Transition and a New Beginning

Hello and greetings from The Best Hotel in Pasadena. My name is Stephen Blaine and I am the new Director of Sales, here at the Courtyard by Marriott, Old Town Pasadena. I have now been here just about a month, which is just about enough time to start "swimming" on my own. I wanted to take a moment to pay homage to my excellent "swimming" coach and past Director of Sales, Mr. Mike Owen. After seven years here in Pasadena, Mike is moving on to bigger things and is now the General Manager of our brand new Courtyard in Santa Ana. It's being built right this very moment and is due to open in just a few short months. If you have have any business for Santa Ana, Mike would love to hear from you.. OK Mike, there is your 30 second commercial that I promised with the agreement that it is not business moving from this hotel to your new hotel....OK?.

Back to Pasadena.... Mike has really set me up for success here and for that I am forever thankful. Mike actually started this blog and now it is my turn to take the reigns. Reading past blogs from Mike both Basketball and Dog's seem to be the theme to which these two subjects I am not nearly as proficient as in, expertise (basketball) nor in, numbers (he has 5 dogs). I do enjoy both. I watched the final four yesterday and while I did not have a favorite, I almost always route for the underdog... go Butler! What matters most to me is that it is a great competitive game where the two teams slug it out until the very end.

Dogs are cool as well. We have two little dogs...Zsa Zsa, a Maltese, who is nine years old and our brand new puppy, Max (see picture above). Max is half Maltese, half Shih Tzu. The word Shih Tzu means "lion" and he is...all four pounds of him. Don't get me wrong, I love big dogs as well but anything that requires a large shovel to clean up after, is just not appealing to me. I am also under no illusion that these two offer any kind of protection what so ever...in an emergency, they will be the first to run away. The two dogs are still getting used to each other and are not quite sure if they like each other or not, competing for attention much like brother and sister. I hung out with these two alone all weekend and they did nothing but follow me around, everywhere like a shadow. I sit, they sit, I go to the kitchen they go to the kitchen, I take a shower.... you get it... This is the reason while dogs are great.... no other creature offers this kind of unqualified love.

This which strangely leads me to a quote I heard just yesterday from one of those financial gurus who was counseling someone about to lose their home. She has certainly made herself wealthy giving advice to others and actually once in a while stumbles upon the truth... she said " People come first, money and then things". This quote rings especially true to me. People do make the difference.

I have been in the hotel business my entire adult life. This is the ninth hotel in my career which has taken me from DC to Miami to Maui to San Francisco and to Los Angeles. My first hotel job was at a small hotel located in the Port of Miami. Every walk of life came through those doors from every nation in the world. No two days were ever the same and most days no two hours were ever the same. This is a place where a client just in from the Bahamas would bring me a cooler full of fresh Conch or lobster as a tip for making their last stay a great one. Truely amazing people and that is why I have been hooked on this business ever since.

At the end of the day, I am much more interested in hearing your stories than telling mine. So as we move forward in this relationship please share all you can about yourselves and about your passions and your lives. I am truly interested and most appreciative of the time you have graced me with today.