There is something about the hotel industry that is like a magnate and no matter how long one has been in it, or how old you are you just cannot let go.
Take for example Bernie Otis, president of Bernard S. Otis Consulting Services, who over the past 65 years has been involved with major hotels and restaurants as a consultant helping to plan and design food, beverage and laundry facilities for the industry.
Bernie lived in Las Vegas for 21 years and worked on most of the hotels in that city as well as the majority of the hotels and restaurants in Southern California.
So, it wasn’t that strange when Frank Sinatra reached out to him to “do me a favor”. As Bernie tells it:
“One night in 1969 around three in the morning, Frank Sinatra called from his Palms Springs home and told me that he was flying a group of friends, including his mother, to Las Vegas and that they would arrive at Caesars Palace at 6 A.M. He asked me to arrange to have a Caviar breakfast served to them in the then very famous Baacchanal Room. I asked him why he had called me instead of Stu Allman Caesars Food & Beverage Director and Frank replied “because you are the only one in Las Vegas who knows how to get things done.”
And “get things done” Bernie did for his entire career. Now, the culmination of his experience as a hospitality consultant, speaker and hospice caregiver, has been captured in his new book, How to Prepare for Old Age – (Without Taking the Fun Out of LIfe).
Bernie recently celebrated his 86th Birthday and not a day goes by that he is not involved in advising his industry clients on matters involving his expertise—in fact he recently helped put together a team that is building a major facility in northern California.
In this touching, often humorous and very personal account, Bernie shares his 86 years of life, love, loss and laughter as an inspirational guide to what it means to age without growing old. His advice on love after 60, how to talk with family members about illness, what you should be prepared for when confronting tragedy and loss, what it means to be a caregiver to a loved one and many other of life’s challenges are a must for family members young and old.
Mr. Otis’ book is a treasure trove of personal and professional life experiences that will help you prepare for old age and take control of the nature of aging. Be prepared to laugh out loud and quietly shed a tear as Bernie takes you through the voyage of life. Bernie’s book is available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble and at your favorite bookstore. It is a book for all ages and particularly appropriate for the hotel industry which also helps people enjoy their Journey through Life.
Bernie points out and reminds us that the Myth that “He did it on his Own’ is just that and that it is only by building strong personal relationships with others can we be assured of success.
Bernie also points out that there is another myth that needs to be ignored and that is that technology has changed the way in which hotels do business. It is still a hands on personal relationship process and success still depends upon human interaction.
One of the joys he gets is the fact that the relationships he has made over the years are as strong as ever despite the fact that from 2010 until recently he had to curtail his involvement due to the fatal illness of his beloved wife Anna who, along with Bernie, was always in attendance at major conferences.
Bernie believes that no one should die and leave their knowledge behind so to all of his friends in the industry he says “stay in touch”
Published by Incorgnito Publishing Press, Pasadena, CA. www.incorgnitobooks.com
Michael Conant, Publisher 646-300-1464