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At Hyatt 48Lex, They Whistle While They Work

Go To The Hotel's Web Site Where: 517 Lexington Ave [map], New York, NY, United States, 10017
September 29, 2011 at 1:30 PM | by | Comments (0)

Sometimes they're chic. Sometimes they reflect the local vibe. Sometimes they're super sexed-up. But in the hands of Hyatt 48Lex, hotel uniforms are a little like fast-food: served up quick, hot, and made-to-order.

We were touring the newly-opened hotel (and President of Sierra Leone's pied-ŕ-terre), when we happened to pass by one of the conference rooms located off of the Lexicon Lounge on the second floor. Now, we pride ourselves on being eagle-eyed when it comes to hotel oddities, but it didn't take a detective to realize that something looked a little out of place here.

Instead of the usual orderly scene of business suits, laptops, and PowerPoint presentations, we found the tables strewn with fabric, measuring tape and sewing machines. Was Cinderella in town? No, it turns out the entire space had been converted into a fitting room and production center for hotel staff uniforms! And they (very kindly) allowed us to take this photograph of the seamstresses hard at work.

The name of the company who provides the uniforms is Cintas, and in order to pull off the "mix and match" look the hotel was going for, Cintas sent in a team of seamstresses to do the work on-site. As you can imagine, the turnaround for these items is very fast—in some cases, says the hotel's rep, garments are available later in the day. Hyatt, it seems, doesn't mess around with hotel uniforms:

"They have dresses, skirts, pants and blouses for women and trousers, vests, shirts and jackets for men. The colors are: charcoal grey, crisp white, and black (of course, it is NY).


All hosts are fitted as soon as they are hired, then clothing is customized as needed. [What you are seeing here are] the second fittings."

As they say, if you need something done fast, ask a busy person. And these women were, without a question, busy. Hopefully they won't follow in the same footsteps as certain other Hyatt workers around the country, and leave the staff with half-sewn uniforms. That would be an entirely different look.

[Photo: HotelChatter]

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