Influential Woman · Hospitality

Malanie Adams

Sales and Catering Manager, McKibbon Hospitality

Orlando, FL

Certifications · Degrees · Memberships

Member Wedding Venue Map Member CFHLA

Her Story

About Malanie

I've been immersed in hospitality my whole life. My parents and a lot of my aunts and uncles worked at Disney while I was growing up, or in hotels in general. My mom would take us in while we were probably waiting for her last few hours, and we were always around the hospitality field. Being kids of Disney, we were always there, and you see how they treat other people, and you want to give people that kind of satisfaction, that enjoyment, that they gave you. I always wanted to be on that reciprocated side. In my current role, my day involves corresponding with clients, new and returning, to make sure that their events are successful, down to their sleeping rooms, their food and beverage needs, all the way down to the final billing process, and reaching out to see if we could possibly get some more business. My key responsibilities are essentially to fill the hotel with extra business. We have sleeping rooms that get booked transiently quite often and regularly, but we want to fill up that meeting space, get more exposure, and bring more people into the market. I work for two separate properties, and at our newer property that opened in 2023, I surpassed our sales and catering budget by over $64,000 in 2024, which I felt very accomplished about.

Her Interview

Ten minutes with Malanie

01What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?

I would say always see the bigger picture, and always give that 110%, even when it doesn't make any sense. Again, kind of going back to seeing that bigger picture, because you're gonna feel like those small things, the details, feel a little monotonous. But hindsight is like, wow, all of that small things, those small tidbits that I listened to, those small webinars that I took that I didn't really need, but I kind of, you know, want that extra 10% to go ahead and take it, you know, don't discount it. It's very useful, it's very helpful. I think one thing that we say a lot around here, it's the little things. It's the small things that make those impacts, so definitely always see the bigger picture.

02What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?

I would say it's just ever-changing. Not one single day is the exact same. You can't have that mindset that you're going to do the same exact thing every single day, so just being flexible with any market changes, you know, abrupt cancellations, or just abrupt turnarounds, just being able to fully adapt. Because again, every single day is just so different, especially the market that we're in. We're by the airport area, so it does get very...it does change. It is very...a lot of variables that do fly in the area.

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