The Banquet and the Freddie Awards

Along with our name tags, we were given a small card that listed which table we had been assigned to. Mine was table 18. Only problem is that I think I was the only person assigned to table 18. Soon the Lacek folks asked Chris and I to join them at their table next to the marketing gurus. As we got settled in, a call to action concerning dinner was made and everyone made their way to two separate food displays to choose their meal options. I have to say that Randy really knows how to throw a spread. There was a chef carving turkey, ham, and roast beef on one table, another laden with various vegetarian delights, another that had a slightly Italian/Asian theme with a focus on pasta, and another heavily laden with about 12 different deserts. We ate well. On the table was a bottle of white wine and a bottle of red wine � soon it was two bottles of wine once the Lacek folks determined everyone at their table was drinking white.

So here we are. It is Holy Week for the Orthodox and I am missing two nights at church to be here. Now mind you, a deacon doesn�t do much the first few nights of Holy Week so I was probably not greatly missed in that aspect, but it was a real sacrifice for me spiritually and not an easy decision for me to make to even come. For one, we are still fasting. True, it�s just a spiritual discipline and not a grievous sin not to fast, and it is also true that when one travels there is a dispensation of sorts that can be granted, but we are days away from the holiest night of the year � Pascha. Gratefully, the Lord gave grace, Randy provided options, and I was able to avoid the meat. Only time would tell what spiritual damage would be done later, if any.

As it turns out, Randy is able to eat for the first time at one of the Freddie ceremonies. Wow; the first time in 15 tries. Now that�s fasting. Anyway, once he finishes, he is soon up and pacing the stage. I won�t bore you with the details of all that was said or done as that is preserved for everyone here: http://www.freddieawards.com/ . What I will do is relate what was going on in my mind before he dropped the big one on me. He casually mentioned that before the actual Freddies were handed out, he would like to give a couple of preliminary awards. As he clicked for a slide, I saw the words �Starwood Preferred Guest� and a lot of writing out to the side. I thought to myself, �Wow, that�s great. He�s honoring Starwood Preferred Guest for something special.� Then, as I began to read the writing, I saw my name and the words Starwood Lurker. What a complete shock. Randy continued to tell everyone why he was giving me this Industry Impact Award, but I was just dazed. As he asked me to come up to accept it, I was a little weak in the knees. What was I going to say? Who would I thank? If I tried to thank anyone, I knew there would be at least a dozen people I would forget. So, I just stammered out, �Thank you. Thank you very much. I am pleased to accept this on behalf of everyone who does Customer Service for Starwood.� They then gave Jim a copy to take back to White Plains. If not for the fact that the Freddies had not yet begun, I was almost ready to go home. But, I�m glad I stayed. I�m not sure any of you know what a great honor you bestowed on us by voting us to win 12 Freddie awards in 2002. To win Program of the Year for four straight years is an unbelievable accomplishment in itself, but we could not do it without your inspiration and your input. When Jim accepted the two Program of the Year awards (International & Americas), he told the people there that he had gotten well-wishes before leaving White Plains from Barry Sternlicht. It was written on a job application from Starbucks. Personally, I�m happy to say that it probably won�t be necessary for him to fill out that job application. Justin the Intern rules!

But, Randy was not through with his surprises for the evening. Under the ruse of handing out a Freddie award for creative marketing campaigns in the travel industry, he called up his girl friend and another gentleman who was not in the business as judges. The he displayed several slides that depicted several ad campaigns. He got to one that said, �Was it love�or was it the miles,� and lingered a bit before revealing the next slide which read, �It was love! Julie will you marry me?� I think everybody in the room was crying at the point Randy fell to one knee and offered an engagement ring. Julie, of course, accepted. And, with that, Randy invited us to the bar for the after-Freddies party.

What a delightful evening it was. I met our folks at the lobby bar for a short time and learned that everyone but me knew I was going to get the Industry Impact Award. Chris offered his cell phone for me to call my wife, which I did, but it was way too late for Mrs. Starwood Lurker to be up, so I left a message. I took the award to the party to show it to and thank everyone. Then I had a nice conversation with the person in charge of the newly budding Emirates Airline program, 777globalmilehound, and took a group picture with the rest of the Flyertalkers before getting into a cab and heading back to the Sheraton. I was dead tired when we arrived, but we checked the awards at the front desk and Chris and I made arrangements to meet in the lobby the following morning at 10:30 AM. Then I hiked back to my room to find it well-made and turned back. No other phone messages or offers were awaiting, however. Not that I really expected there would be. I went to bed without ordering the movie. I would be asleep almost as soon as my head hit the pillow anyway.

next: the trip back home

Sincerely,

William R. Sanders
Customer Service Coordinator
Starwood Preferred Services

[email protected]

Great reports, William !! Thank you !

Great report! This is the insider stuff that makes me so sad that I couldn't come over from germany to visit the ceremony...

Thanks a lot for the great report! And keep up the good work; you 1.000% deserved the award! Hope spg management knows what they have of you...!

Likewise.

Next year in Jerusalem! Maybe one of these years I'll make it in person.

Bravo Zulu William. Si Yu'us Ma'ase!

("Well Done" in military-speak.)
("Thank you" in Chamorro -- literally, "May God Have Mercy" or ". . . Bless" [I'm not sure])

if you can get them to post.

Starwood Lurker,
Enjoyed reading about your trip - you have always had a gift when putting words to paper. Very proud of you as recepient of the Freddie Award. Keep up the good work!

Your brother

Enjoyed your report

For those that may be wondering...yes, this is really my brother.

Sincerely,

William R. Sanders
Customer Service Coordinator
Starwood Preferred Services

[email protected]

Great trip report and congratulations on the Industry Impact Award!

From someone who spends 50+ nights a year in a hotel, its refreshing to read a trip report that provides an insider view.

Thanks William--great report and well-deserved award!

Thanks for the nice trip report and...

Congratulations, Mr. Lurker! The Freddie for Industry Impact is certainly an award you and your organization deserve. It seems your involvement here is a natural progression for this community, which is itself a past winner of the award. Thank you for your involvement here.

The Trip Back Home

As nice as Colorado Springs was, including the hospitality displayed by the Inside Flyer folks and the Sheraton Colorado Springs staff, I was anxious to return to Austin. All I have to do is leave there for a short time to really appreciate the city in which I live. There�s just no place like it that I have ever been to. So, I woke up around 9:30 AM, packed and headed out to the lobby to meet Chris at our appointed time. Went to the front desk to pick up the Industry Impact award and thanked them for doing their part in our having won another 12 Freddies. I wrapped the award in some bubble wrap and placed in my carry-on. Then I sat in another one of their wonderfully comfortable lobby chairs and read USA Today until Chris came to pay the bill.

Afterwards, we were off to the airport and, gentleman that he is, Chris dropped me off at the departure point before turning in the rental car. I checked in using the AA Self Check-in, but needed some help from the attendant since I really did not understand it at first. Chris was close behind and we proceeded to the security gate. As I rounded the corner, I saw about 200 military people all dressed in fatigues. I asked one, �Are you all waiting to get through security?� He said, �No, we�re waiting for some of our folks who are returning from overseas.� Whew. If they had all been waiting for security, I wasn�t sure we were going to make the flight.

As it was, we were able to weave through the crowd to the security gate. Unfortunately, I forgot to remove my pith helmet and the rivets in it set off the alarm. I was asked to step aside for wanding and a pat-down. No problem. After the pith helmet was removed, I passed through with flying colors. Then the woman screening bags brought my bag over. �There is something in your bag that we�d like to check.� It was then that I realized that the award, being Tiffany crystal, was likely showing up on their screen as a huge black object. Sure enough. They took it out, confirmed what it was, and had me put it back. Still, I wondered�this thing weighs about ten pounds. It could probably be considered a bludgeon-type weapon, so I was probably lucky they let me onboard with it.

After going to the gate, I decided to check out what was available at the lounge for breakfast. I was able to buy a couple of bagels, a salad, and a Coke to hold me over. After I finished, Chris took a turn and by the time he got back, we were the last two on the plane. No problem for me anyway. I prefer for the aisles to be cleared before boarding, but while we are on the subject of boarding, it seems weird the way AA does it. They board by groups these days, which is fine, but the order is strange. First on seem to be first class. No problem here. I mean you take care of these guys first and since there are fewer of them, they get settled in quickly. But then, they seem to board front to back. Wouldn�t it make better sense to board back to forward? That way, you don�t have people stopping in front of you storing their carry-ons in the overhead storage areas and jockeying for their seat. It�s bad enough that the aisle people always get to their seats first, which causes them to have to get up to allow you in to the window and middle seats, but the order of boarding they use now just seems to aggravate the situation even more. I guess it�s not that big a deal. It just seemed strange to me anyway.

Regardless, there were no surly flight attendants or delays on this flight to Dallas. I even managed to nap a bit after the refreshment 100-yard dash was completed. We got off and went to our next departure gate, which was about five gates away this time.

For reasons that are obvious if you�ve ever met me in person, I buy two seats when I fly. Not that I take up two seats, mind you, but I definitely take more than one. Yep, I�m the guy that everyone dreads being seated next to. I can see it in your faces when I come down the aisle. (oh God, please don�t let him be assigned to the seat next to me!) Anyway, we check in and the gate attendant gives me two seats not in the same aisle. I tell her why I bought two seats to begin with. She says, �I�m sorry. All we have is middle seats left. You will have to check with the people who are going to be in charge of assigning seats for your flight. They will be here in 30 minutes.� Great. I try to be considerate to my fellow passengers and now somebody is going to be wearing me all the way to Austin. Thank God it is a short flight.

About 15 minutes later, someone new begins manning the gate so I take this opportunity to let him know what�s up. He says, �Wow. That kind of defeats the purpose of buying two seats, doesn�t it?� He shows the seat assignments to a colleague and she says, �This is going to be a full flight, but we have to do some re-arranging anyway. I�ll take these and see what I can do for you.� Very nice.

So we wait. We watch the crews service a plane at the next gate, which as it turns out is a pretty smooth process. Chris and I are both grateful we don�t have to do this for a living, however. I can�t even imagine doing this job in Texas in August. I used to be a commercial greenhouse grower/manager before coming to Starwood, so I know what the heat in the summer here can do to you physically. After about 40 minutes, I am called up to the check-in counter. They hand me two new seat assignments � a middle seat and an window seat, and they're in the same aisle. Thank you, AA, for coming through for everyone!

Soon, we are boarding and on our way to Austin. Boarding, I come to my aisle. Sure enough, the aisle person is in her seat with the widest eyes I have ever seen. I say, �Excuse me, Ma�am. I bought the two seats next to you and I�m going to occupy at least 1 and � of them.� With a sigh of relief, she was up like a shot and I wedged myself in for the flight home, which proved uneventful except that the refreshment cart 100-yard dash was even more frantic than usual.

Home Sweet Home

Down the concourse to the downstairs baggage claim, I went. I had already exchanged well-wishes with Chris, so he could move at a pace that was more comfortable for him. He had really been a prince among men to travel with and I didn�t want to hold him up any longer.

I waited for the bag to arrive in the middle of the carousel behind a plexiglass barrier. There was a guy standing just to the right of center that was not behind this barrier. I saw my bag and said to him, �Excuse me,� but he didn�t move. So, I reached in front of him and picked up my bag, which caused him to look at me like it was going to be an issue. My guess is that once he got a full view of what he was about to encounter, he thought better of it. I just left without saying anything more. I was out the terminal as quickly as I could and soon, the wife came into view. Man, was she a sight for sore eyes.

Overall, it was a pretty good trip and I vowed that it wouldn�t be another seven years before I flew again. And the rest of Holy Week and Pascha? It was glorious. But then, isn�t it always?

Sincerely,

William R. Sanders
Customer Service Coordinator
Starwood Preferred Services

[email protected]

[This message has been edited by Starwood Lurker (edited 05-08-2003).]

After boarding the premium cabins, American Airlines boards by groups, with group 1 boarding first and the higher groups boarding in order. Supposedly, your group number should correspond with where your seat is, so that the rows in the back of the plane board first etc. The only problem is that all us elites board with group one, regardless of where our seat is. And since we generally like to sit near the front of the plane so that we are among the first to get off the plane on arrival, well...that is probably why it looks like they occasionally are boarding from front to back instead of the logical back to front.

Congrat's and thanks for the fine report William!