AFTERWORDS
Tales of Travel Exchange
Gaining business through brownies, Broadway and grit
AS THE STORY
GOES, Bertha
Palmer, a well-to-do
Chicago socialite
and wife of Potter
Palmer, who built
Palmer House,
needed an easy-
to-carry dessert
to share at a planning meeting of the
Board of Lady Managers of the World’s
Columbian Exposition of 1893.
Bertha summoned Palmer House’s
chef and charged him with creating
something unique. The delicious brown
confection—more dense than cake,
topped with walnuts and an apricot
glaze—was very well received.
And the brownie was born.
Bertha’s brownie has remained a sig-
nature dessert at Palmer House Hilton,
and adaptations and modifications to
the original brownie are still enjoyed
around the world.
Stories like this are great vehicles to
engage the people with whom you inter-
act at Travel Exchange. Here are a few
examples of how this has worked for me.
During my appointment in San Antonio
with Jenna Aukerman of Omanson Tour
& Travel, I discovered that her clients
love unique culinary tours. Jenna and I
spoke in great detail about the brownie
and its historical relevance to Chicago
and the World’s Columbian Exposition.
Combining Jenna’s clients love for
unique culinary tours and accommoda-
tions, we uncovered one sweet experi-
ence for future clients.
Palmer House is the longest continu-
ously operating hotel in North America
and has created more than just the
brownie, to be sure. So in order to give
Jenna’s tour some depth, we also talked
about History is Hott—a lunch, lecture
and behind-the-scenes tour of Palmer
House Hilton, including a final stop in the
pastry kitchen. Tour participants leave
with a piece of edible history: a brownie
baked from the original 1893 recipe.
56
April/May 2018
BY MICHAEL WEINBERG, CTP
As a result of our face-to-face appoint-
ment at Travel Exchange, Jenna has new
ideas for a culinary tour to Chicago.
When you have the opportunity to
meet intriguing people who share com-
mon interests, you create the foun-
dation for natural partnerships with
mutual benefits.
While mingling at a Travel Exchange
evening event a few years back, I had
the pleasure of meeting Michelle Hundt
Tupman of Great Canadian Holidays,
who loves Broadway. We were—and
still are—huge fans of “Wicked.” In
three hours—after “Who’s your favorite
Elphaba?” and “What’s your favorite
song?”—we had quietly sung tunes from
the show, quoted lines as answers to
questions and had a genuinely great
time. Here’s the kicker: I hadn’t met
Michelle until that night.
From that moment on, Great
Canadian Holidays has selected Palmer
House Hilton for their tour series in
addition to other groups throughout the
year, including when the Blue Jays play
the Cubs at Wrigley Field. I’m always
happy to hear from Michelle—and to
sing her praises.
And talk about being in the right place
at the right time.
“Hey Twingo!” someone shouted in
the gate area of my Denver to Reno
flight back in 2009. It was a colleague
of Globus’ Tracie Wingo, trying to get
her attention. Reno was my first NTA
convention, but I recognized Tracie’s
name from my appointment requests
and from doing research prior to the
show. Within 10 minutes, I summoned
the courage to find out if she was Tracie.
Lucky for me, she was.
Each year, starting at Convention 2009,
we had our usual seven-minute appoint-
ments, which included her saying, “We
have a series to Chicago, but it’s not the
right fit for your hotels.” But I kept at it
and requested an appointment with her
each year. And of course, I took the time
to remind her of how we met and to
find out what was new at Globus.
Then in 2016, my big break came. We
won a new tour series for 2017, and we got
the renewal for 2018. Sometimes it takes
three years, and sometimes it takes longer.
But the key is that you have to invest in
Travel Exchange year in and year out.
Here’s one of the coolest part about
the Globus series: Their final dinner
includes a presentation about Palmer
House Hilton by the hotel’s resident his-
torian and the executive chef.
And what’s for dessert? Bertha’s
brownie, of course.
Michael Weinberg, CTP, is senior sales
manager for Hiltons of Chicago. Reach
him at [email protected].