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Hyatt's Boston Hotels Create a 'Task Force' for Fired Housekeepers
Perhaps sensing that the outrage from the Boston community over the recent firing of longtime housekeepers would not die down, Hyatt Hotels has announced that they are putting together a "support plan" to help their former employees. The official statement from Hyatt:
We are announcing today the formation of a task force to provide additional support to the 98 Boston-area Hyatt employees affected by the recent restructionf of the hotels'housekeeping services. In support of their transition to new jobs, the program will include extended healthcare coverage and retraining assistance tailored to the situation of each individual.
Management and HR directors from each of the Boston Hyatt hotels will create and administer the program. Retraining is the main focus and health coverage will be extended through the end of this year (which is only three and a half more months). It was previously set to end this month.
Tags: Hotel Staff / Hotel Feedback / → All Tags
What Hoteliers and General Managers Have to Say About This and That
We do a lot of talk-talking about hotels here at HotelChatter and while we love getting Reader Reviews and Tips and Comments, we also loooooove hearing back from hoteliers, hotel general managers and other hotel staffers themselves, directly on the site, and not through their paid PR people. Here's a few comments that we received on stories recently that we think you should read as well.
· The Distrikt Hotel's GM Speaks About What's on the Block:
We are indeed across the street from the Port Authority, which has been experiencing a transformation as well. Our guests are welcome to visit Duane Reade, but we will also have those forgotten or confiscated toiletries they may need on their travels. The New York Times Building is an amazing structure, and who could resist Dean and Deluca with a barrista rated fourth in the world? We don't like the DVD store with toys, but we imagine they will soon meet the fate their brethren did when "crazy" Disney decided to clean up an area called Broadway. We really love New York.
Keep reading after the jump for more comments!
Tags: Hotel Staff / Australia Hotels / → All Tags
Hotel Workers in Australia Dish On 'Ethical Hotels'
It's old news that some hotel guests want to choose their hotel by looking at how green they are, but in Australia a consumer website has just started up so we can also know how ethical a hotel is – and the people behind the First Star: Ethical Luxury website are not too shy to name and shame.
The website was launched last week by the trade union which represents hotel workers in Australia, and, in their words:
The aim is for the site to be used as a tool for travellers and workers to push for social change.
So far they're light on the "this hotel isn't green" message and heavy on the "this hotel exploits their workers" theme. Luxury hotels in major Australian cities, such as Sydney's Sofitel Wentworth and the Novotel Darling Harbour, get slammed for stuff like cutting out workers' breaks or not paying overtime due (although the latter at least gets some kudos for doing some nice environmentally-friendly stuff).
Whether or not we'll actually bother checking this website before making our accommodation decision in Australia is a good question, but of course we quite like reading tidbits about who's doing what wrong, so we might at least take another visit.
Tags: Crazy Hotel Workers / Hotel Staff / Tips / → All Tags
What Not to Say to Crazy Hotel Workers
The passive-aggressive mob we know as the Crazy Hotel Workers is always giving us useful tips on how to be a significantly-less-annoying hotel guest. We can only assume that if we take note of some of these rants and do our part to irritate the staff less, we'll probably get better service — so here are some of their recent pearls of wisdom to absorb and take to heart:
· When you see a deal for pets (or the hotel staff ask if you've got a pet with you) don't ask if your husband/child counts as a pet. Apparently they've heard it before. And it wasn't even that funny the first time.
· Don't ring down to reception to complain that the coffee is too hot. You're not going to get a multi-million dollar settlement out of it.
· If your TV isn't working, that's reasonable grounds for complaint: but if the only reason you want the staff to come immediately to fix your cable up is so that you can watch the Home Shopping Network, you're better off keeping the broken TV (and your viewing habits) to yourself.
Crazy Hotel Workers have also been irritated recently by guests who asked for a bunch of extra shampoos (for their long hair) or who call down for an extra blanket at four o'clock in the morning, but we think these complaints are at least half-way legitimate — we can imagine making them ourselves. Whatever happened to the customer being right, guys?
Tags: Celebrity Scoop / Dennis Rodman / Las Vegas Hotels / Hotel Staff / → All Tags
Dennis Rodman Sued by Hard Rock Las Vegas Employee
Rodman being escorted out of London WeHo after getting too handsy. Again.
Guh. Dennis Rodman. Get it together, dude.
After a couple of unfortunate incidents in hotels lately — one of those incidents being his most unfortunate appearance on 'Celebrity Apprentice' in which he attempted to help the other contestants run a hotel but instead got drunkers and got fired — Dennis Rodman is suffering the consequences for actin' a fool in a hotel.
Apparently, a former beverage manager at the Hard Rock Las Vegas filed a lawsuit against the ex-basketball star that accused Rodman of "[creating] a scene that included him grabbing her, forcing her to dance with him and slapping her bottom" while she was working in early 2006. According to the Las Vegas Sun, she had reported the incident to the management and "was told Rodman would not be allowed back at the establishment" — but then he was somehow there again and pulled the same shenanigans, about which she complained to the management again. And then she was fired.
Tags: Andaz Hotels / Hyatt Hotels / London Hotels / Hotel Services / Hotel Staff / → All Tags
The Reader In Residence is Back at Andaz London
He’s back! We’ve written before about how much we loved Damian Barr and his Reader in Residence service at Andaz London, where he lived in the hotel for two weeks and simply read to guests in their rooms. We were very sad when his term of office finished last year, and he left Andaz to reside and read around the rest of the world.
So we had a little squeal of delight when an email popped up from the Andaz saying that Damian was back from April 17th (though sadly for one week only) to coincide with London Book Fair. We don’t know much about the London Book Fair, but we do know that we’ll be hanging round the Andaz in the hope of a read-in.
Tags: Hotel Staff / Hotel News / Manhattan Hotels / Luxury Hotels / → All Tags
New York Palace Hotel's Manager Fired For Religious Remarks
Yikes. There's been some major drama at the New York Palace Hotel — and this time, it has nothing to do with Gossip Girl.
According to the New York Daily News, managing director Niklaus Leuenberger has been released from his position at the Palace after not-so-nicely ordering a Catholic employee to clean the ash off his forehead on Ash Wednesday.
NYDN reports:
"Wipe that f-----g s--t off your face," managing director Niklaus Leuenberger told a bell captain at the New York Palace Hotel on Feb. 25, sources said. [...] "As of Monday, March 23, Leuenberger is no longer employed by the New York Palace," hotel spokeswoman Teresa Delaney told the Daily News Tuesday. The incident was deemed so severe, Christopher Cowdray, head of the London-based Dorchester Collection, which owns the Palace, flew here to hand Leuenberger the pink slip.
Oh, and one more thing: the NYDN says the Palace actually leases its land from the Catholic church. Goodness gracious.
Tags: Interviews / Hotel Staff / Celebrity Scoop / → All Tags
Sean Paul Tells Us His Own Hotel Room Confessions
HotelChatter contributor Shira Levine got the chance to interview Jamaican singing sensation Sean Paul while on assignment for HEEB magazine. But when Sean Paul revealed he had a past in hotel employment, she knew it was too good to pass up for HotelChatter. Here's what she learned.
Last week, Jamaican reggae and dancehall singer Sean Paul flew into New York for a few live shows in Manhattan and Queens. Come this summer, his fourth album will hit the streets, so we took the opportunity to chat up the "Gimme the Light" and "Like Glue" singer in his suite at The London NYC.
Sean Paul chooses typically to roll up in that spot because he digs the suite life. “It’s all suites in here," he said of the hotel's accommodations.
Speaking of sweet, random details, it turns out that long before he was a multi-award winning superstar, Sean Paul was on the academic track to a career working in hotel management. That's right, Sean Paul could have been a hot hotelier! Below, he dishes on what that was like.
Tags: Hotel Staff / Manhattan Hotels / The Plaza Hotel / → All Tags
After 40 Years, the Plaza's Longest-Serving Doorman Retires
If you've been a guest or resident at the iconic Plaza Hotel any time since 1963, you've surely encountered Ed Trinka, the gentleman who's spent the last 4 decades as the Plaza's Fifth Avenue doorman. Today, we bid farewell to him: today is his last day of work (on his 65th birthday) and, unlike any other hotel worker ever, he says, "I never had a bad day in all the years."
He spent 40 years at the fabled lodging's Fifth Avenue entrance, relocating to its doorway facing Central Park South during the property's renovation and partial conversion to condominiums.
Years ago, the hotel gave him a nametag that mistakenly read Edward, even though his full name is Edwin. He came to embrace the errant nametag, neglecting to correct people when they called him Edward and even naming his own son Edward.
Aw; we know, right? The hotel will say a proper goodbye to Trinka this afternoon: a champagne send-off in the Oak Room, where he'll be presented with a free stay at the hotel he's worked as since he was a teenager.
[Photo: Jason Kessler/CNN]
Tags: Crazy Hotel Workers / Hotel Staff / → All Tags
Don't Talk Hair With Crazy Hotel Workers
Don't ask a hotel staffer to blow-out your hair for you.
Our favorite inside line to what hotel staff are really thinking we check in, the Crazy Hotel Workers blog, still has hotel staff doing what they do best: whining about bizarre guests, trying to stay awake on night shifts and wondering if they should get out of the hotel industry. But there's extra-weird stuff going on this month, and it's all about hair.
The hair theme started calmly enough, when one Crazy Hotel Worker had a call from a one-armed guest to come up to her room to help her put her hair in a ponytail. Not an everyday request, but we can live with it.
Things got worse for another hotel worker when a hairdresser customer started criticizing his hair. The result?
She ended up giving me her number to get my hair done properly...
Guests are always right, right? The final hair problem at Crazy Hotel Workers this month came from hair in a different place (no, not there):
Dear fat hairy man that just walked through my lobby twice, PLEASE PUT A SHIRT ON! NO ONE WANTS TO SEE THAT!
We second that and are glad we're usually on this side of the desk at a hotel.
Tags: Hotel Woes / Hotel Layoffs / Hotel Staff / Country Resorts / → All Tags
Greenbrier Saves Some Green by Shedding Employees
What do the Borgata, the Atlantis Resort in the Bahamas and West Virginia's Greenbrier hotel all have in common?
Massive layoffs!
The Greenbrier hotel, on the list of historic hotels in America, is the latest hotel to lay off employees—and by far the largest amount so far: 650 of 1,350 people, or slightly less than half of its staff. (Atlantis cut about 10 percent of its staff, or 800 employees; while the Borgata let go 400 of its roughly 7,000 staffers.)
Reuters explains:
Greenbrier said in the statement that historically, business improves in the late spring and summer, and that it anticipated that some of the furloughed employees could return at that time. The resort said the furloughs announced on Friday [January 9] were significantly greater than those associated with seasonal declines. Greenbrier Hotel has existed since 1778.
It just so happens that during the Cold War, the U.S. government built a 112,000-square-foot bunker beneath a wing of the hotel, meant for as many as 2,500 members of the U.S. House of Representatives, the Senate and their families to hide out in the event of a nuclear attack.
Sounds to us like those folks may need to hunker down there if different reasons if they don't get this economic mess sorted out soon.
[Photo: Vicky TGAW]
Tags: Standard Hotels / Hotel Staff / Hotel Calendars / Andre Balazs / → All Tags
Standard Hotels Releases 2009 Staff Calendar
And we thought the Standard Hotel NYC's new advert was risque. The boutique brand from Andre Balazs has come out with the 2009 Standard Hotel Staff calendar featuring the theme "high school." Although, kids in our high school on the student council definitely never posed with their shirts off or with their tatas nearly exposed.
Designed as a desktop or bookshelf calendar, it measures 7.5” tall by 3” wide when folded, and about 6” wide when assembled.
The calendar was shot on location in LA and features several real Standard hotel staffers. Originally sent to loyal Standard guests as a New Year's gift, about 500 leftovers are now for sale for $20 at the Standard online shop. It's a great gift for family members of staff, guests who found Standard staffers kinda cute and of course, for the Standard staff themselves.
[Photo: NotCot]
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