‘Hugh Hefner was on site when I visited the mansion, but he didn’t get out of bed until 11am. I was there at 10 so I missed him,’ recalls Fong.
She says the plan was to hire out the mansion for a group function – it would have happened apart from some media publicity leading to the event being canned.
The visit to Alcatraz ended more productively – with the staging of the first black tie dinner in the prison dining hall.
Other highlights of Fong’s career include a full buffet lunch set-up on the Great Wall of China (with table, chairs, linen, wait staff and – to the side – masses=uses for nick and leg massages), plus a full buyout of the Guinness Storehouse in Dublin for and evening function.
The recollections come as Fong marks 40 years in the travel industry – most of it working in the conference and incentive sector but also encompassing a memorable diversion or two like a brief stint in retail and later a ‘gap-year’ working as an air hostess for Air New Zealand in 2007. ‘My husband and I wanted a break from the corporate world – he became a full time artist for a year.’
The milestone also coincides with Fong’s decision to leave full-time work – her last job being with C & I Travel Specialists.
Fong actually started her travel career with Mt Cook Line in 1986, working with inbound groups. In 1991, she went to London fro some OE and within a week had a job with Gullivers handling outbound Europe groups before working in the Hong Kong office for two years.
Back in New Zealand she worked at the Auckland Visitors Information Centre, then General Travel (when Don Gunn and Peter Black were the principals).
A major step came in 1997, when she was invited to work with Karen Kennedy at GO C & I. A little later Wayne Harris (a significant name in Fong’s career) joined GO C & I. She left in 2002 and worked with Flight Centre’s CI Events (‘really only to get a fresh perspective’) and then had a second stint with Harris and GO C&I that spanned a decade. She then started with C&I Travel Specialists, where she worked for eight years.
‘I have loved the people I’ve worked with, especially in the last team (C&I Travel Specialists) – they are a great group.’
She has also enjoyed providing special moments for high achieving clients. ‘It’s about having good contacts and challenging the ground operators to go outside the box. I got pushback on the baseball (in Central Park) but I have managed to organise that three times.’
Fong says she now plans to keep occupied but at a slower pace and is looking forward to a holiday in Sri Lanka, Singapore and Phuket.
‘This will be the first time for many years that I go away with no work laptop and no work phone.’
(Source: TRAVELinc Memo)