by Tim Wood
Last updated: 1:45 PM ET, Fri August 1, 2014
Yet another moment that as hard as I might try, I just can't explain this job to my friends outside of the travel business.
I came to Mexico ready to talk corporate speak and synergies as part of our annual company meeting at the Hard Rock Hotel Rivera Maya, a resort I visited in March as it was making the transition to the Hard Rock Collection -- and wrote plenty on, as the "soft opening" was already mighty impressive.
And then, a Flo Rida concert broke out.
One of my friends put it best on Facebook: "Wait. What?"
We were already in the heart of the hottest new resort on the Riviera Maya strip. The finishing touches around the resort -- from the smallest thing like room signage to the larger-scale renovations around the clubs and restaurants and the Cavern teen lounge.
The Riviera Maya property is the latest example of how Hard Rock is evolving the idea of the all-inclusive -- one side focused just for families, one size just for adults, but collectively, selling the message that you can have it all.
Play with your kids in the beach cove, but you're not going to bed at 8:30 p.m. If you want to party like a rock star, you can hang out in the Heaven nightclub until 4 a.m.
And you can actually hang with rock stars. This is a signature piece of truly leveraging the Hard Rock band. Riviera Maya has brought Jerrod Niemann and the High Noon Adventure back when I was there in March. They brought Jon Bon Jovi to the official opening in May.
Thursday, they partnered with MTV World Stage to bring Flo Rida to the resort.
The access is there. I am living proof.
My boss, Mark Murphy, set us up with a stageside suite view of the show. A top-notch DJ started the afternoon oceanside, which led into a 90-minute set by the worldwide superstar and hitmaker behind "Good Feeling," "Low," and "Wild Ones" just to name a few.
I love the guy's music and I didn't even realize just how much volume of instant-recognizable hits he'd compiled already in a young career.
We were close enough to get views of the made-for-international-TV event (check your local listings). The drone cameras were flying right over us as we were dancing awkwardly.
We got epic photos.
As the show ended, the gaggle of security lining up near our suite made it clear we were smack-dab in the middle of Flo Rida's stage-exit path.
After a hour and a half of dancing and singing and laughing, I started angling myself like a giggly tween with the hopes of merely being "Flo Rida adjacent."
My beautiful female co-workers were among the many that Flo stopped for as he headed to his suite. In all, he spent 30 minutes taking pictures and talking with his fans. This is how you build 5.6 million visitors on Twitter. Knowing that this big of a talent is also a great guy, it makes all the difference.
After six position moves in four minutes, I had my shot - but didn't even need it.
As his crew moved toward me, one of his crew stared me down like he knew me. Then he pointed.
"You GOT to take a picture with this guy!" he said, shuffling Flo my way. "He was the craziest bouncah in this whole damn house!"
(I am bouncer bulky, but I later heard that he was referring to my dancing. Wow. A volume of awkward movement adds up to getting noticed.)
And that's how this happened.
Our all-access wristbands included the late-night afterparty at Heaven. That led to this.
And that led to a conversation with Flo Rida's Instagram video director, which led to their VIP table at Heaven and an incredible night of reveling.
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