I hope you enjoyed reading the last blog about my trip to the Philippines, but let's get back to 1973. It seemed that my travels became more, rather than less; Amsterdam seemed to have become my home away from home, as I was there almost every week. Fortunately, being able to fly first class made it very easy. K.L.M.'s Royal Class was one of the best, if not the best, of all the North Atlantic carriers. I flew most of them at one time or another as they gave me first class passes when I requested them. K.L.M. gave all Royal Class passengers a small miniature Delft China Dutch house filled with gin. There was a complete collection of about thirty. We often had people call, asking where they could purchase a house to complete their collection. They were never for sale; a person had to actually fly Royal Class to get one. When I left KLM I had about 50 or 60 of the houses. I believe Kathy has some of them and I still have some as well. They have become a collector's item, and I have never tried to sell any of them. Sixty houses represented that many flights over the North Atlantic, not counting all the ones I had taken on other airlines besides KLM.
The Dutch people that I met over the years were outstanding. Many times, while I was in Holland, I was invited to their homes for dinner, and I got to meet their families. The Dutch, KLM employees I worked with in the USA, became friends that are still friends even today. It was unlikely that I could get a promotion to a higher position than the one I currently held, because all higher positions were traditionally held by Dutch employees. Still, I enjoyed my job and was very happy with what I was doing. Little did I know that there might be changes ahead.
In 1974, I received a phone call from Tony DelBalzo of C.I.G.A. Hotels. He said that he and Dr. Alberto Scialenga were in New York, and would like to see me. I was surprised to hear from Tony as I had not heard from him for a couple of years. I made a date with them to meet that evening at their hotel, for a cocktail.
That evening, over our cocktails, Dr. Scialenga was very warm and friendly, recalling the Auto Owners incentive groups and the importance of that business to C.I.G.A. Hotels. Soon, he got down to why he wanted to meet with me. He said that C.I.G.A. was very unhappy with H.R.I. (Hotel Representatives International), the firm that represented them in the U.S.A. They had decided that the solution was for C.I.G.A. to form a U.S. Corporation to handle all marketing, reservations, and sales in house. Their long term plan was to expand the hotel chain into North and South America. In conversations with some of their top hotel managers and a few of their travel industry friends, my name had come up several times as someone who could accomplish that plan. He told me that a couple of other names were on the list and he wanted to speak with them, but for now, he just wanted to know if I had any interest in becoming part of the project. I told him that I was very happy with KLM and enjoyed a good reputation with them and the travel industry. He said "That's why we're interested in you". I said that my interest would depend on a lot more information. I might be interested, depending on what C.I.G.A. would propose. He said: "I'll take that as a yes, and I will be in touch with you in a week or two after speaking with the two other prospects. Right now, let's have dinner together at Romeo Salta's". We had a great dinner and I must say that Alberto was an interesting dinner companion. He was married, had three boys; two of them were in a Military school, and the other was just a couple of years old. Alberto spoke perfect English and had worked in the USA at one time. He was the European Marketing Manager for the entire C.I.G.A. Italian chain of nineteen super deluxe hotels. I liked him very much from working with him in Rome on the Auto Owners Incentive trip. However, to be truthful, I didn't expect to hear from him again.
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