While June seems like it was just yesterday, it was followed by a meaningful July that was just as memorable. From the announcement of our contract renewal with the Big Sky Conference to the annual My Place Hotels Company Picnic and grand opening of My Place Wixom, July 2019 was peppered with milestones. Here’s your Monthly Rewind.
Unsurprisingly, July 2019 started off with a bang as we celebrated Independence Day alongside our friends and family!
Following a memorable Fourth of July weekend, the My Place Hotels HQ team returned to work feeling energized and refreshed as we prepared to tackle the big month ahead of us!
Picking up speed as we began to fly through the month, we introduced the next installment of the Layover Q&A blog series on July 8th where we caught up with the undeniably inspiring Grace Jensen, My Place Hotels HQ Intern.

From start to finish, our Q&A with Grace left us grinning from ear to ear as we discussed the value of pursuing field-related experience as a college student, finding a sense of belonging in the workplace, and identified whether wearing socks with sandals is easy to pull off or not.
Following Grace’s Q&A, we found ourselves in a place of reflection as we took a look back on the amazing experiences we shared in Montana at the grand opening of My Place Kalispell, this past June.

Not only were our readers and friends transported to the epicenter of our excitement in Kalispell, but they were also taken to a place they never expected to go as My Place Hotels Director of Public Relations Ngoc Thach reflected on the memorable experience she shared in a moment of downtime in Big Sky Country.
Ngoc treated readers to an account of her travels to Glacier National Park, where she highlighted the importance of discovering our surroundings and shared an assortment of beautiful photos in her first personal blog entry, titled “44 Miles to the Sun“.
Amidst our streak of reflecting on the things that matter the most to us, we surprised our fans by announcing our return as the Official Hotel Sponsor of the Big Sky Conference’s 2019-2020 season on July 12th!
With the support of our fans, the Big Sky Conference, their fans, and everybody else in between, My Place Hotels VP of National Sales Dan Hilsendeger carried our torch of excitement as he appeared in an interview with Big Sky Conference officials at the 2019 Big Sky Conference Football Kickoff on July 15th.
Hilsendeger’s interview was broadcasted across the Big Sky Conference’s network on PlutoTV and across their social media platforms where he highlighted our excitement to return as the Official Hotel Sponsor of the 2019-2020 season and shared the value of our brand and new loyalty program, Stay Rewarded®.
While we were getting hyped about our return to the Big Sky Conference, we were also getting equally as hyped about franchising as My Place Hotels President/CEO Ryan Rivett and several franchisees embarked on the annual My Place Hotels Franchisee Fishing Trip in Alaska!
As we chugged along past our Big Sky announcement and the annual Franchisee Fishing Trip, we found ourselves traveling to the glorious Great Lakes State as our team from HQ, friends, fans, and the community members of Wixom, Michigan came together to celebrate the Grand Opening of My Place Wixom on July 16th!
The day following all our excitement in Wixom, our team found purpose in the value of doing what is right as a cross-section of My Place GM trainees and HQ team members, including My Place CEO Ryan Rivett and My Place EVP of Franchise Sales Terry Kline, came together as we hosted our first group human trafficking training through Businesses Ending Slavery & Trafficking (BEST) on July 17th.
The group training session was held at MPU in support of our brand-wide initiative to train all GM’s and HQ team members on the issue of trafficking.
In addition to our group training with BEST, we aligned our efforts with the American Hotel & Lodging Association’s No Room For Trafficking campaign and Day of Action throughout the month of July to make strides in the fight against human trafficking across our industry.
Two days after our group BEST training session, the entire My Place Hotels HQ team came together to celebrate the annual My Place Hotels Company Picnic on July 19th at Wylie Park in Aberdeen!
Our afternoon at Wylie Park was full of smiles, laughs, and fun times!
As we approached the final days of the month, it was clear that the fun wasn’t over yet! On July 22nd, all My Place Convention 2019 attendees were treated to the official video recap from our wonderful week in San Diego, this past April!
The following day (July 23rd), we introduced our most comprehensive training newsletter yet, aptly titled For Pete’s Sake, highlighting training aspects from all brand departments in a way that has never been done before!

Received with very warm feelings, For Pete’s Sake will be distributed monthly throughout My Place’s internal network!
Take a look at what a couple of our GM’s had to say about the release of For Pete’s Sake, below!
I thought For Pete’s Sake was AWESOME! It’s so great to hear that Ryan (Rivett) is working with us, and out there among the staff – listening to what’s going on in the field. Sometimes we feel like we are on an island (in my case – it’s true), but it’s a comfort to know that the gang in Aberdeen, especially our leader, knows we’re out here and understands what we’re doing and what we need to be better!
Carol Domme, GM at My Place Hotel – Ketchikan, AK
I definitely felt like the content in For Pete’s Sake was relevant to me as a GM. I found the Revenue Management tips to be the most helpful. They were so helpful that I printed them out and pinned them to my cork-board as a reminder! I sincerely believe that the content is something that we can share with our teams that will help us to feel cohesive with other properties!
Kelly Papineau, GM at My Place Hotel – Bismarck, ND
As we wrapped up the month of July, we debuted our latest installment of the Layover Q&A blog series, featuring My Place Hotels Director of Revenue Management Kory Burdick on July 29th.

Perhaps the coolest guy we know in Aberdeen and at HQ (other than Pineapple Pete, of course), we caught up with Kory on all of his greatest passions in life: from revenue management to sports to photography.
Shortly after the release of Kory’s Layover Q&A feature, the My Place Social team came together to reflect on their very first My Place Hotels Company Picnic.

Here’s a taste of the My Place Social team’s experience: “You can tell a lot about a company by the way they celebrate themselves, and it’s safe to say My Place knows how to celebrate. From delicious food and drink to kicking butt at racing go-karts, our co-workers – now quickly becoming our friends – play just as hard as they work.
In our penultimate blog article of July, we spent time recapping our efforts throughout the month in support of AHLA’s No Room For Trafficking campaign and our own brand-wide initiative to provide all team members with access to BEST’s Inhospitable to Human Trafficking training and resources.
With a greater sense of purpose and ability to make a change in our industry, My Place was recognized in AHLA’s newsletter for our efforts to combat human trafficking throughout the month of July.
As the month of July drew to a close, our readers were given a glimpse into one of our most exciting moments of the month as My Place Hotels Director of National Sales, Erica Karels, recapped her experience at the Grand Opening of My Place Wixom.
As summer winds down, it seems we’re just gearing back up. Here are a few things we’re looking forward to in August:
- Attending the 29th Annual My Place Hotels Knoxville 360 Nationals in Knoxville, Iowa in support our sponsoring locations in Ankeny and Altoona, August 1-3!
- The Grand Opening of Wisconsin’s very first My Place Hotel in Mount Pleasant on August 6th
- The Groundbreaking of Virginia’s first My Place Hotel in King George on August 8th
- Ryan Rivett’s upcoming feature in Lodging Magazine
- The release of our August issue of For Pete’s Sake on August 27th
- We find out who gets to be the 50th open My Place Hotel!
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