Welcome to TheHospitalityGeek.com!
As an internet-marketer-turned-hotel-manager, I’m witnessing so many things that need to be changed. Too many hospitality companies are missing out on great internet advertising and marketing opportunities. Many other hospitality companies are being taken advantage of by a few internet companies charging exorbitant fees or services that are normally cheap, or even free.
I created TheHospitalityGeek.com to educate the hospitality industry and help hotels and restaurants be more success and effective by using social media and internet advertising. I also want to help small and medium web developers connect with hotels and restaurants, creating more honest competition for the large companies that currently take advantage of the hospitality industry.
Bio
I’ve been a bunch of things in my life. Currently, I’m a hotel General Manger, a blogger, a husband, a dad, a very amateur photographer, and a Sunday School teacher just to name a few.
I worked my way up through the hospitality industry starting as a front desk clerk at a major extended-stay hotel chain. I was soon promoted to front desk supervisor where I performed all desk duties, including that of night auditor (far too many times). I was then promoted to Front Office Manager, moved to the sales department as a Sales Manager, and was quickly promoted to Director of Sales.
In 1999 I left the hospitality industry and leveraged my extended-stay hotel experience to join a dot-com focused on serving the relocation industry. The dot-com boom was in full swing, and with my experience in hotels it was a relatively easy transition selling advertising to the industry.
Soon after joining the internet industry, however, things got a little bumpy. The dot-com bubble began to burst and internet companies, including the one I worked for, were bought and sold like crazy. I pondered moving to the new company’s headquarters in New York for a week or so, but I chose to join another local internet company.
The bumps continued, but I learned tons about internet marketing and internet advertising. In hindsight, I was extremely privileged to be in on the ground-floor of internet marketing and internet advertising. Eventually, I left and created my own internet marketing and consulting company where I helped internet companies and websites create better online advertising campaigns. Despite being reasonably successful and owning my own internet advertising and marketing company, however, I found myself missing the hospitality industry.
After a somewhat complicated transition period of earning my MBA and gradually severing ties with the internet (in a professional full-time role anyway), I re-joined the hospitality industry and eventually took the position that I currently hold as the General Manager for a great new luxury hotel in Portland Oregon.
These are the companies that I have worked for in some way, shape or form:
Hotels
- Marriott (Residence Inn, Courtyard)
- Hilton (full service)
- Phoenix Inn
- The Grand Hotel at Bridgeport
Internet companies
- VirtualRelocation.com
- Monster.com
- Homestore.com
- VersionTracker.com
- eMediaInsider
- Dotster
Education
I earned my Bachelors of Business Administration at the University of Oregon with concentrations in marketing and management. I completed my MBA at George Fox University.
