Early Monday morning, and I’m off to LA with just a few minutes with the kids before leaving for the airport. Most of my 90-minute journey to Heathrow is spent on the phone, this continues through the airport. As always, I run out of time and am the annoying person switching the phone off as…
My Week – Jamie Cole
Early Monday morning, and I’m off to LA with just a few minutes with the kids before leaving for the airport.
Most of my 90-minute journey to Heathrow is spent on the phone, this continues through the airport.
As always, I run out of time and am the annoying person switching the phone off as the plane pushes back.
I travel a lot and find the time in the air useful for getting through my over-loaded inbox and put some serious thinking into a presentation for later in the week.
Not being connected to phone or email is a blessing – it’s rare to have no distractions or interruptions.
Actually, there was one distraction on this flight: about an hour in, the man, from a couple sitting near me, gets down on one knee and proposes!
Thankfully she says yes, so there is a round of applause in the cabin, champagne all round and a visit from the captain!
Our corporate office is in Beverly Hills, so I don’t fight the jet lag on Tuesday morning and get up early (4.30am) and go for a run.
As I run up towards Sunset Boulevard the houses get bigger and bigger – it’s OK to dream…
I enjoy the early mornings as I run, have breakfast, do emails and a few calls with the office back home before the day starts.
This week I have been busy with budget planning meetings – never much fun but essential at this time of year.
I have also been meeting with some of the brand teams. Hilton is a family of nine brands and this week I get together with DoubleTree, Hilton Garden Inn and Conrad.
We have just spent a year and a half developing a new website platform, so that we can better cater for the different brands as they open hotels in new countries.
It’s exciting to hear about the plans of the different brands and to work with them on the best approach for their distribution needs.
By Thursday afternoon, I am pretty shattered and manage to grab a lift to the airport with one of my colleagues heading out to Dallas.
The flight back from LA is overnight and a long one so I can get some sleep after a bite to eat and a movie.
It’s lunchtime by the time I land on Friday, so it’s straight home to the West Country. I can’t escape without a couple of conference calls but the best moment of the week is getting home to excited screams from my kids (Daisy, 3 and Harvey, 6).
My wife and I will often have a takeaway curry on Friday night and then I am usually asleep on the sofa by 9pm! I have to be on form for Saturday to make the most of my time with the family. We also have friends coming over for dinner and I am cooking… Eeek!
Jamie Cole is vice president of distribution services at Hilton Hotels
