1021: Evermore Orlando Resort Solves Group Travel

Glenn: [00:00:06] Hey, everybody. It’s your hospitality, friend. Glenn. I have finally, finally made it to Evermore Resort Orlando. And I don’t know what happened. I just happened to bump into Elizabeth Mullins over here. There. And she’s like, what are you doing here? I’m like, what are you doing here? But whatever. I’m really excited because we’re going to learn a little bit about this property today. We’re going to take a tour about the property with one of my favorite people in hospitality. So great to see you, Glenn.

Elizabeth: [00:00:29] It’s so good seeing you. I’m glad you finally made it here. It’s about time because it’s a real jewel.

Glenn: [00:00:35] Yes. All right. So thank you for having us. I really appreciate it. This is absolutely beautiful. I’ve been wanting to check it out because as you know, travel and the way that we interact has been changing. We’ve been talking for decades about multi-generational travel, but I’ve seen instances of it. But this, from the ground up, really seems to understand how people want to vacation together, particularly in a place like Orlando. So is that something that struck you? Made you want to come over? Here?

Elizabeth: [00:01:02] It is. And what’s interesting about evermore is that the team behind it built for togetherness. Like they recognize togetherness as a need, a human need, right? I mean, the Surgeon general said that this were in an era where there’s an epidemic of loneliness.

Glenn: [00:01:18] Right? And I agree.

Elizabeth: [00:01:19] And there’s a responsibility to solve it.

Glenn: [00:01:21] It’s so weird. We really thought that technology was going to bring us together. But as you know, you’ve lived it, particularly coming out of the C word, period, that it’s kind of created this sense of isolation in a place like this really helps you break down those barriers to get together with family. Yeah. I’m staying in a multi-bedroom flat. You’ve, of course, got the Conrad Hotel. You’ve got these amazing houses. We’re going to take a look at all of this stuff, plus the villas over there. So however you want to vacation, you’re really setting the stage for that togetherness.

Elizabeth: [00:01:48] Well, that’s just right. So, you know, we’re on a massive campus, 1100 acres. Wow. And the lagoon behind us right there, which we call evermore Bay. It just the water body is eight acres. That’s pretty much around it. With the beach is 20. Yeah. So and then surrounding that are the series of accommodations. We have the Conrad perfect for single travelers or couples. Yeah. And move into the villas. The flats.

Glenn: [00:02:12] Check my check my interview with Sean McCarron if you want to learn more about that.

Elizabeth: [00:02:15] Amazing. Thank you.

Glenn: [00:02:18] Yeah. So this is this is absolutely fantastic. And I love that we have lots of different things. And one of the amazing things is I was planning to do other stuff while down here, but there’s so much to do here that I don’t even feel compelled to leave. And this is the first resort I’ve ever been to that I see that giant Spaceship Earth globe over there, and I’m like, you know what? I’m good right here.

Elizabeth: [00:02:42] Well, thank you for that. Yeah, certainly. Try to do that. We we look to ourselves as a complement to the park. Absolutely. You’re coming to Orlando for the park experience. We’re hoping that you stay with us so that you can actually decompress during that time.

Glenn: [00:02:55] Is that my family? We were the type of people that you hit the ground running and all you do is go, go, go. And for the first time, I’m having a chance to, like, be like, oh, I could have a more reflective moment. I could calm down. I could connect with the people that matter more to me. And I know that ultimately, that’s what you’re trying to accomplish here, right?

Elizabeth: [00:03:13] That’s it. We give you space to breathe. Yeah. And that’s what we want to do. And I think the world needs that at this moment in time.

Glenn: [00:03:19] Yeah, it sure does. So what else do we need to know before we start taking a look around?

Elizabeth: [00:03:23] Yeah. So I spoke to you about the accommodations. We’ll spend a little time there, but, boy, the lagoon is the centerpiece. Evermore Bay is the centerpiece. And just around it is a plethora of activities, from a series of water crafts to pickleball to two golf courses. And we’ll learn more about that along the way as we go. So I’m excited.

Glenn: [00:03:45] I love the watercraft. Over there. That’s really fun. And I love the kinetic energy it creates. It really creates a sense of fun around this place. So even if you’re laying on the beach not moving, which is my specialty, you feel like there’s a lot going on. Oh, I don’t know. If you all can see there’s a massive water slide over there. We’ll get a closer look at it later, but that’s something that I would have loved when I was a kid.

Elizabeth: [00:04:06] And you know what? That water slide. Speaking of togetherness, you notice it’s not a water slide for one.

Glenn: [00:04:11] No, a.

Elizabeth: [00:04:11] Water slide for four.

Glenn: [00:04:12] Yesterday when I was taking the tour because I wanted to be prepared for this interview, I noticed a great dad and his kids were there and they were doing the racing thing. And then he beat them and then made fun of it. But he was three times their weight, so he moved a little bit faster. But the point is family togetherness. What really attracted you to this resort? I mean, you came, you know, you’re a big shot hotelier in New York City, and this is not that.

Elizabeth: [00:04:37] Oh, it was so hard to drag me out of New York City. However, this is a special place, and I believe in the concept, and I believe in its beauty and I believe in its culture. And so those three things are what drew me to the property.

Glenn: [00:04:49] All right. Before we get we start doing the tour. Was it difficult to adjust to the less frenetic pace of life down here from the R in Manhattan.

Elizabeth: [00:04:58] I like that.

Glenn: [00:04:59] Yeah. Right. So, yeah, this is a little bit calmer. Must be. It must be strange.

Elizabeth: [00:05:03] It is strange. Now, I was down here before, for seven years when I worked for the mouse. So I knew what I was coming back to. I didn’t ever think I was going to come back to Orlando until I met evermore. And. Right.

Glenn: [00:05:16] Yeah.

Elizabeth: [00:05:16] Sort of a love story.

Glenn: [00:05:17] It’s one of those things. All right. So how do you translate that New York energy into connecting with your teams?

Elizabeth: [00:05:24] Yeah. What I have to do is make sure I slow down sometimes. That’s right. Right. But I also have, like, the greatest team on the planet. And you’ll meet some of them along the way. And that helps a great deal.

Glenn: [00:05:34] Well, listen. And they’ve passed the smile on hello. Test. Every single person who’s got a badge on from here looks at you in the face, makes eye contact, says hello. Amazing. Great job.

Elizabeth: [00:05:44] Thank you.

Glenn: [00:05:44] All right, let’s let’s go somewhere. We got this big giant building over here with restaurants, food hall supplies. It’s called the landing. Should we start here?

Elizabeth: [00:05:51] Well, you know what? We’re going to actually start beachside because I want to actually start down there. We’ll get the bearings and we’ll end with food and beverage. And our chef Vinny, who I met along the way.

Glenn: [00:06:01] He’s perfect. He’s from Long Island. So we’re going to have we’re going to have a good talk over there. All right. We’re going to use the magic powers to appear downstairs. What do you think of that?

Elizabeth: [00:06:09] Amazing. Let’s do it.

Glenn: [00:06:10] Do it. All right. We magically appear down here, and I don’t know what I did, but I conjured up somebody else. Rob Schultz, he’s the director of landscaping over here, and boy, oh, boy, does he have a hard job for him. But, Elizabeth, I’ll let you take it away. Yeah.

Elizabeth: [00:06:25] Rob is the master behind both evermore Bay and the 100 million palms and landscaping that we have across our acreage. I want him to tell you about what he does and evermore as a whole, because he really is incredible. So I’m going to actually shift this to you, Rob.

Rob: [00:06:42] Thank you very much.

Elizabeth: [00:06:43] And step out of the way.

Rob: [00:06:44] All right.

Glenn: [00:06:44] Well good luck. We will see Elizabeth again shortly. But you know, now, Rob, I got you here, so I’m sorry. First of all, I want to apologize. All right. So let’s go into some important tips about keeping this Keeping this right. I don’t actually care what you do. I’m just trying to keep my pool clean next summer, so I’m hoping maybe you could help me.

Speaker 4: [00:07:02] A few tips on this one.

Glenn: [00:07:03] Yeah, but. But joking aside, this is absolutely beautiful. This is a giant eight acre lake which we just established. Plus, you have other heated pools throughout the facility and all this landscaping. So what’s it day like for you, man?

Rob: [00:07:15] You know, never boring, that’s for sure. So usually my day starts out, you know, get in in the morning checking in with the teams. We have two really great teams on the landscape side and on the lagoon side. Just checking in with them in the morning, getting the lowdown because both of them are 24 hour operations. So figuring out what we have from the night that we get to deal with and then what are we doing for the day? The nighttime operation for the lagoon is one that I check in on right away. The really amazing part about this lagoon to me is you don’t really see what happens to make it work. As you walk around the lagoon, you’re not seeing pumps running, you’re not hearing pumps running.

Glenn: [00:07:52] And, dude, I don’t hear anything from the watercraft to the to the pumps. Nothing.

Rob: [00:07:59] Everything we do in here is to really enhance the guest experience. So everything that you see is underground or hidden in a room somewhere that’s off to the side. You know, as far as the way we treat the lagoon, all that comes from a room that’s way back on the other side of the property. Really? Yep. And then everything just gets dosed into the lagoon. Wow. You’ll see different ports and things if you’re looking around, but for the most part, everything is hidden. So it just looks like this crystal clear, beautiful lagoon every day.

Glenn: [00:08:23] That’s amazing.

Rob: [00:08:24] One of the cool things that come with it. We’re one of the only lagoons that operate. We call it the Roomba, but we have a everybody knows a swimming pool vacuum. Ours is 12ft wide.

Glenn: [00:08:34] Well, it’s got to be. I mean, otherwise, it would take, like, 100 years to clean this thing, right? 12ft wide.

Rob: [00:08:41] Yeah. Even during construction, the thought of, like, hiding everything from guest view was taken into account because there’s actually a 300 foot long hose that comes out on that that you’ll never see because we pull it into a chase pipe underground at night as well.

Glenn: [00:08:54] So. Wow. I love those little details because, you know, when you’re trying to create an experience, you don’t want to take people out of the moment. And it’s those little tiny details that go so far, so many times, man, I see hoteliers get like 98, 99% of the way, but they don’t take it over the edge. And you guys have really done that.

Rob: [00:09:12] I appreciate you noticing that’s what we were going for on this. And then from the landscape side, you know, we have an ownership group that, you know, they have a passion around landscape. So there was nothing short when we were doing the development. I was lucky enough to be part of this. As we were building it, I came in whenever it was just bare dirt and you got to see all the beautiful green go in. So I feel like it’s kind of my own landscape in a way.

Glenn: [00:09:34] You also have, like, protected dunes over there, for example, which is cool.

Rob: [00:09:38] Yeah, we have some we call them, we call them protected dunes. You know, it’s a little play on words over there. I mean, people can play them.

Glenn: [00:09:45] Yeah. They call them trying to keep the kids off of them.

Rob: [00:09:48] Hey, we want kids to play everywhere. I mean, part of the landscape team is we have 20 acres of white sand beach that taking care of every morning. Kind of still see some of the sand going around here.

Glenn: [00:09:59] How much sand do you have to replace every day, year, month? How does that.

Rob: [00:10:04] So on average the easiest way I can explain is we’re pretty much doing a tri axle load of sand every month.

Glenn: [00:10:10] All right. What is a tri axle load?

Rob: [00:10:11] About 30 ton of sand every month. Well, you got to remember, we’re in Florida. It gets a little heavier in the summer because the rains tend to do a lot of wash out. Yeah. So. Wow, that’s one of the biggest things we have to do is replace the sand when we do have the storms. One year we had a hurricane. I think we ended up bringing in three truckloads. Unfortunately for the lagoon team, they’re the ones taking the three truckloads out.

Glenn: [00:10:36] But that’s challenging. Yeah. You also have golf over here, so that landscaping really blends into that as well.

Rob: [00:10:42] Absolutely. I mean, I will not take credit for the golf. Hopefully you run into our golf team later, but we have an amazing team taking care of two pristine 18 acre golf courses. And hats off to them because I know what it is to watch grass grow. And you know, for them to do it every day and make it look as easy as they do. They’re doing a phenomenal job.

Glenn: [00:11:00] Well, the property looks incredible. And as we’re recording this in an early morning just a couple of weeks after that massive deep freeze that was over here, you’ve really done a great job to protect a lot of the the plant life here. And some of the more delicate elements seem to be coming back now.

Rob: [00:11:15] Absolutely. You know, again, that was one of the things we did. Everything we could from bringing in heaters to covering the wind was absolutely damaging. You know, we’re I told you earlier, it’s been two weeks since we were actually out of freezing temperatures. So we’re actually seeing a lot of a lot of recovery already. So, you know, a lot of hopefulness that all the beautiful plants we have in are going to recover. Seeing really good signs on those. So definitely looking forward to next two weeks and the warmer temperatures.

Glenn: [00:11:44] Totally, bro. And it’s been absolutely beautiful here, which has been a big help. And the reason why I bring all this up is because sometimes when you see these amazing places, we don’t understand how much work goes into it, and I can imagine you and your team spending days trying to get all of that figured out to protect those plants before that deep freeze really set in.

Rob: [00:12:01] Yeah, we had 20 people just working on nothing, but once we realized where the temperatures were going, it was about a week of 20 people doing nothing but covering plants, moving stuff. I got some of the stuff that we knew was very delicate. We actually were moving into conference rooms around the resort. So it was really people were like, what’s in there? I’m like, don’t worry about it. It’s out of use.

Glenn: [00:12:22] Listen, I would have said yes, and you should have turned it into a floral conference in charge. 50 bucks to get in.

Rob: [00:12:30] Exactly.

Glenn: [00:12:32] Anything else you want to add, Rob?

Rob: [00:12:33] No. I appreciate you visiting and look forward to all your guests coming out and visit us here at the resort and enjoying the lagoon in person.

Glenn: [00:12:39] Yeah, thanks. All right. We’re going to we’re going to get back to Elizabeth. But I don’t know where she’s going to take me next, so we’ll figure that out together. Stay tuned. Don’t go anywhere. Bam! I found Elizabeth, but she’s going to introduce our friend over here. And then I’m going to get the honor of interviewing him. While hopefully you won’t watch me with too much scrutiny. I’m a little. I’m a little worried now.

Elizabeth: [00:13:00] We’re in the world of evermore golf. So two championship golf courses. And I want to introduce you to to Jeremy.

Glenn: [00:13:07] Hey.

Elizabeth: [00:13:07] Jeremy leads that whole enterprise, so I’m going to give it over to you. Jeremy. Very good. Do your thing.

Glenn: [00:13:12] All right. Thank you. All right. Jeremy. Golf. As a New York resident who lived in the city for 20, 25 years, I don’t know anything about golf. So this is going to be a great conversation that we have over here. But I do appreciate how important it is. And you guys are making a lot of changes over here as well.

Jeremy: [00:13:30] Yes, a lot of changes. You know, the resort, the golf course has been around for a long time, since 1984.

Glenn: [00:13:35] So let’s just explain to people before this was evermore, there was other stuff here, but it transformed into evermore with the creation of a lot of this stuff around here. But the golf courses have been here for 40 years.

Jeremy: [00:13:46] Correct. So it was always a golf resort, Grand Cypress Golf resort. So the courses are still here now we’ve grown into the evermore resort, which has just been a fantastic change.

Glenn: [00:13:56] How does that change for you and what you do every single day? And I see right now you’re probably over overseeing the creation of a new a new players club.

Jeremy: [00:14:05] New golf shop coming in. So the biggest change is, is basically what we have to offer. You know, the rooms, the golf courses have always been fantastic. You know, we’ve had a great reputation. But now with the additional rooms and amenities we have, it’s just taken us to another level.

Glenn: [00:14:18] How essential is golf to the overall picture of being a part of this resort?

Jeremy: [00:14:23] Very big, especially this time of year. It’s the springtime.

Glenn: [00:14:25] It’s ridiculous how beautiful it.

Jeremy: [00:14:27] Is right now, right? So we get a lot of New Yorkers coming down to to enjoy the golf, getting away from the cold.

Glenn: [00:14:31] I know right.

Jeremy: [00:14:32] And so this is just a perfect time of year to the weather’s beautiful. The courses are in phenomenal shape. And obviously, you know, escaping the cold up north.

Glenn: [00:14:40] So how many people are on your team and what’s it like keeping these things so gorgeous all the time?

Jeremy: [00:14:44] So about 30 people on the golf operations team, another 50 on the golf maintenance team. And so yeah, we just do a phenomenal job. We’ve always had a great reputation of providing, you know, just a fantastic product in the golf courses. And and now with the rooms and everything we have here at evermore, it’s just it’s just phenomenal.

Glenn: [00:14:59] How are you seeing people integrate golfing experience into their family vacation and their overall experience here, do you think?

Jeremy: [00:15:05] Well, it’s just another option. And you know, the courses here are amazing. They have a lot of character to them. We have two very unique courses. We have a link style, which is a Jack Nicklaus tribute to Saint Andrews in Scotland. And then we have more of your traditional Florida style, which offers a lot of water and scenic as well.

Glenn: [00:15:20] So when you say Florida style, it’s more about the atmosphere. With the challenge where the Jack Nicklaus course is more of focused on the challenge aspect of it.

Jeremy: [00:15:30] Well, the The Links style course.

Glenn: [00:15:32] Again, I don’t know any of this stuff.

Jeremy: [00:15:34] Saint Andrews in Scotland, not a lot of water comes into play, but there’s about 155 bunkers or sand traps that come into play. A couple of replica holes of Saint Andrews, so very unique for Central Florida. The Cypress course, on the other hand, more of your traditional Florida style course where water comes into play 16 out of the 18 holes. So it’s very challenging and very scenic and beautiful as well.

Glenn: [00:15:54] How do you think over time? You’ve been here for such a long period of time due to the golf courses change with the times. Do you try to keep it fresh? How does that work? If it worked, if you do anything at all?

Jeremy: [00:16:04] Sure. Well, our maintenance team does just a phenomenal job. So one thing here that the courses are just consistently in great condition. So that’s another reason why the course has been so popular over all these years is just they know that they’re going to get a consistent product here. But now it’s again with, with with everything you see around us here. It’s just it’s just on another level.

Glenn: [00:16:24] All right, give me one good tip to improve my nonexistent game.

Jeremy: [00:16:29] Work on the putting. That’s where you.

Glenn: [00:16:30] Score. Well, the good news is, I used to. I used to play miniature golf, okay, as a kid. So, you know, when we got older than my friends and I would be like, you know, you got to drink a beer if you lose the hole. There you go. I got very bad at golf very quick. All right. We’re going to continue this tour. Stay tuned. I’ll be right back. All right. I have magically appeared now in one of these incredible homes that they have there. Got our mystery guest over here. We’ve still got Elizabeth over here. Elizabeth? Who are we talking to over here?

Elizabeth: [00:16:57] So this is Gina. She’s our director of marketing, and she loves our homes. She’s experienced it with a group of, like, 27 of us. Yes. And so know how magical they can become?

Glenn: [00:17:09] Yeah. 27 in this one, house can fit 32. Are those full size individuals or are they fun size like the little M&M packs a mixture.

Gina: [00:17:16] It’s a whole it’s a mixture. All right.

Glenn: [00:17:18] That’s good. That’s pretty impressive. No that’s amazing. And I was joking around. I don’t even know 32 people to be able to bring here. But how amazing is that? My guess is if you have 27 people, you’re really setting the stage for an incredible family experience and a reunion kind.

Gina: [00:17:32] Of a thing. Absolutely. We were here with it was a run club. We brought their kids as well and got to experience the full gamut here. Right.

Glenn: [00:17:40] So how many of these are there over here?

Gina: [00:17:41] There are 69 homes here on property, and all of them have their own private saltwater heated pools, their saltwater.

Glenn: [00:17:48] Look at that.

Gina: [00:17:48] Saltwater private heated pools. All right, so all of them are exactly. Structured. Structured the same. To accommodate up to 32 people.

Glenn: [00:17:57] All right, well, let’s let’s learn a little bit more. What do you say?

Elizabeth: [00:18:00] Hands with.

Glenn: [00:18:00] Gina. All right. We’ll see you at the. We’ll see you at the next stop. All right, Gina, I’m gonna put this on you. All right, all right, show us a little bit around the backyard over here. And remember it’s a 11 bedroom home that we’re touring right now.

Gina: [00:18:11] Right now we’re going to tour the ten bedroom, ten theater.

Glenn: [00:18:14] And a.

Gina: [00:18:14] Theater and a theater and a surprise on the.

Glenn: [00:18:17] Third floor. To be fair, I might get sleepy during a movie and turn it into a bedroom.

Gina: [00:18:20] All right, but then we’ll wake you up on the third floor.

Glenn: [00:18:22] Yeah.

Gina: [00:18:22] You’ll see.

Glenn: [00:18:23] All right, so I’m going to look over here. This is absolutely beautiful. Just keep talking. Tell us all about it. Gina. Yeah. What? What? You know, how do you tell people what this experience is like? Because, quite frankly, people aren’t used to something like this, and there’s got to be some sort of education factor before they go, wow, like I did when I walked.

Gina: [00:18:42] When you walked in, you did. And that’s essentially what everyone’s sentiment is when they come in through here. As you can see, this space though, is everyone is still together because everything at evermore from the ground up was built for togetherness. Yeah, you’re here lounging. You’re. The kids are playing. Jumping in the pool. You’re playing cornhole. You’re hanging out playing Jenga on the couches. Well, you also have someone grilling and serving food up for everyone hanging out in the hammock. But again, everyone is still in the exact same space, even outside.

Glenn: [00:19:13] Yeah, this is absolutely fantastic. And now that my kids are in their 20s, I could be like, Ben, get me a beer and he’ll be right there.

Gina: [00:19:18] Exactly.

Glenn: [00:19:19] Yeah, I love it.

Gina: [00:19:21] The perks of your kids getting older?

Glenn: [00:19:22] Yeah. All right, so let’s let’s take a look around. Why don’t you follow and lead us away? So we got all this great outdoor space, which is absolutely essential, but it’s more than just outdoor space. You’ve actually created an outdoor living space over here from what we’re looking at. Yep.

Gina: [00:19:35] We’ve got these pods here as well. And at night the pools light up. And so imagine the ambiance too, like you’re drinking, you’re having your cocktails, your kids are in the pool. You’re all are just so relaxing as well. And then if you come in here. You will enter in for another wow factor.

Glenn: [00:19:54] And.

Gina: [00:19:56] Private bathrooms here as well.

Glenn: [00:19:58] I should.

Gina: [00:19:58] Mention.

Glenn: [00:19:59] No, this is great. Yes, I know we’re just looking at a door. I know, but here’s a private bathroom. You don’t have to go inside.

Gina: [00:20:07] Wetting the floors, risking slips and falls. Nope. They’re all coming in here.

Glenn: [00:20:11] So this. This gets me excited from the hotel. Your point of view as well. And let me come back over here for a second. Because what you’ve done is you’ve really thought this through. It’s not just a great guest amenity, but you’re legally, you’re probably avoiding slips and falls, which helps. And then also additionally to that, you’re making it a lot easier on housekeeping.

Gina: [00:20:29] Yes. Yeah, absolutely.

Glenn: [00:20:31] Yeah. Super cool. So let’s go in here.

Gina: [00:20:33] Everything is so thoughtfully.

Glenn: [00:20:35] Yeah. Oh, look at this kitchen. So great. Wow factor. When you first move in this massive giant table.

Gina: [00:20:43] There is a seat for everyone. So when I say so, this home, the ten bedroom will hold up to about 30 people comfortably. The 11 bedrooms up to 32 people comfortably. But if you look around, tell me you can’t imagine 30 people comfortably hanging out here.

Glenn: [00:20:59] I mean, there’s 16 people just at those tables over there.

Gina: [00:21:02] Yes, actually more because we have the benches here.

Glenn: [00:21:04] Oh, I didn’t even notice that there are benches under there.

Gina: [00:21:06] So actually.

Glenn: [00:21:07] Another.

Gina: [00:21:08] A lot more. Up to 20 people, more than 20 people fit at these two tables. You can even pull it over if you guys want.

Glenn: [00:21:14] And you got the little ones. You could put three on there. Exactly.

Gina: [00:21:17] Yep. And even when summer here at the table, those hanging around watching TV, you’re still all in the same space. Someone is cooking here in the kitchen. Everyone is hanging out here at the at the countertop. And I mean, there’s just space for everyone. And what’s really cool too, is we have not just one, but two refrigerators. And yes, when we stayed here, we used both of them.

Glenn: [00:21:38] Yeah. So here’s one.

Gina: [00:21:40] Here’s one. And some have coined this as like maybe the beverage. I love that. You know, depending on people.

Glenn: [00:21:47] No. It’s great. It makes it a lot. It makes it a lot simpler. You don’t have to worry as much. And when you have so many people, you really want to stock up and have room. So you don’t have to be hitting Publix every day.

Gina: [00:21:56] Yeah. And all of them come pack and plays and the Highchairs as well. Oh, lots of extra towels.

Glenn: [00:22:01] Very clever.

Gina: [00:22:03] In addition to the ones that are.

Glenn: [00:22:04] Out there to take note of that for my future grandkids here, that guy’s gotta get on it.

Gina: [00:22:08] And no excuses that no one has a dry towel because we have washer and dryers as well.

Glenn: [00:22:14] Oh, awesome. Plus there’s like 20 in the other room. Probably.

Gina: [00:22:17] Exactly.

Glenn: [00:22:18] All right. One of the bedrooms are down here, but.

Gina: [00:22:20] Yes, we’re gonna go into this bedroom over here. I’ll show you. But yeah, look at this. This right here. And you’ll notice when you come back and stay. Please. Yes. This is the focal point. So what we’ve designed here. Because once again, evermore is built for togetherness. We have these in all of our accommodations, our flats, our villas and our houses. Set down the phone, pick up the moment.

Glenn: [00:22:41] I love.

Gina: [00:22:42] It. This is the moment, right? Being together, doing the puzzle. Reading the books. Hanging out. We’re not asking you for the entire time to put your phone away because you want to take pictures, when to capture your experience and your vacation. But just for this moment.

Glenn: [00:22:56] It’s about connecting. And you’ve created a space here indoors and an equally exquisite one outdoors that no matter how you want to connect, you’re able to be able to do that.

Gina: [00:23:06] And if you’ll notice to the giant windows when you are here and those are outside enjoying, you’re kind of still there. Like you’re a really great moment.

Glenn: [00:23:14] Yeah, yeah, yeah. All right. So let’s let’s take a look around the rest of this. Let’s do this here. And I will say, I’ve already got my ideas because I’m going to be back down in Orlando in August. I could bring a couple of my friends with me and their families. And then, to their relief, they won’t even have to see me the entire time.

Speaker 8: [00:23:30] So all.

Gina: [00:23:31] Bedrooms. I’m not going to bore you with showing ten different bedrooms, but I will tell you, they’re all designed exactly the same. So you all have your private closets. Here is.

Glenn: [00:23:40] Important. And let’s talk about the psychology behind that. Because if you’re with a lot of different families, there’s.

Gina: [00:23:46] No.

Glenn: [00:23:46] Fighting. Right. Exactly.

Gina: [00:23:48] You know what? Everyone gets an equal room and space. Everyone gets a beautiful master bathroom. Every single room has their own bathroom.

Glenn: [00:23:55] By the way, Gina, I noticed the same exact thing in the flat. Yes. And the flats are exactly. The only difference was they had the kids focused bedroom, which was incredible.

Gina: [00:24:02] Oh, wait till you see upstairs.

Glenn: [00:24:03] Yeah.

Gina: [00:24:03] Yep. And so you have your your en suite bathroom and all of them as well.

Glenn: [00:24:08] Beautiful. Beautiful. Beautiful.

Gina: [00:24:11] I mean, who doesn’t want to? This is better than my house.

Glenn: [00:24:14] Oh, yeah. I should let you know that my wife is threatened to never leave, by the way. So hopefully we won’t have to get the authorities involved. But we’ll find out.

Gina: [00:24:21] That’s about right. People come here and they don’t want to leave, and that’s fine.

Glenn: [00:24:24] So this is a theater, a right? So it’s going to start off rather dark. We don’t know how it’s going to look. But the whole idea is that you’ve got a big movie theater here. I mean being in the location we’re at, think about putting on your big Disney Pixar film. Oh, it’s actually looking pretty decent over here, Gina. Yeah. Wow. So how’s this? How’s this all work? How many seats are in here? And let’s get that light on.

Gina: [00:24:46] Everyone fits comfortably. Okay. I mean, you.

Glenn: [00:24:49] Oh my God.

Gina: [00:24:50] Every single streaming app as well that you can play. It automatically logs you out when you check out. It’s great. Not too shabby

Glenn: [00:25:00] No, not too shabby. What is shabby is me getting up off the couch. All right.

Gina: [00:25:05] And we have, you know, kept it fun with the classic movie posters and Caddyshack making you feel like you are in this actual theater room. And this is definitely a focal point as well in our theater.

Glenn: [00:25:15] This is this is absolutely incredible. And what a great way to wrap up a night. I’m just thinking you’re coming back from the theme parks. You’re exhausted. You put all the kids in there, put on the movie, and absolutely, you know, the adults could go enjoy themselves.

Gina: [00:25:27] Private half bath here.

Glenn: [00:25:28] How many bathrooms are in this?

Gina: [00:25:30] Every room has a bathroom. Wow. Front door. Yep. Are you ready to get upstairs? Okay, we’re gonna head up to the second floor. And you will see that this is another gathering space comfortably for everyone staying up here.

Glenn: [00:25:54] Oh my God. All right, get ready for this, everybody. A whole other living space over here.

Gina: [00:26:01] So now this becomes not just a gathering, but it’s also it’s play, right? So you have adults or teenagers or kids that can play pool as well. We’ll get to that fun part.

Glenn: [00:26:11] Here a.

Gina: [00:26:11] Little bit. I know you want to go down it. I know.

Glenn: [00:26:14] Not me.

Gina: [00:26:15] But all of the rooms here. We do have queen beds as well, so able to kind of spread out. Everyone. But yeah, this is another.

Glenn: [00:26:24] This is fantastic. And just everybody knows there’s another floor. Obviously if there’s a slide, another bedroom in here, you can see the bathroom in the back. Gorgeous. I like the little seating chair in here. Yeah as well.

Gina: [00:26:39] Nice little closet again.

Glenn: [00:26:40] And that’s right. You nailed it. Another bathroom. That’s beautiful. You can never have too many bathrooms.

Gina: [00:26:46] People know, especially when you have so much pool time, right? Like not just the private pools, but our bay and all the other heated pools that we have at the property. We know lots of showers happen with that as well once you get into the water again. Same room.

Glenn: [00:27:03] All right. Beautiful. All right. Let’s go upstairs. Upstairs.

Gina: [00:27:07] Okay.

Glenn: [00:27:08] And then we’ll see about this slide.

Gina: [00:27:10] Yeah. Oh there’s more than just the slide upstairs. Oh. So when we came I want to say there were about ten kids. Right? I feel like we never saw them, actually. That’s.

Glenn: [00:27:24] Really.

Gina: [00:27:24] Nice. Although we were like, hey, let’s all be together. They pretty much lived on the third floor.

Glenn: [00:27:28] Well, you know, when you have all the kids together, what you really want them to do is play with each other and give the adults some time to be with each other. Yeah. And that’s really part of the overall family experience, is giving people the opportunity to share, connect, but then break down and do, oh my God, there’s video games.

Gina: [00:27:42] There’s video games. Classic video games. You have Pac-Man and you have X-Men. Look at this, look at that. We got great space for kind of arts and crafts as well.

Glenn: [00:27:52] Coloring and Gina, that is really cool.

Gina: [00:27:55] This is cool. All right. You ready to see one of these bunk rooms?

Glenn: [00:27:59] Wow.

Gina: [00:27:59] So they’re exactly the same. But there’s two of them. We’re in the flats. As you know. There’s just the one.

Glenn: [00:28:05] So this is the very reminiscent of the design of the flat. Yep. Right.

Gina: [00:28:09] Yeah. Everyone to get like how adorable is that?

Glenn: [00:28:13] This is adorable. And it’s why I did a great I did a room tour of my flat because I love this. Yes. And I just think of all the little ones together. And what a fun party it must be for all the cousins to be doing. Yes, right.

Gina: [00:28:26] And they all end up migrating together in the beds, even though there’s like two. They don’t want to leave each other, even just across the hall. They’re all just kind of like squeezed into the in the beds together.

Glenn: [00:28:36] And lights turn on automatically these, these stairs, which is really cool.

Gina: [00:28:40] So cool. Yeah.

Glenn: [00:28:42] All right. And this looks like this must be.

Gina: [00:28:44] Are you ready?

Glenn: [00:28:44] This must be the.

Gina: [00:28:45] Do you want me to go down over here? Yeah.

Glenn: [00:28:48] And then I definitely want you to go down. All right. Stay tuned.

Glenn: [00:28:58] That was.

Gina: [00:28:59] Amazing.

Glenn: [00:29:00] And, yes, I signed a waiver. But if I survive, you all can survive. What a great place this is. All right, let’s get back to the formal.

Gina: [00:29:08] All right, let’s do this.

Glenn: [00:29:10] That certainly was fun. And the good news is, I didn’t injure myself. But, Gina, I’m getting hungry.

Gina: [00:29:16] You’re in the perfect spot because we are culinary destination, and you’re about to meet Chef Vinny, and he’s fabulous.

Glenn: [00:29:22] Hey, listen, I met Chef Vinny. He’s from Long Island, so we’re gonna go have a good time over there, so we’ll see you. Hey, forget about it. We’ll talk to you guys in a second. Bye bye. It was great meeting you.

Gina: [00:29:32] Great to meet you.

Glenn: [00:29:33] Bye. All right. How you doing? I’m back. I’m now at Barber and a beachside bar. Got Chef Vinny with me. We’re a couple of Long Island guys, so if I. You know, if I start talking like this. Hey. So.

Speaker 9: [00:29:46] I love.

Glenn: [00:29:48] The concept here of this beach bar and stuff like that. And first of all, let me just say we had a great meal the other night at Riverview, and the flavors are absolutely fantastic, and it very much fit in with what I’m looking for when I’m down here in Florida. Awesome. That’s fantastic. Thank you for letting us know that. Yeah. So before we talk about this guy and we get a drink and all that kind of stuff, how do you think through menus in a place like this where you have a mix of business and a lot of families trying to come together and all that?

Vinny: [00:30:13] Well, I think it’s very, very. We have to be very intentional, right? You know, so when we look at our, our resort, we are a culinary destination. But we have to be very intentional about food and beverage, right? So we have to develop an ecosystem that’s for multi-generational families. So me being a father of six girls I have, I have a lot of experience in this. When we travel, we have to think about these things. So, you know, and Elizabeth was sharing something with me about, you know, over 40% of all travelers, they pick destinations based on fab, you know, so food and beverage has to be intentional. So that’s what we developed here. You know, we wanted to have an experience every few steps that you were around this beautiful, beautiful lagoon. We wanted to have a different experience for our guests. Yeah, and that’s what we did.

Glenn: [00:30:48] And you’ve done a great job. But interestingly enough, you’re not only competing against your own restaurants on property, but because of the nature of this resort, you’re trying to convince people to not cook in their rooms and come to you as well.

Vinny: [00:30:59] Very challenging.

Glenn: [00:30:59] So that’s that’s tough, particularly with the food hall, which is more of an approachable, you know, lunch, dinner type of pricing structure.

Vinny: [00:31:06] Absolutely. You know, in our food hall, you have everything from Smash Burgers at Craft.

Glenn: [00:31:11] Yeah.

Vinny: [00:31:11] And then you go to Hand-stretched Pizza. Listen, we’re New Yorkers. Yeah, we have to have Hand-stretched pizza. So at props you go to that’s a wrap. That’s our healthy concept bowls and wraps. But when you go to Sand Hill coffee, juice, freshly baked pastries. But the best is it’s Florida. So we have fresh squeezed orange juice. Yeah. You do. We do that every day. Even our bars, all of our juices. Oh really? All of our juices are squeezed fresh every single morning by the culinary team.

Glenn: [00:31:32] Nice.

Vinny: [00:31:33] Yeah. So it’s intentional.

Glenn: [00:31:34] Hey, you like the juice Yeah. Very old Saturday Night Live reference. All right, so we got Mikey over here as well. Hey, man, it’s great to see you. You’re gonna make us a little drink over here. Give us that overall feeling over here. So, what do we got going on?

Bartender: [00:31:49] We have the summer of 69. It’s based on our concept here of our 1969 Volkswagen Jetta. And it has an equal parts of

Glenn: [00:32:00] Yeah.

Bartender: [00:32:01] Grapefruit juice, gin and Saint Germain.

Glenn: [00:32:04] Nice. Awesome. All right, I’m gonna let’s let’s bring it over here. I have no choice.

Vinny: [00:32:10] You have no choice.

Glenn: [00:32:11] No choice.

Vinny: [00:32:11] My team freshly squeezed the juice for that, so you have no choice but.

Glenn: [00:32:14] To try it. Oh, okay. Thank you. I appreciate you forcing me. Dang, that is absolutely delicious. I know it’s like ten in the morning but whatever.

Vinny: [00:32:25] Hey it’s 5:00 somewhere right.

Glenn: [00:32:27] Are you allowed to mention other brands over here.

Vinny: [00:32:31] Oh my goodness. Oh my goodness. You never know.

Glenn: [00:32:35] Yeah. That’s great. So how did you get into cooking.

Vinny: [00:32:37] Oddly enough I come from a I have a very very kind of family that’s just immigrants. Like we’re Sicilian, so there’s nothing that you can do but be around food our entire lives. So my dad’s an amazing businessman. I went to school for a long time and ended up in culinary. At the end, you know. But just around amazing people who loved hospitality and showed actually that love to me through food.

Glenn: [00:32:59] So that’s.

Vinny: [00:32:59] Awesome. I found my niche. Yes, I can speak to people. This is a great thing. Totally. I get to meet great people like you.

Glenn: [00:33:04] Yeah. And for those of you who don’t know, the way Long Island culture works is the Italians and the Jews are exactly the same species. Except for one grandma prays to Jesus. Other than that, it’s exactly the same.

Vinny: [00:33:15] Like, literally like we’re in the same business. We just.

Glenn: [00:33:18] Different.

Vinny: [00:33:18] Different departments. That’s all it is, right? But we constantly eat, right. That’s what we need to do.

Glenn: [00:33:23] Yeah, it’s really funny. So obviously that love of food was imbued to you at a at a young age, but when did you realize that you wanted to be a chef in a hotel? And did you even realize you could be an executive chef at a massive resort? Because I’m trying to get the younger people out there to understand.

Vinny: [00:33:36] Absolutely. Well, great, great. Great question. You know, really what I wanted to do was be in restaurants. I was like, I’m going to be a cool restaurant chef. And listen, growing up in New York, that’s what you want to do. You want to be in Manhattan. You want to be in in the eye of the of all of the guests that you have over there.

Glenn: [00:33:49] But also you came up in that that era where food TV was really taking off and chefs became celebrities and personalities.

Vinny: [00:33:56] Correct? Absolutely. And being a part of that, being in the media eye for a little bit was very, very fun. But moving here to Orlando, we wanted just a different lifestyle for our children. But you know what? It’s peppered with all these wonderful hotels and resorts. So I wanted to get into something big. And guess what? I just keep getting into something bigger. I get to open a resort that’s on 1500 acres right now. This is amazing, right? So being a part of that and really like understanding that, you know, getting into this kind of industry just takes hard. You know, if you have hospitality in you, then you’ll you’ll always succeed, whether it’s in culinary front of the house, anything you want to do. But, you know, being in a large resorts, it’s a lot of opportunity. When I look at some young culinarians that we have right now, I have the opportunity to grow their entire career right here. They don’t have to leave, right? Because they have so many different departments that can work and we can show them so many different avenues. But one day my goal is to have one of them be me.

Glenn: [00:34:44] That’s amazing. That’s that’s amazing because that really just shows where your heart is in this. We should all be focused on one day getting replaced by younger folks. Otherwise you have the wrong attitude. But also this is a very big established resort that’s got a lot more land and a whole other phase that they can do. And if you’re a young professional, even if there’s not a job today, there will be by the time you get to that place.

Vinny: [00:35:06] Correct. And when I look at it, I looked at Manhattan. It’s like that is a huge ecosystem of restaurants. And I looked and I said, you know what? I can make my career here. But I was looking at an entire island, right? But when I was, if I was a culinarian coming into a property like this, I can look at this property and say, I can make my entire career here. I don’t have to leave.

Glenn: [00:35:21] I love it, it’s fantastic. What’s the secret to creating a well balanced opportunities for people to eat in a lot of different ways so they walk away happy.

Vinny: [00:35:29] So the way I look at it is, you know, we have to look at ingredients as like, it’s the substance of everything that we do. So we have a growing program here. So for instance, in twin view, it all starts with what we pick in the garden. We have a garden that’s right outside of the restaurant that’s going.

Glenn: [00:35:41] To check it out.

Vinny: [00:35:42] Oh, you have to check it out. I have everything from bananas, fruits, but lots of herbs. But what we do is we clip all that right before service, before breakfast, before lunch, before dinner. That’s really the catalyst to what we do. Because you’re here in Florida, we want to give people an idea of what it is to be in Central Florida. It’s not just oranges and pina colada even though they’re here, right? But we really wanted to give them an amazing experience and understand the food culture that we have. But if we’re not growing it ourselves, if it’s not tangible, right. And we don’t have a story to tell, but we can tell a story about every single dish that’s in there.

Glenn: [00:36:11] So if you’re looking at real fresh items from here, my guess is every once in a while, maybe get some fresh gator on the menu. Hey, listen, if someone.

Vinny: [00:36:18] Might be in one of the ponds, I don’t know. I can’t confirm or deny that, but it might be over there.

Speaker 9: [00:36:22] Exactly.

Vinny: [00:36:23] But even walking around the bay. The bay is amazing. You know, we have a beautiful food truck. More tacos.

Speaker 12: [00:36:28] Over there.

Vinny: [00:36:29] Like, who doesn’t want tacos while you’re sitting at the beach soaking in some sun? It’s an amazing concept. Tacos and tequila. How do you beat that?

Glenn: [00:36:35] You can’t. You can’t beat that. As a matter of fact, I think I need to go have some tacos and tequila. Right? Right. About.

Vinny: [00:36:41] I love.

Glenn: [00:36:42] It. Anything else that we’re missing?

Vinny: [00:36:43] Oh, yes. Actually, we just opened our newest member of our ecosystem over there, the deep end. So we have a mediterranean grill over there. It’s a brand new pool that we opened. The pool is heated so guests can enjoy it at all times of the year. You know, I think it’s fantastic. And then we’re anchored by the amazing Conrad Orlando. Yeah, right. How do you beat that? You have some beautiful Papaya club, amazing cocktails, amazing food there. You have little spoon. So you go in there and you’re taking a look at all those things that they have. Beautiful pastries.

Glenn: [00:37:11] Gelato looks beautiful.

Vinny: [00:37:12] Fantastic. And then you can go to Sofia’s, right? Who doesn’t want an al fresco Italian dining experience? Yeah. And then save the best seat in the house. You can overlook the entire lagoon from Ceiba. Fine dining. Mexican at its best.

Glenn: [00:37:23] I’m looking forward to. I’m looking forward to it. I’m going to actually be eating there this evening. What should I have?

Vinny: [00:37:27] Oh, my gosh, I would have everything. Why would you. Why would you not try everything?

Speaker 9: [00:37:31] I know I try.

Vinny: [00:37:31] Come on, you’re a Long Island guy. You need to try everything.

Glenn: [00:37:33] I know, I know, and we got good Mexican food. They’re not saying it’s better than another place in the country. But we do have good Mexican food here. And I think we we created New York City, the, the combo Mexican Chinese joint. So we got that going.

Vinny: [00:37:44] That’s actually fantastic. That fusion is pretty good. I’m not gonna lie. I’m not gonna.

Glenn: [00:37:48] Lie. I know I’ve only seen that in Manhattan, except the cosmopolitan Las Vegas, where there’s

Vinny: [00:37:53] There’s one other one that’s actually. There’s one that’s in Dallas, in Deep Ellum. It’s called Chino Chinatown. I’m not gonna lie.

Glenn: [00:37:59] All right? I’m gonna be. I’m gonna be there next month. Maybe I’ll go check it out 100%. Vinnie’s. This is awesome. Well.

Vinny: [00:38:04] Thank you. Pleasure. Glenn.

Glenn: [00:38:05] Yeah, man, this is great. I can talk to you all day. I think when I come back next time. Right, right. Let’s do a video together where we cook. Let’s do it.

Vinny: [00:38:12] Yeah, well, let’s call it. You’re coming home next time, right? Because we have homes here and you know the chef, right?

Glenn: [00:38:17] That’s great.

Vinny: [00:38:18] Yes.

Glenn: [00:38:18] Come on I do. And we could do it in one. We could do it in the home one. I think.

Vinny: [00:38:21] We.

Glenn: [00:38:21] Should. All right. Now we’re now we’re getting too wonky for you. I’ll be back in August with this guy Vinny. All right. We’ll see you guys later. I don’t know what’s going on. If we’re continuing with Elizabeth, I don’t know. You’re going to find out. Bye. All right, we’re back with Elizabeth. Elizabeth, thank you so much for this incredible tour. And I gotta say, thank you for letting me speak to all of your other people. It was really very generous of you to share the spotlight with everyone.

Elizabeth: [00:38:43] Well, they’re amazing, right? I discovered that they’re just an amazing team. I’m just lucky to be part of it.

Glenn: [00:38:48] Yeah, well that’s great. Before we wrap up, what’s the one thing you want people to take away from what we’ve done today?

Elizabeth: [00:38:55] Travel is important, and you can use it to inspire yourself. You can also use it to connect with people. And evermore is the perfect place to do that.

Glenn: [00:39:03] Yep. And for you investors out there, consider about how people are changing the way that they travel. This is really, I think, going to be the center of the cultural travel zeitgeist out there for you young professionals. Think about what Vinny said. Places like this give you really opportunity to grow your career and really become an amazing professional. Thanks so much for watching. We’ll see you next time. And listen, I don’t normally do this, but you all got to stay here. Maybe we’ll get one of those rooms and we’ll have a little 32 person party or something like that. What do you.

Elizabeth: [00:39:32] Say?

Glenn: [00:39:32] I’m in. I know just the tequila we can drink to.

Elizabeth: [00:39:34] Perfect.

Glenn: [00:39:34] All right, everyone. See you later. Like. Share. Subscribe. Love you. Bye.