I was luckier than most as I arrived in Dallas a day early, and did not partake in the London section of the DO. This meant that I avoided the cancellation of the return flight, and the great efforts that AA made to fix things. The evening reception was full of stories of how impressed people were with AA – how the rebookings were handled, being met at their flights and taken to their connections, and the way in which AA made it up to them.

The Reception itself was great – live music, an open bar (serving Bombay Sapphire – what more can I ask?), a huge range of food to suit every taste and a presentation from Jeff Zindell from Hyatt Gold Passport. Hyatt are a huge sponsor of the OWMD event and so they could have chosen to do a ‘aren’t we wonderful’ presentation. Instead, Jeff knew his audience and appealed to both their knowledge of Gold Passport as their sense of fun!

We also discovered that Oprah calls Jeff – JZ – or that is what he claimed! Of course there was the serious business of announcing the new promo from Hyatt which starts from 1 Feb (just after all my stays finish of course!) MommyPoints has covered it here.

There was a great live auction where the was a great package which benefited a great charity, which Hyatt also supports. The charity benefited to the tune of over $2000 from attendees who were able to bid on a NASCAR package. A great way to spend the evening.

I have to say Hyatt and AA certainly pulled out all the stops last night, and as a MegaDo first timer I am looking forward to the second day.

If you cannot attend, one of my fellow bloggers is running a contest to win a SWAG bag.