THE WORLD OF
Melissa
McCormack
The decisions behind a better hotel stay
Melissa brings hospitality specialists into conversations about the details guests experience—and the purchasing and operating decisions behind them.
Melissa McCormack
Co-host, Meet in the Lobby · Avendra International
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MELISSA MCCORMACK / ON MARKETSCALE
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Selected appearances.
Explore the work, the ideas and the people.
Meet in the Lobby
With Dorien Murphy
Melissa and Dorien answer questions about supplier contracts, menu engineering and hotel revenue.
Notes & credits +
Melissa and Dorien answer questions about supplier contracts, menu engineering and hotel revenue.
Original-source summaryMelissa McCormack · host / Dorien Murphy · host
Original on Avendra ↗Meet in the Lobby
With Dorien Murphy
Melissa and Dorien discuss retaining hospitality teams and earning revenue from underused hotel spaces.
Notes & credits +
Melissa and Dorien discuss retaining hospitality teams and earning revenue from underused hotel spaces.
Original-source summaryMelissa McCormack · host / Dorien Murphy · host
Original on Avendra ↗Meet in the Lobby
With Dorien Murphy & Michelle McGuire-Keckler
Melissa and Dorien Murphy ask Michelle McGuire-Keckler about outdoor spaces that adapt to different uses. The conversation connects reconfigurable layouts with durability and maintenance: a flexible terrace still needs materials suited to its climate and a plan for repairs and replacement parts.
Notes & credits +
Melissa and Dorien Murphy ask Michelle McGuire-Keckler about outdoor spaces that adapt to different uses. The conversation connects reconfigurable layouts with durability and maintenance: a flexible terrace still needs materials suited to its climate and a plan for repairs and replacement parts.
Published articleDorien Murphy · Co-host · Director, Strategic Luxury Accounts / Michelle McGuire-Keckler · Guest · Brand Manager
Original on MarketScale ↗Meet in the Lobby
With Dorien Murphy & Molly Preston
Molly Preston returns to discuss the experience and context future procurement leaders need.
Notes & credits +
Molly Preston returns to discuss the experience and context future procurement leaders need.
Original-source summaryMelissa McCormack · host / Dorien Murphy · host / Molly Preston · guest
Original on Avendra ↗THE RECORD
Career & credits.
Explore the reviewed catalog below. Original publication dates, roles and affiliations are retained. Clips and related work are identified by their original titles; unverified material is excluded.
MELISSA / FROM THE CONVERSATIONS
Ideas & insights.
Read the ideas, then watch, listen to or read the original work.
Food costs change. Guest preferences change. Menus should evolve too.
A menu needs to change as its costs change
Melissa McCormack · Meet in the Lobby
Melissa treats menu engineering as ongoing operating work. She connects seasonal ingredients, products used across several dishes and the sales performance of individual items. A familiar menu can become expensive to keep unchanged when ingredient costs and guest preferences move. Her starting point is to examine what the restaurant actually sells and uses.
Discussion prompt
Which menu item has stayed unchanged while its ingredient cost or demand has shifted?
A better contract includes the service promised
Melissa McCormack · Meet in the Lobby
Melissa asks operators to examine how a supplier agreement works, not only its price. She points to performance-based clauses that make service expectations part of the relationship. In her conversation with Dorien Murphy, a laundry-provider example leads to a broader purchasing question: what is the property receiving for its recurring spend?
Discussion prompt
Which recurring service has clear pricing but unclear performance expectations?
Show up where the team is working
Melissa McCormack · Meet in the Lobby
Melissa connects employee experience with visible, practical support from managers. Her examples are deliberately ordinary: running the expo line, talking with guests and helping behind the line. She explains why working alongside associates carries weight that a formal engagement initiative alone may not.
Test the process during the breakfast rush
Molly Preston, in conversation with Melissa McCormack and Dorien Murphy
Guest Molly Preston gives Melissa and Dorien a practical test for procurement design: a process must work during the morning service rush, not just in a meeting. Preston links better systems to understanding the operator’s day before prescribing a solution. The conversation brings corporate purchasing decisions back to the people expected to use them.
Discussion prompt
What happens when the proposed process meets the busiest hour of the property’s day?
Design the terrace for its second use, too
Michelle McGuire-Keckler’s design perspective, discussed with Melissa and Dorien
Michelle McGuire-Keckler asks Melissa and Dorien to consider how an outdoor space changes over a day or season. Modular furniture can support dining, private gatherings and other events, but flexibility also depends on climate-appropriate materials, maintenance and replacement parts. Her account connects the guest’s experience with the operating decisions that keep a space useful after its opening-day photograph.
Sources & how this brief was made
AI-assisted editorial summaries, reviewed against the linked published articles. Guest views stay attributed to the guest. Recurring themes and practical questions are editorial synthesis, not quotations or a statement of the host’s beliefs.
SHARED CONVERSATIONS
In conversation with.
AWAY FROM THE JOB TITLE
Beyond the job title.
A shark on the golf course
Melissa recalls managing a California golf club when an osprey dropped a live leopard shark beside a tee box. Her team drove it back to the ocean, where it swam away. It is a memorable example of the unexpected situations she encountered before moving into procurement.
Read the source ↗BACKGROUND & EXPERIENCE
About Melissa.
Co-host, Meet in the Lobby
Avendra International
Connect on LinkedIn ↗Melissa McCormack works in hospitality procurement at Avendra International and co-hosts Meet in the Lobby. Before joining Avendra, she managed a golf club and two independent restaurants and held department-head roles in full-service hotels. That experience comes through when she talks about seasonal menus, supplier agreements and managers working alongside their teams. With Dorien Murphy, she brings those operating questions to conversations with specialists in hotel design and procurement.
Biography & career sources
About the media selection
Explore the reviewed catalog below. Original publication dates, roles and affiliations are retained. Clips and related work are identified by their original titles; unverified material is excluded.
Summaries identify whether they use published articles or transcripts. Series attribution is distinguished from an individually checked appearance.
FROM THE PUBLICATION
Keep the conversation going.
Related reading from MarketScale’s publication, selected for the topics on this page.
Explore the publication ↗MARKETSCALE ·
Airbnb bars hosts from assigning checkout chores starting November 20 ↗
Guests can no longer be required to strip beds, wash dishes, run laundry or haul trash. Hosts can still ask for the basics. Cleaning fees stay. The host community is split between relief and threats to leave, and the move pushes short-term rentals closer to a hotel standard.
Read the article ↗Selected by MarketScale with AI assistance. Independent publication coverage; not attributed to or endorsed by Melissa.KEEP EXPLORING
Explore more perspectives.
Keep the conversation going.
Connect with Melissa on LinkedIn.
Connect on LinkedIn ↗