Bringing The Experience To Life In Hotels with Jon Weitz

Slick Talk: The Hospitality Podcast

07/07/21

•

55m

About

Comments

Featured In

Jonathan Weitz is the founder and president of Avocet Hospitality Group. In 2006, Weitz and his wife Lisa founded Avocet Hospitality Group via the acquisition of Islands West Real Estate, a small vacation rental business of Folly Beach, South Carolina. Over dinner with friends, the ultimate vision of Avocet Hospitality was born - to identify boutique properties that needed renovations and repositioning and to create unique guest experiences that are more than just hotel stays.

Fifteen years later, the Avocet Hospitality Group now includes award-winning The Vendue Arts Hotel in Charleston, South Carolina, historic The Read House in Chattanooga, Tennessee, oceanfront Tides Folly Beach, South Carolina, and St. Barth Exclusives, Saint-Barthélemy, Antilles, French West Indies.

Weitz began his hospitality career leading development and as general counsel for Kiawah Island Golf Resort helping to entitle and build the Sanctuary Hotel at Kiawah Island, South Carolina. During his tenure, he also worked with ownership to acquire and completely restore the historic Hermitage Hotel in Nashville, Tennessee, and oversaw the planning, design, and construction of both The Ocean Course Clubhouse and The Turtle Point Clubhouse. These experiences molded Weitz’ passion and drive for creating his own company.

Weitz is an alumnus of Clemson University and the University of South Carolina School of Law. A resident of Charleston, South Carolina, Weitz has served on the Board of Governors for the Charleston Area Convention and Visitors Bureau and a member of the Board of Trustees at Porter-Gaud Schools. In addition, he is active with charities and the arts and enjoys traveling. He and his wife Lisa have two children, Jessica, and Jonathan.

This episode is sponsored by Hostfully & Operto! Running a great property management company means you need a great property management platform and the ability to give automated access to your guests so you don’t waste your time doing things manually all the time! Upgrade your tech stack and get this dynamic duo to power your business!

In this episode, we explore:

02:41 - Johns Background

05:28 - Owning and Operating Hotels

12:12 - Understanding what you could and could not control

18:50 - Managing the property

23:32 - Importance of Technology

28:25 - Implementing good culture to the guests

36:07 - CornerStone of Culture

38:51 - Magic Money Program

42:59 - Key factor when looking into a new destination

Connecting with the Guest:

https://www.avocethospitality.com/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonathan-jon-weitz-718242139/

https://www.linkedin.com/company/avocet-hospitality-group/

Slick Talk Website & Socials: https://bit.ly/3uCsm6H

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Previous Episode

Growing A Franchise Vacation Rental Company

June 30, 2021

•

42m

Michael Friedman: Director of Sales and Expansion SkyRun Vacation Rentals

Michael has over 30 years of hospitality, vacation rental, real estate, and travel and tourism experience. He has created, led, and implemented successful sales, sales training and development programs that increase revenue, market growth, and expansion. His programs have grown businesses by 40% to 1000%. He is a growth-oriented sales professional with leadership skills at both the franchise and sales level.

As a thought leader, Michael provides industry expertise in vacation rental outbound sales, network growth, sales funnels, and marketing plan development and execution. He is also the Co-Founder of Vacation Rental University (VRU), an online academy that educates, trains and supports the VR industry. VRU was founded to fill the massive void in education and training in a fragmented industry. Michael has a passion for developing others and has consulted with individuals as an executive coach and mentor.

Michael resides in Charleston, SC, where he enjoys playing golf, walking on the beach, and dining at many world class restaurants. He’s an avid college and professional football fan, and devoted father of two grown sons who reside in Madison, Wisconsin (his home state).

This episode is sponsored by Hostfully & Operto! Running a great property management company means you need a great property management platform and the ability to give automated access to your guests so you don’t waste your time doing things manually all the time! Upgrade your techstack and get this dynamic duo to power your business!

In this episode, we explore:

02:39 - Michaels Background

06:46 - Running the backend operations

10:54 - Understanding the market and its needs

13:54 - Skyrun common theme

19:34 - Learning management platform - VRU

22:47 - Capturing Guest Information

26:53 - Remarketing your past guest

29:20 - Tools used in communicating guest

32:37 - Leveraging your business

36:51 - Dynamic Pricing and Revenue Management

Connecting with the Guest:

Email: michaelf@skyrun.com

Website: https://www.skyrun.com/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/skyrun/

Slick Talk Website & Socials: https://bit.ly/3uCsm6H

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Next Episode

It's No Longer Just A "Room" with Richard Valtr, Founder of Mews

July 14, 2021

•

60m

The Founder of Mews, Richard Valtr, is a hotelier with a serious passion for technology and service. His mission is to transform an entire industry with cloud solutions that make hospitality more rewarding for everyone.

This episode is a deep dive into his thoughts and opinions on how the hotel industry (hospitality) built products (tech) the wrong way that does a disservice to our guests and industry, the Original Sin as Richard likes to call it, we’ve looked at it all wrong.

Risk is something we can’t avoid and you know this! But... you can sure minimize your risk when it comes to putting things in place like NoiseAware & Safely.com! Safely have you, your guests, and your homeowner covered if anything goes wrong or gets damaged and guess what!? By having a NoiseAware device in your homes, you’ll have everything you need in order to have peace of mind!

In this episode, we explore:

03:27 - Richard Valtr Background

10:20 - Giving Value Added Services to Your Guests

17:40 - Knowing the Right Guest That Will Match Your Property

20:27 - The Original Sin of Hospitality

22:43 - The Creation of Mews

31:34 - Add on Services We Can Offer to the Guests

39:59 - Revenue Per Guest

42:25 - Making Sure to Meet the Guests Satisfaction

46:41 - Challenges In the Hospitality Industry

54:41 - Mews In The Next Few Years

Connecting with the Guest: