One of the best parts of being in the Tourism industry for many years has been the people I have met. Our industry has an endless list of talented, hardworking, fun-loving and creative professionals. I decided that I would 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 good friend Jonathan Elkoulbi of AppleMetro, which is the franchise owner of over 30 Applebee’s restaurants in New York City and the Hudson Valley. Jonathan is one of the smartest tourism professionals I know.
1. Tell us a bit about how you got started in the tourism industry.
I spent the first 10 years of my professional journey working a variety of disassociated odd jobs on 3 different continents; to name a few: Network Administrator, Online Casino Pit Boss, Department of Homeland Security First-Response Consultant… One sunny day in early 2008, I was having lunch with a friend who owns a reputable Receptive Tour Operator company. We started brainstorming ideas regarding how to elegantly approach his Fuel Surcharge conundrum as oil was reaching $100+ a barrel, impacting charter bus rates unexpectedly. He liked my approach and offered me a position in his company which I only accepted 6 months later. Had I known then that my true calling all those years was really Hospitality, Travel and Tourism, I wouldn’t have waited 6 months to make this career switch…
2. What is your current job and what are your primary responsibilities?
I am the Director for Tourism, Groups Sales and Corporate Events at AppleMetro, the franchise owner of the 38 Applebee’s in New York’s 5 boroughs and Westchester County. I oversee all 38 locations B2B marketing and sales channels, and B2C (business to Consumer) initiatives when it comes to local Schools and Camps group bookings.
3. What are some of the changes you have seen since you began your career?
More and more electronic signatures (awesome), more fragmented sales channels (oy gevalt)
4. What tourism trends are you seeing that will impact your job and how you work in the next 2 years?
Lead time between reservation/booking and visit seems to diminish every year; in most instances, we can accommodate and we are thankful for the business. But it can create some complicated situations and it is forcing us to change our way to approach Sales Projections since the patterns are shifting so much from one year to the next. On the positive side, this also means we are more likely to see decent business from a convention/tradeshow within the same calendar year, making it easier to justify attendance ROI.
5. It’s vacation time – where do you go?
What vacation? Jokes aside, I used to spend a lot of time planning, but nowadays, I’m either using my vacation time to visit family (most of my family is abroad) or to enjoy a “no-brainer” vacation: a cruise, an all-inclusive resort, a self-contained amusement park… My adventurous vacation days probably won’t be back before my kids reach college age.
6. What is your favorite app and tell us a bit about it.
The Outlook app is awesome if you use Office 365 and your company has an Exchange Server. I also use WhatsApp all the time. And Scrabble…
Cool industry related apps I use often: Fly Delta, Waze, and NYC Way for ANYTHING New York related. Citymapper is awesome when you need complete Point A to Point B directions (including things as tricky as subway exit, or train platforms). It’s the best alternative I’ve found to the now defunct HopStop.
7. What is your favorite tradeshow and why?
Tricky question – I love SYTA (the Student & Youth Travel Association) because its annual convention is like “Cheers”: attend it once and everybody will know your name. IPW (formerly known as Pow-Wow) is to this industry what the World Series are to baseball, so the vibe there is always exhilarating and conducive to initiating new business.
8. What advice do you have for someone just getting started in the tourism industry?
Follow up on everything you do. Sent a proposal? Follow up to make sure it was received. Attended a local business card exchange? Follow up within 72 hours by adding new contacts to LinkedIn (and potentially send an email too). Exhibited at a tradeshow? You have a window between 7 to 21 days afterwards to keep the connection alive by following up! Now that I think about it, this is an universal piece of advice, not exclusive to this industry…
In case you land in this industry like me – with pre-existing work/life balance criteria -, learn early on to select the right mix of tradeshows, sales missions and weekly after hour evening events which are the most relevant to your organization yet remain compatible with your life.