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W London Unveils Its Casting Couch

Where: 10 Wardour St, London, United Kingdom, W1D 6QF

Imagine the scenario. You’re a soon to open W hotel. You know you have a reputation as an employer of ever so trendy people to uphold. And you’re opening up in one of the trendiest cities in the world. Do you a) crack under the pressure and weep that you don’t know how you’re going to find the hipsters to staff your gaffe? Or, b) find the most flamboyant way you can to announce your search, and lure said hipsters in?

If you’re the W London, you do the latter – in style. To cast its new “insider” position – aka their uber-concierge – they’re holding what they’re billing as an “America’s Next Top Model meets The Apprentice-style initiative”.

Yes, they’re actually flying in J Alexander from America’s Next Top Model to join a panel with David Waddington from hipster restaurant Bistrotheque, pop up gallery lady Libby Sellers and (surely uber-trendy) W London GM, Kevin Rockey. On 29 September, they’ll hold an intensive selection day at a “secret location” (um, W London, anyone?), at the end of which the winner will be offered the full time position.

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'Spirit Fingers' are Warming Up at The W New York Downtown

Where: 123 Washington St. [map], New York, NY, United States, 10006

The the soon-to-be-opening W New York Downtown is readying its "talent," or in plainspeak, its employees, for the hotel's August 16 opening.

W Hotels are known for throwing "talent shows" to hire employees. And no, they refuse to use terminology like "job fairs." After the new workers are chosen, then comes the pageant-sounding talent training portion of the process. As you can see from the photo, the opening-team workers typically get treated to cheerleader-led festivities as part of the training.

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Aloft Harlem Holds Auditions to Find 'Sassy, Savvy, Outgoing' Talent

Where: 2300 Frederick Douglass Boulevard [map], New York, NY, United States, 10027

The audiences at 'Showtime at the Apollo' are notoriously tough, but yesterday's crowd at the Harlem theater is known for loving a good talent show. Yes, the Starwood HR folks were at it again, this time casting staff for the new Aloft Harlem—which is now opening on August 19.

The hotel's sales and marketing director Aleks Truglio told the New York Times that yesterday's auditions were all about finding "people who are sassy, savvy, outgoing — the people who love working with other people and who embrace human contact.”

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W Hollywood is Currently Finessing Its Whatever-Whenever Technique

Where: 6250 Hollywood Boulevard [map], Hollywood, CA, United States, 90028

For a hotel brand that prides itself on having "talent shows" to hire its employees, it was only fitting that the new employees for the W Hollywood got the red carpet treatment when they entered the hotel to begin their intense training period. The hotel is set to open January 28th.

Last Thursday, the event to welcome the new W employees kicked off at 9am when the employees registered at the Pantages Theater to receive their official W Hollywood IDs. Then the general manager, Jim McPartlin, gave the troops a pep talk in front of the theater before leading them across Hollywood Boulevard and into the hotel for their first day of work.

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Try Out for W Vieques's 'Talent Show'

Where: State Road 200, KM 3.2 - HC1 Box 9368, Vieques, Puerto Rico , 00765

The W Hotel is auditioning for another one of its talent shows. That's W-speak meaning that the company is interviewing people at its job fair. The prize for this particular talent show is a gig at the W Retreat & Spa, Vieques Island, which is set to open in mid-November.

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Only 'Ultimate Cool Hunters' Will Do For W Barcelona

Where: Placa de la Rosa dels Vents, 1, Barcelona, Spain, 08039

Not that we want to start counting chickens or anything, but it looks like W Barcelona is still on track to open October 1. Not only are reservations are open – rooms cost from EUR212 ($299) for the opening night – but they’ve just started recruiting.

Being W, this is no dry process. At their beachfront “Talent Casting Centre”, to the sweet sounds of an inhouse DJ, prospective “Talent members” will be escorted into “whisper booths” and asked such pressing questions as “Why are you the city’s ultimate cool hunter?”

We’re thinking that finding 400 cool people in Barcelona won’t be a problem, though, so fingers crossed the opening date will hold. We’re starting the countdown now…

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The W Boston's 'Talent Show' is Going On Right Now

Where: 100 Stuart Street [map], Boston, MA, United States, 02116

A promising sign that The W Boston will open on time this September? The hotel is currently holding its W Boston Talent Show (also known as a job fair) at 660 Washington Street. All positions are open at the hotel from Whatever/Whenever staff to administrative positions to bar and kitchen staff. Here's how it will all go down:

Upon entering the Talent Center (pictured), applicants will be transported behind an invisible velvet rope into the world of W. After checking in at the Welcome Desk, potential talent will be escorted to a Starfinder Station to complete an application online and the W Whisper Booth for a more personal meet and greet.

The W will open on September 30 (so they say) in the city's revitalized Theatre District with 235 guest rooms and 123 W residences. For now, the talent show will continue through Saturday from 9am to 5pm. Positions were most interested in hearing more about? The Munchie Box position and the Style position. If you hit the talent show up, let us know how it went.

[Photo: Evan Saunders]

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Smile! You're Auditioning for the W South Beach Talent Show

Our newest favorite obsession here at HotelChatter is randomly W Hotels Talent Shows also known as an employment fair for a soon-to-open W Hotel. The W Hoboken just finished their talent show as did the W Fort Lauderdale. These properties aren't open just yet but they will be (fingers crossed) in early 2009.

And now we have the detes on the talent show for the W South Beach (opening May 2009) The show will kick off on December 15th at 1pm at 420 Lincoln Road, Suite 2C in Miami Beach. It will go until 5pm. But this is no ordinary job fair.

While on line, applicants will be greeted by W South Beach models handing out Bliss spa tidy towels, Soyjoy snacks and Sambazon juices all keeping with the purple color scheme.

In typical W fashion, whimsical games will be available to help pass the time spent on line. After checking in at the Welcome Desk, candidates will be escorted to a Starfinder Station to complete an application online or to a Whisper Booth for a more personal meet and greet.

And that's not all. A Guitar Hero competition will also take place where the winner can win the Guitar Hero game for the Wii console. Um. We just want to go for the snacks and face-melting guitar solos. Is that wrong?

Have you tried out for a W Talent Show? Were the W versions of Paula, Randy and Simon nice to you? Let us know.

W Hotels / Hotel Staffers / Hotel News / W Talent Shows / → All Tags

Know Your Exits: W Hoboken Now Hiring

Where: 335 River St [map], Hoboken, NJ, United States, 07030

[UPDATE:] Here are some more detes about the hiring fair which IS indeed being called a W Talent Show.

Monday, December 3, 2008 – January 2009
Monday – Friday: 9am – 6pm
Saturday 12/6: 10am – 3pm
*Subsequent Saturdays will be based on initial turnout and demand.

The W Hoboken is expected to open on February 26 and further proof that the opening day is nigh is the recruitment center (no mention of a talent show here) that is open for the next six weeks: NJ.com reports:

The W is running a recruitment center at 1203 Hudson Street (behind the uptown Starbucks) from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. weekdays for the next six weeks. You must go there to apply. They will be fulfilling all positions to run the hotel.

In a time where layoffs are escalating across all industries, there's something comforting about the W Hotel hiring people. Anyone interested in applying for W Hoboken, we only ask that you know what Taylor Ham is.