energy. There's still so much little out there, dry powder, we call it to, to put in, put into deals and, you know, people want to get deals done and that's what we like to hear.

[00:54:24] Susan Barry: Excellent. Do you think that buyers and sellers are moving any closer together on price? 

[00:54:29] Tim Osborne: Yeah, definitely. We, uh, we've got some things cooking to prove it. You know, everything takes takes a while to close, um, from start to finish, but we're confident we're going to have some closings in the next couple months that that show. You know, and maybe create some, some FOMO for those who aren't stepping up and are waiting around to see that deals are happening without them and they need to step up. 

[00:54:54] Susan Barry: Excellent. Well, now that I have asked a question that makes me look like I know what I'm talking about, let's get to what I'm really here for, which is a loading dock story. So as you know, in hotels and restaurants and probably everywhere else, the loading dock is where people go to dish the dirt, share the gossip, and tell their craziest stories. So I have no doubt you've got one and I'm dying to hear it. What's the story you would only tell me on the loading dock? 

[00:55:23] Tim Osborne: Yeah, it, uh, thought about a couple. I mean, I worked in operations when I first started and there's probably some less, less PG ones there, but I'll spare you those today and just go. At the start of my career, I worked for, uh, company called Tremont Real Estate Advisors. This is all fairly public, but, but my version of it, um, special servicer asset manager for the big banks out of New York.

[00:55:48] And that was my first exposure to hospitality. Um, and just have loved it ever since. But at the time, my client Lehman brothers, if you've heard of them or remember them. Was, uh, doing some pretty aggressive deals, a construction deal at the time, and, uh, the Turks and Caicos for a beautiful Ritz Carlton Reserve, this is all public so I can name names. And we were -

[00:56:13] Susan Barry: Mmhmm. Especially because half the names are not in business anymore. Carry on.  

[00:56:17] Tim Osborne: Yeah. No, fair. It's, um, they're, you know, amazing people and it was just the environment we're in. It was just aggressive lending and aggressive projects. Um, it was going to be a beautiful Ritz Carlton on a, uh, small island outside of Turks and Caicos, which is a small island.

[00:56:32] So it was a logistical nightmare and, and, you know, budget was getting crazy already. Um, meanwhile, the world is starting to get shakier and shakier and Lehman's at the center of it. And you know, I go to work on Friday and on Sunday, I'm watching the news of the bankruptcy. And I'm wondering if I'm going to have a job and what, what's happening.

[00:56:53] And, uh, fortunately, you know, I did have a job. You know, it's less about in your role there, it's, it's about monitoring the projects and, and, and sort of solving problems more than lending money. But, um, so we definitely had a problem. I had a, you know, I'm a 20-something associate with a 20 million draw on my desk, which is essentially the construction team, the laborers, you know, all the expensive they've occurred over the past month that they're needed to be funded by the bank.

[00:57:21] So they're calling me, I'm calling the bank. The bank is not answering the bank Lehman because they've got, uh, obviously issues beyond this one particular deal as big of an issue, as big as, uh, a dollar amount as it was. So You know, I just had to stop answering the phone. But what was happening on the ground was a massive construction project, they had at at one point imported Chinese laborers. Bless them for for showing up and working on this project. Um, probably don't want to know how they end up there and the sort of labor you know brokers that get them across the world to the small island. And trying to get it done and and this project manager was uh an Israeli, you know contractor they were all you know If you're an Israeli, you're half in the army half, half a citizen.

[00:58:12] So it's a bunch of tank commanders um, who are trying to get this project done and nobody's getting paid now. So the laborers sort of peacefully basically said, I, I, you know, took hostages basically said, if I can't leave, you can't leave.

[00:58:32] Susan Barry: What?!

[00:58:33] Tim Osborne: Um, nonviolent. So at some point I didn't know, you know, are we telling funny stories or crazy stories? Nobody got hurt.

[00:58:41] Susan Barry: Well except for the implicit in the word hostage is something a little nefarious, no? 

[00:58:47] Tim Osborne: Yeah, yeah, it sounds, it sounds scary, but you can't blame them. Hey, don't leave here. Um, I don't know how to get home. And, uh, so it was definitely touch and go, I do think. Even the Israeli government at the time stepped up and wrote some checks to get people paid and resolve the situation.

[00:59:07] Susan Barry: Wow.

[00:59:08] Tim Osborne: Needless to say, the project did not get done. Um, You know, it was a messy two years after that, three years, whatever. My colleague has visited the Turks and Caicos. And apparently there's a jet ski tour where you can see the ruins of this project sitting on this Island, uncomplete and they tell some version of this story, so.

[00:59:30] Susan Barry: Oh my gosh, Tim, do, would you ever go or is it too much trauma for you to go back? 

[00:59:36] Tim Osborne: No, it's uh, all of this is the learning experience. And uh, as a 20-something year old, it was, it was, it was a tough spot, you know, sorry, I don't have 20 million for you. And apparently neither does Lehman Brothers at this point.

[00:59:49] So it was a mess. Um, it worked out one day, hopefully somebody comes back and puts that project back together. Uh, Turks and Caicos is an incredible, inredible place. Lehman Brothers was was a really great group of people. We're fortunate that a lot of our clients today are are the same team that, you know, found new homes from Lehman Brothers. So you don't ever leave the industry, as you know. 

[01:00:13] Susan Barry: Absolutely. Well, I think You need to go take that jet ski tour, bring a photographer, and do a full on photo shoot in the ruins of the Ritz Carlton. I cannot wait to see it. 

[01:00:27] Tim Osborne: Yeah. Thank you. Thank you. I will one day for sure. 

[01:00:30] Susan Barry: Excellent. Well, thank you so much for joining me on the loading dock and please be in touch as soon as you make that trip.

[01:00:39] Tim Osborne: Thank you so much. Talk soon. 

(Elevator ding sound plays.)

[01:00:41] Susan Barry: I am so excited to be here with Spencer Davidson, senior vice president at Hunter Hotel Advisors. Spencer, I know the conference planning team really well and I've talked to them a lot. So I know a lot about that side of the Hunter Hotel Investment Conference, but I'm so interested in what the conference is like from the brokerage side. Like what are a couple of your highlights? What are you looking to get out of that event? 

[01:01:09] Spencer Davidson: Yeah, I mean, we have a really unique angle at the Hunter Conference. I feel as opposed to a lot of these other conferences because we really married main street and wall street. Uh, the institutional guys that we're selling for, um, whether it's hedge funds or, or privately owned capital, uh, are selling to a lot of these kind of mom and pop or, um, more regional owners and we get to meet both of them there.

[01:01:30] Uh, so it's, it's really helpful to have all the deal makers and decision makers in one room. Um, kind of ran a really interesting little mini auction process, if you will, uh, on one deal this year, which, uh, garnered a lot of interest and wound up being a little bit of the talk of the town. So it kept us on our feet.

[01:01:49] Susan Barry: Was that during the conference? 

[01:01:51] Spencer Davidson: It was during the conference. It wasn't an auction per se, but we were able to actively talk about deals that were being awarded and live imminently. So the pricing, uh, and those conversations were, were very exciting to have. 

[01:02:05] Susan Barry: Excellent. I was talking to Tim earlier, and he was talking about the fact that some of the deals that you guys have in the works or have recently executed or working towards, he is hoping will create a sense of FOMO and the deal making community and get some people off the sideline.

[01:02:26] So I hope the same is true for all of your projects. However, I'm going to quit trying to sound like I understand the transactions market and instead get to what I really care about, which is crazy stories from the industry. So you have to have something interesting to share from your career or from your travels. What is a story you would only tell me on the loading dock? 

[01:02:54] Spencer Davidson: That's a good question. Um, I, so I've been in the industry for a little over 12 years in between appraisals and consulting and, uh, and investment sales have been on my fair share of hospitality tours, road trips, uh, tours through hotels that might not be deemed hotels or, or otherwise.

[01:03:11] Susan Barry: Under demolished as it were?

[01:03:13] Spencer Davidson: In, in and around going out of the system. I think we can appropriately call it. Um, so we've definitely seen our, our, uh, our fair share of, uh, of interesting products, but I can tell you, uh, firsthand, probably the most interesting story would be on a property tour of a full service asset we were selling in Myrtle Beach. And this was prior to my Hunter tenure, but, um, during a property tour and this, this hotel is on the beach we witnessed a plane going down in the water. 

[01:03:45] Susan Barry: What? 

[01:03:46] Spencer Davidson: Yeah, it was, it was It was crazy. I mean, it's a small plane. Thank God. No one got hurt. We followed up afterwards. But, you know, it's kind of one of those banner planes, uh, that I guess was trying to land at Myrtle Beach airport and right in the flight path. And, uh, you know, we're, we're walking on this exterior corridor within this hotel and this plane just keep getting lower and lower and lower and, uh, did crash into the water. 

[01:04:10] Susan Barry: Oh my goodness. So obviously it derailed the conversation at least for a minute. And were you like calling 911 and shouting and screaming or were you too far away to impact the situation? All you could do was watch. 

[01:04:25] Spencer Davidson: Yeah. All we can do is watch. I mean, there were some innocent bystanders on the beach that, you know, we're Good Samaritans and kind of jumping in the water, but this was also December in Myrtle Beach. Not extremely warm, probably not like freezing cold, but- 

[01:04:39] Susan Barry: Not comfortable though.

[01:04:40] Spencer Davidson: Yeah. Yeah. All we could do was watch from a distance. 

[01:04:42] Susan Barry: Oh my gosh. What happened to your deal? 

[01:04:45] Spencer Davidson: Uh, the deal did not wind up selling for a myriad of reasons.

[01:04:49] Susan Barry: It was cursed.

[01:05:50] Spencer Davidson: Yeah. Maybe cursed, maybe not. Uh, but it was, uh, We had a great experience in the, again, not for lack of trying from the hotel perspective, but just really hard to then switch gears and say, let me show you the king guest room now.

[01:05:03] Susan Barry: Yeah, exactly.

[01:05:04] Spencer Davidson: And now there’s a plane going down in the water. So, uh, that might be one of the most interesting stories that I've come across during, during my tenure. 

[01:05:11] Susan Barry: Just when I think I've heard every possible thing something new happens. What a story. Spencer, thank you so much for joining me on the Loading Dot. 

[01:05:21] Spencer Davidson: Of course. Thanks Susan. 

[01:05:23] Susan Barry: Thank you for listening. You can find the show notes at topfloorpodcast.com/episode/136. Jonathan Albano is our editor, producer, and all around genius. He even wrote and performed our theme song with vocals by Cameron Albano. You can subscribe to Top Floor on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you like to listen. And your rating or review will go a long way in helping us give you more of what you like. 

[01:05:59] Narrator: Thanks for listening to the Top Floor Podcast at www.topfloorpodcast.com. Have a hospitality marketing question? Reach us at 850-404-9630 to be featured in a future episode.