Carrie Tawney is a corporate director of sales and marketing with Concord Hospitality. The Nocatee resident first found her passion for hospitality while in college, but she has fallen more in love with it over the decades. She believes her love of getting to know people and finding out who they are and how she can help is what makes it the perfect career for her.
Tell us a little about yourself and your background.
I am corporate director of sales and marketing with Concord Hospitality and hospitality has been a passion of mine for some time now. It has certainly been a calling for me.
I was trying to find out what was going to drive me, and I showed up at orientation at UCF and when they showed the list of majors I saw hospitality and thought, wow, that’s sounds like it could be a lot of fun.
I decided on that and went through the rest of orientation and the rest is history because I wound up graduating from UCF and their hospitality school.
I graduated early on in the program before the Rosen College of Hospitality Management at UCF became what it is today.
I ended up being one of the first people to graduate there with that major.
What has your hospitality career path looked like?
All these years in hospitality, I’ve worked mainly with hotels and in sales, but I eventually found a real strong love for business travel sales, which is on the corporate side where you work with travel managers and travel agents.
I’ve spent most of my career with Starwood Hotels, which was like your St. Regis and “W” Hotels, but then we were acquired by Marriott.
We wound up moving to this area and I heard they were building a new Hyatt at the St. Johns Town Center, so I got a job there as their director of sales.
I am currently at the Residence Inn over by the Mayo Clinic and it is just such a beautiful property, and it has been such a pleasure working there. And most recently I was promoted to work within my company at Concord Hospitality to be a corporate director of sales and marketing.
So, I will be going in to help hotels that are in need of sales may need a position that needs help to be filled. Any hotels that may be having challenges and helping them discover ways to bring in new corporate clients.
What are some aspects you enjoy most about your job?
There is always something different going on each day, so there is never a dull moment, which definitely keeps things interesting.
I would say one of the main things that led me to hospitality and having success in hospitality is that I have a true passion for people and putting them first.
I love getting to know people and who they are. It is important to remember to treat them how you would want to be treated and that means putting their needs ahead of what you want.
Another major thing that I’ve learned working with the brands that I have, is striving to be the first to respond.
People are going to appreciate the person that is the first to return their call or be there to take their call and help with their situation.
Showing the care for your customers and a strong work ethic are truly what it takes to find success. It comes down to people wanting to know that you care for them and will be there when they need you.
How do you deal with the challenges of the job?
I was brought up with some hard knocks in my life as I lost my father when I was 5, my mother when I was 23, my sister when I was 28 and I’ve also lost two brothers.
I’m also a survivor of breast cancer, but I think all these things, while they have been tough to go through, those hard times have also helped me to be resilient and be able to respond to anything that comes my way and that includes my job.
I started working when I was 14 and I just remember watching my mother raise five kids on her own, so those are lessons of work ethic that I’ll remember for the rest of my life.
It’s all about striving to move forward with whatever you get confronted with.
What tips would you give to someone looking to get into the world of hospitality?
It’s far more than just showing guests around a hotel, but it’s about leading with a certain integrity of not only myself, but also what I want them to buy into.
It’s all about forming that respect that will carry on in the working relationships you develop. Everything is earned and without that respect, you won’t have their business.
