One of the best parts of being in the Tourism industry for many years is the people I meet. Our industry has an endless list of talented, hardworking, fun-loving and creative professionals. I decided to interview my friends and give you a peek into their lives and careers. Feel free to ask questions in the comments section, and I will follow-up with the guest interviewed. This week we hear from my friend Chris Van Meter. We first met on a East West Marketing Sales Mission to China in 2013 and have been friends ever since!
Tell us a bit about how you got started in the tourism industry.
In high school (International School Manila) I initiated a work-study program in travel and tourism, including shadowing and intern settings at the Manila Mandarin Oriental Hotel, Pan Am Airlines Reservations and Marsman Corporate Travel.
That helped qualify me for employment after college with Northwest Airlines in Frankfurt, Germany, first in reservations, and then military sales, before heading back to the US and several other positions at NWA and other companies.
I had careers in student travel, partner marketing, travel automation, franchise travel development, hotel consulting for global corporate travel needs, partner marketing, Minnesota state tourism, and meeting group hotel needs. Somewhere in there my father and I planned and executed four trips throughout Europe for 17-25 people.
What is your current job and what are your primary responsibilities?
In February 2018 I began what I anticipate is my final chapter as a flight attendant with Delta Air Lines. Part of the allure was my chance to use my German skills on flights to Berlin, Frankfurt, and Zürich, assigned to the NYC base.
Due to my juniority, off-season flying has been mostly within North America, and often as flight leaders. In early March I completed our Purser training program, which places me in one of the two supervisor positions on our transoceanic service globally. In a perfect world, I’ll be Boston based.
What are some of the changes you have seen since you began your career?
Automation has been an absolute game-changer, creating so many new opportunities in customer recognition, relationship marketing, seamless travel among partner companies, and traveler savviness. All of these benefits created an increasingly global environment, so the birth of this wretched virus has spread in record time across the planet.
In the span of just four weeks, I enjoyed my company’s highest profit share ever, and the dismantling of our global route structure due to COVID19.
It’s vacation time – where do you go?
Austria! Hong Kong! No, wait, Brazil! Such diversity in the huge nation. A common thread of knowing how to relax and find beauty in both nature and music.
What is your favorite app and tell us a bit about it.
Mine would be WhatsApp, as it has minimized distance/cost with my friends all over the world. I have alumni groups and workgroups to maintain contacts for work, play and emotional support.
What is your favorite tradeshow and why?
I’ve always thought highly of Travel Alliance Partners’ annual TAP Dance. The perfect size, suppliers seen as peers, and co-promoting with like partners, collaborating with operators large and small. A great equalizer.
What advice do you have for someone just getting started in the tourism industry?
Given the current crisis, learn how to ask “Do you want fries with that?”. It’s the most significant reroute in this industry ever; there’s no area of the globe not involved in this war.
Nurture your dreams of finding a role after this is behind us, and spend time now honing customer service skills. Realize that EVERYONE has a story. Volunteer in an area that provides service to others and rewards self.
Don’t fly if you don’t need to; stay home, interact online. And then when feasible, buy lots of tickets, including some on Delta!
What do you see as an opportunity that will come out of the current Coronovirus crisis?
Reunions galore! Weddings that were postponed. Visiting grandparents (or newborn grandchildren – lots of them later this year! People will travel to try out that new language they worked on in isolation. They’ll yearn to experience the places they’d read about, or return to magical locales. And when this is all over, face-to-face work relationships will resume; nothing beats a handshake (or maybe a hug).