I tell you it’s alot of fun to write about the hotel industry and its going on’s. There is always so much happening – and likewise, there is always a twist in every turn in the industry. Thats what keeps it so fascinating.

Well thanks for keeping with me thus far – there will be more to come.

-Andrew

I hope that everyone has enjoyed my outlook into real estate and hotel development, and I hope that you are able to grasp my passion and love for the field throughout the year.

2008 was a difficult year in the real estate and hotel industry, myself even falling victim to it by the number of job opportunities I had dwindling down to none.

I hope that 2009 will be better than 2008 – and I hope that everyones dreams and wishes come true, including my own wish to get hired at Starwood Capital.

Best wishes for a great 2009!

-Andrew

andrew@alconic-inc.com

After running this blog for a little over a year – and then a slow period over the last few months, I’ve decided to go full force and post to the blog like I used too. I’m still just as passionate about the hotel and hotel development industry, and still attempting to prove myself to Starwood Capital, and even though the economy isn’t great right now – it’s opening up so many avenues for investing in distressed real estate and hotels over the next few years.

So due to my continuing goal, i decided to do a little housekeeping and sprucing up – If you’ved noticed, my blog now has it’s own .com! Please update your bookmarks to http://www.passionsofazealot.com so that you can get to my blog faster – but the old blog and all of the links or bookmarks pointing to a page with the old address will continue to work.

In addition to the new domain name, I’ve made some changes to the layout of the blog – including a Featured area, where the 4 most important articles (in my opinion) will be posted. I’ve also reconfigured the categories of the posts into a few main categories, that can be selected from the top of the page and then underneath them additional categories - don’t worry though, all of the old categories are still there.

One thing that I’m continuing to do is not display ads on this site, it’s never been my intention to make money off of this blog, and I’m sure everyone agrees that most ads (especially Google’s AdWords) look tacky and ugly. My intention for this blog was for it to be an informative blog and for the public to catch my excitement and energy for hotels and hotel development and its my hope that everyone is able to feel that excitement, just like I do.

I hope you enjoy the new look – and please feel free to leave your comments here, or via email at andrew@alconic-inc.com

Thanks for joining me!

andrew@alconic-inc.com

Follow me! http://twitter.com/poaz

I’m planning on using Twitter to talk about hotel development/hotel industry things that I hear or see but don’t deserve a full post or article. I hope that you can follow along!

What is Twitter?

Well, if you are not sure, it’s a little difficult to describe..

Pretty much, its a way to send quick updates about anything to people who “follow” you. How do you follow someone? Subscribe (aka “follow”) someone by visiting their twitter page – and clicking on the “Follow” link..

Yea – its a bit difficult to understand – but it is all the rage now.

andrew@alconic-inc.com

As of now I have a bunch of articles on the burner – and I’m hoping that I’ll be able to get one out every day or two starting tomorrow..

Here are some of the topics that I’m working on right now (in no order):

• 1 Hotel Scottsdale
• Baccarat Wailea
• Starwood’s Element/Aloft Updates
• Aloft Charleston/National Harbor
• Sheraton Revitalization
• Why Starwood Hotels Will Always Succeed
• Why Spas, Bars and other Services are becoming so important to hotels
• Philadelphia Hotel Development Information
• Stephen Starr

So my apologies for those who have been missing my postings – I’ve been missing it too! One of the most important aspects to having a successful blog is frequent writings. Not necessarily every day, not necessarily on a set schedule – but often enough so that you always quench the appetite.

Stay tuned!

-Andrew

andrew@alconic-inc.com

One of the most important things for any brand in the world is good public relations. According to Wikipedia Public Relations is:

…the management of internal and external communication of an organization to create and maintain a positive image. Public relations involves popularizing successes, downplaying failures, announcing changes, and many other activities.

Any comapny big or small should realize the importance of public relations, and thus, those who make up the public relations department should always be well versed on what they are talking about and most importantly be plesant to deal with – even if its a touchy subject, at the least they should be polite.

While writing this blog I’ve come into contact with a number of public relations representatives from a number of different companies – development firms, hotel companies, and just other comapnies I have mentioned throughout the blog. Some have complimented my work, and thanked me for writing positively about who they represent, others have written to offer clarification on an issue, and some have pointed out some blatent mistakes on my part. As has always been my policy, if anyone – a pr representative or a normal reader of my blog writes to me about a factual error, I have absoultely no issue with correcting the error, making note that its been corrected at the top of the post and the moving on. The last thing I want is to be discredited because of incorrect information, and then be stubborn enough to not acknowledge my mistake.

A few weeks back I was contacted by a member of the PR team of one of the major hotel firms (its one of the following: IHG, Marriott, Hilton, Wyndham, Hyatt, I wont say which one because I really really dislike being negative in this blog) and I was instantly taken back by what they said.

The email subject started out with the word “Wrong” – instant negative word, and a horrible way to start off an email, because the reader will instantly be on the defensive. Then the subject of the email proceeded to tell me about a fact I stated in one of my blog posts was incorrect, and pointed me to a website where I would see my mistake. The problem? My blog post wasnt wrong, and the website they pointed me to for the correct information said the exact same thing I said in the blog post!

I was livid that a member of this worldwide hotel firm would correct me on something when if they actually read my post, they would realize it was correct. Not only that, but the tonality they used was absolutely rude. I dont know if its due to the fact that I’m a lowly blog poster who they feel they dont need to respect, vs the New York Times, or if the company made a mistake hiring this person.

I was going to write a nasty email back, but then i said, nope, let me kill them with kindness.

So responded back with:

“Hey [redacted]! Thanks so much for the email! Can you tell me how I am wrong, since the link you emailed me says the same as my blog post!”

Within two minutes I recieved a response:

“I thought you construed [redacted] wrong. Mistake”

Wow. Talk about short, and rude. I’m probably making a big deal about nothing – but I hope that at least someone out who reads this takes this into consideration the next time they send an email out. Never begin an email subject line in a negative tone, make sure that you are correct before you accuse someone of something, and last, but defintely not least. A PR team is supposed to put out fires and/or prevent them – not create them, and leave a bad taste in someones mouth like this one did..

andrew@alconic-inc.com

I agree to an extent – you need a resume, but it should be the last part of your “Portfolio”, within your portfolio you should have a cover letter, recommendations, past projects or something tangible (if you have it) that you have worked on, and then last but not least – the resume.

As most readers know – the whole purpose of my creating this blog was to get people’s attention – get the interest of Starwood Capital or Starwood Hotels Hotel Development department so they can see that even though I do not have years of hotel development experience – I do have experience in project management, construction, real estate etc – but more than that, I have a passion to work for one of those two companies and to help them grow. It’s also a way to put my name out there, so readers can read my posts and see that I put thought into them, research them and do more than just regurgitate a press release. (To that extent – I have received numerous emails from people who say they look to my blog as a resource for the hotel industry)

But it’s still not that simple.

In addition to writing this blog, I’ve put together some great recommendations from pretty influential people who I’ve worked with or know throughout my daily life. I sent a FedEx copy of those require – especially the publicly traded ones), to people within Starwood Capital & Starwood Hotels, I followed up with phone calls and reached out to people who may have contacts within the companies. It’s more than just getting recommendations, its having the facts to back up those recommendations.

I’m getting closer and closer everyday to getting the position I’ve been dreaming of, and alot of it can be attributed to this blog and the networking which has come of it. Once I get the position, the company that hires me will never be the same.

Anyone out there want to see my portfolio? Send me an email, I’ll see what I can do.

andrew@alconic-inc.com

The internet has really helped networking by allowing instantaneous communication between distant areas, to the creation of social networking websites such as Facebook or MySpace, and also business networking sites such as Friendster, LinkedIn and a thousand other sites that have come about lately. I’ve been on all of those sites – have an account on many, but the site I use the most is Facebook – mainly because its a great way to network with my peers – that is people I’m close to, and have a personal relationship with – rather than business. LinkedIn is a great site for business networking, but most of their “good” features require you to pay – and even then, there is no guarantee you will receive a response from those who you contact.

Since I started this blog in August 07, I’ve discovered that the best way to network on the internet is by creating a blog. Not about the weather, not just about what you did that day – but what drives you, and what you’re all about. In my case – its real estate, hotel development and getting a position at Starwood Capital or Starwood Hotels. I started this blog to get the attention of those people, and…

It worked.

My frequent writings on this blog have made me contacts that I would have never known existed, and people who normally would never take my phone call or reach out to me in a million years – people who have the same interests as me, people who are looking for advice on hotel projects, people who are just writing in to say “thank you for writing such great information” or people who are extending a hand in asking how they can help in furthering my goals. I can say with confidence that I have met some very influential people due to this blog and it has changed my life. I never thought that a blog could do that – especially since it seems as though its one-way (me writing to the public) but while watching the hits go from on average 1, 5, 20, 60, 80, 100 and now easily over 200 hits day after day after day – all via word of mouth, or hits from search engines – its amazing what the Internet can do.

Anyone who is looking to make a name for themselves, or looking to establish themselves, I highly encourage you to write a blog – of course, be liberal about what you write.. Don’t write something that can get you in trouble – but push the barrier.

It may not happen immediately, but keep at it for a few months – 6 months at a minimum, and I promise this: If you write with passion, if you write frequently and if you write about interesting information (even if its only of interest to a certain group of people) you’ll gain a reputation for yourself – and it will be something that can help in more ways than one.

andrew@alconic-inc.com

If you have not heard of HotelChatter before – I encourage you to check it out. It’s one of the most informative hotel industry websites around, with a great mix of humor, breaking news, reviews, and more – all having to do with hotels.

I’ve been slacking with my blog posts lately, but mainly because I’m just so overrun with work and I had a pretty crazy week last week. If there is any good news I’ll be sure to break it on HotelChatter, and maybe write a longer article here. Although, I have a few things that I’m working on for this blog in the next day or two.

Let me know what you think!

andrew@alconic-inc.com