Appropriation, the Highest form of Flattery

Sometimes I miss the days when I was in sales. I got to travel all over the continent at the company’s expense and – my favourite pastime – check out other luxury hotels. This job keeps me chained to Opus most of the year. But this fall will be a heavy travel month for me.

On Sunday I’m going to Seattle for Opus Hotel’s annual sales & marketing retreat – or, as they say in ultra-positive business speak, “advance”. We’re staying at The W, where we’ll conduct sessions on 2007 marketing, sales and brand evolution. We’ll also check out the latest & greatest in Seattle hotels and see if anyone is doing anything new and interesting. If so, we plan to steal their ideas and try to pass them off as our own, which will make our sales & marketing plan all the more impressive. We won’t feel bad, because Seattle is stealing a lot of Vancouver’s Alaska cruise business. I guess they need it, with Hotel 1000 recently opened and a Four Seasons and Pan Pacific on the way.

After Seattle, in case you missed all my gloating in previous posts, comes my vacation in Europe. Unfortunately, my expensive tastes will have to take a holiday with me, since I’m not prepared to pay 500 Euros for a good hotel. So, I’ll be slumming it in cheap, likely roach-infested B&Bs, hoping no one recognizes me. The day I get back Opus is holding our 4th anniversary staff party at the Rowing Club. I’ll probably be so jetlagged staff will have to prop me up in a corner and slap me awake every so often. But they’re used to that from meetings.

Next I’m off to Toronto for a Tourism Vancouver media event. I’ll be staying at The Drake, which gets lots of great buzz, so I’m hoping to appropriate ideas from them too. From Toronto I fly to Montreal for our annual executive retreat – um, I mean advance. We’re there to plan for 2007 and to check out what’s new and hot in hotels, lounges and restaurants. Each night we’ll be staying at a different hot boutique hotel – Le Germain, the St Paul and Godin in case you were thinking of sending us an amenity.

Last year we held our executive advance in New York. In 72 hours we checked out 50 hotels, restaurants and lounges. We had strict, oppressive rules like only one drink per venue to ensure we were always on the move. We stayed in a different hotel each night – 60 Thompson, Hotel Gansevoort and Hotel on Rivington – all super cool in their own way. Norah, our New York publicist, got us on the list at some of the city’s most popular clubs like Marquee, Bed and Double Seven. Being ushered past the waiting masses through the velvet ropes made us feel extremely important – until the doorman at Bungalow 8 told us he didn’t care if we were on the list, we weren’t getting in, now scram. We had to skulk past all the people we had just smugly marched by.

In New York we had hoped to steal lots of great ideas, but we learned more about what not to do. At one hotel a front desk agent and bellman had a fight in front of us over showing a room. The bellman finally agreed, and was sullen, disinterested and chewing gum for the whole tour. We suddenly understood how Russell Crowe felt at the Mercer.

If these retreats/advances sound awesome, they are. We get out of town, brainstorm, analyze, commend and critique, all in an urban, inspirational environment. The investment always pays off, and it’s been a key part of Opus Hotel’s success. When I say we steal ideas from other hotels, I say it partly in jest. As an independent we try to keep on the cutting edge of everything, so we don’t often encounter ideas we haven’t already thought of. It’s more common for other hotels to steal ideas from us. But as they say, imitation is the highest form of flattery.

In my absence Katrina, our DOSM, has promised to write a post or two. Whenever I ask her what she plans to write she breaks into a wicked cackle. Remember, Katrina, it's performance review time in November.

I’m sure you’ll enjoy hearing from Katrina. Have a great few weeks.