I just got back from beautiful New Orleans, Louisiana, where we were hosting our annual Courtyard General Manager’s conference. Nearly 700 of our GMs from the U.S., Canada, Latin America and the Caribbean converged on the city for three days of meetings and experiencing the local culture.

This year’s meeting was fantastic. There is a lot of excitement and enthusiasm among our Courtyard team about all the new initiatives within the brand — especially our new Refreshing Business lobby concept. Right now, 29 of our Courtyards in North America have the new lobby and we expect another 100 to have it by the end of this year.

It was also an excellent forum to hold intimate discussions with the General Managers. I was able to communicate many important brand messages to them and they were able to share their thoughts and concerns with me. I received a lot of helpful feedback and ideas from them.

Most importantly, I was thrilled to see that, although times are tough in this current economic climate, our team is overwhelming optimistic. They are working harder and closer together than ever to make sure Courtyard remains the top hotel brand for business travelers around the world.

I’m so grateful I was able to spend so much time with our Courtyard leaders in such a wonderful city and look forward to the next time we meet again!

Thanks for helping me keep Courtyard on the go.

Brian