Waist not, want not.

Working in Opus Hotel's marketing and sales department is fraught with dietary dangers. Keeping a trim figure falls a distant second to the onerous demands of our job. In a town filled with healthy Lululemon-wearing, smoked tofu eating denizens, we’re caught in a truffle-oil trap. How to look good and stay fit, while employed at a luxury hotel. It’s not easy. Each week, in the name of duty, we maneuver through a minefield of high calorie, low nutritional value, totally irresistible treats.

Offering unique and interesting “welcome amenities” is a surefire way to impress guests. As such, Opus is unswerving in its dedicated pursuit for the perfect cupcake to wish our guest ‘happy birthday’; the perfect chocolate chip cookie to say ‘welcome back’; or the perfect almond cake, ‘just because’. We would never EVER think of serving to our guests that which had not been well-sampled first. And, who better to assess the quality of a fine baked good than members of the Opus sales department who happily hone their skill on Timbits most Friday mornings. We never tire of this part of our job. Each time the kitchen brings plates of freshly baked amenities for our sampling pleasure, a mad Pamplona-style rush ensues towards the plates. Wiping the last crumb from our smiling faces we remind ourselves this caloric sacrifice is for our guests and our quest for excellence, and so we persevere in our sampling.

Able to rest easy that our sampling expertise has lent itself to the very best in guest “welcome amenities”, we are each able to re-focus our efforts towards the critical task of relationship building with key clients. Integral to forging these valuable relationships is “client entertainment”. Working for a hotel synonymous with luxury and sophistication, the sales department has a reputation to live up to. Clients are encouraged to indulge in whatever decadent item suits their fancy. We ask them to cast aside their usual reserved salad-eating ways to do enjoy an extra piece of hot baguette, a plate of crispy French fries, a serving of molten chocolate cake. And we’re right alongside them, keeping them company (day in, day out). After all, this is in the name of business development.

Acclaimed for his innovative cuisine, Elixir’s executive chef Don Letendre creates masterful new menus every quarter highlighting the seasonal best of British Columbia. No self-respecting chef would consider offering a new menu to discerning diners without first testing every item. Thus, armed with empty stomachs and singularly focused on the task ahead, the (you guessed it) sales department is called up for duty. Three hours are blocked in the Outlook schedules. Phones are forwarded. Menu tasting is serious business, and taking up serious time. Usually limited to one plate per 4 tasters, initially food quantities seem sparse- it’s no easy feat divvying up a 3 ounce tomato tarte tartin with avocado sorbet into 4 pieces to sample. Sampling momentum quickly picks up however, and a blur of new breakfast, brunch, lunch, dinner, petits plats AND dessert item ensues. Only the most experienced can survive this gourmet marathon, and return to their desks only to answer the next call of dietary duty: the staff birthday cake.

Running one of the world’s best hotels also means ensuring loyal and happy staff by acknowledging accomplishments and celebrating landmarks. This, of course, involves food. Employees are regularly feted on their birthdays with sumptuous cakes. Ever team players, the sales department is always out in force- belting out a vigorous ‘Happy Birthday’ before dispatching a piece of birthday cake. All in the name of team spirit.

My trainer recently asked me to keep a food log as part of the self-imposed torture that masquerades as my morning workouts. I assured him this would prove an exercise in futility and could already predict the disapproving looks that would be forthcoming. I acceded to his request however and dutifully recorded every morsel consumed over 7 days. As expected, he sternly admonished my consumption of white flour, white sugar, butter, and duck confit. I was sanguine however, in my knowledge that each buttery crumb was consumed in the name of duty.

[Dan’s back from his European Vacation next week. You can expect his next blog soon…Thanks for reading mine. It’s been fun!]

Sales trips: the sublime and the ridiculous

With some trepidation, Dan asked me to write the GM’s blog while on vacation. I couldn’t resist the opportunity to moonlight as a blogger while he’s traipsing about Paris, so it’s official: this is now the Director of Marketing and Sales' blog. Of course, having blithely accepted the challenge of writing a witty, yet informative blog (Dan's instructions), I’m now sitting staring at a flashing black cursor wondering what to write about. I confess, I did consider using this space to flatter Dan shamelessly in an obvious attempt to build my own currency before looming employee evaluations. But that seemed a tad self- serving. Instead, with a busy few months business travel ahead for my department, I thought I’d share a few random thoughts on the glamourous trips of a sales and marketing director.

Working for a luxury boutique hotel has distinct perks. Not least of these is staying in other fabulous luxury hotels when traveling on business. (Note the distinction- when I travel for pleasure the quality of the hotels I frequent drops - a lot). My recent trips to visit clients in New York have afforded me stays at the fashionable Hotel Gansevoort, 60 Thompson, and Rivington, as well as various Ian Shrager classics. Next time I’m in town, I’m dying to try out the new “anti-hip” Gramercy Park Hotel opened to fanfare by the eponymous Shrager. Throw in a couple of fabulous dinners at the latest, greatest eateries (Buddha Bar, anyone?) and it’s enough to make me (almost) forget why I'm in New York. Almost.

Reality starts gnawing at my New York fantasy as I cram my largest pleather bag each morning with the usual accoutrements we use to flog our product. Known as swag in industry terms, these include branded candles, CD’s, breath sprays, hats, T-shirts and more. Not to be forgotten are the glossy brochures, expensive sales kits, pricing sheets, catering menus and more. Oh, and of course the trays of cookies, muffins and coffees that I bring to appease each client. I’m getting a back ache just thinking of it. I generally split the seams of one bag per trip - but I refuse to buy one of those wheelie bags and drag it, and my stylish Opus-swag, through Manhattan. The upside to losing a bag is it presents an opportunity to buy a new one every few months. I am one of the street bag vendors’ best clients, and always have this season’s latest Prad-o or Gucc-y when I return to Vancouver. (If you’ve been to New York, you know what I’m talking about).

A requisite of visiting clients in New York is putting one’s best foot forward- literally. On my last trip, this translated into negotiating subway stairs and miles of pavement in the scorching heat with the aforementioned pleather bag crushing down on me and cookie platters precariously balanced, in 4 inch gold trimmed Kenneth Cole shoes. Carrie Bradshaw I am not, however. Two days and several blisters later, I found myself on frantic search for a Payless, any Payless, in order to buy $2 plastic flip flops. To the assortment of swag and brochures in the bag were added my offending heels- quickly donned before each meeting.

Every appointment is different with the ultimate goal, of course, being to land the next biggest client for Opus. Downtown, I’ve run the post 9-11 gauntlet of security at the NYSE (yet another pair of nail clippers lost to zealous guards). Uptown, I’ve swanned through the hallway of a fashionable make up emporium waiting to be ushered to the boardroom, only to find my meeting in the decidedly un-fashionable mail room. Sometimes people are delighted to see me. Often, I’m totally ignored. I’ve found myself shilling my wares in a travel agent lunch room next to an overflowing garbage can and a colony of fruit flies. Not an atmosphere conducive to selling luxury, but I’m a pro.

On return from each trip comes the task of recording and retrieving expenses. Accounting for hotel and restaurant expenses is usually simple - compiling the assorted scraps of table napkins with tips scratched onto them, and crumpled taxi receipts, not so easy. But that’s what a controller is for. Well that, and auditing each item. For some reason finance types never seem to understand the obvious business rationale behind an $18 martini. Don’t they appreciate this is the arduous price of relationship building?

All in all these trips are a definite bonus. Face time with clients is invaluable and the chance to see what other hotels and restaurants are doing in fashion-driven cities like New York so useful. Just don’t let anyone tell you it’s a holiday.