Reflection

At the beginning of my experience at the fairmont doing hours with my mentor, I was really nervous because I didnt know what I would be doing and I would be spending a lot of time with my mentor and at the hotel. This whole expereience really did open my eyes and made me realize that managing a hotel is really complicated and theres so much responsibility put on you to keep the hotel stable. I am really shy so it was hard meeting all the people in all the different areas of the hotel. There are so many people that do different jobs, so I was introduced to a lot. Meeting all the people really helped my communication skills because with each person I met, I got more and more comfortable being around them and listening. And, all those people taught me how they communicate with customers everyday and what the right way to communicate is.

I think that the main thing i gained from my hours at the hotel is that the customer always comes first. The people in that hotel make sure that every single customer is happy and has what they want when they need it. They taught me that everyone does everything in their power to make everything run smoothly. Your performance while on the job is really important and you have to have that positive vibe to go around. I also learned that thing are going to be hard and you're going to have struggles everyday but you really have to remain calm and do everything you can to get through that day and end it with all customers and staff happy and on the same page.

I always say that when I have a job in the future, a career, I want to just make people happy. I always thought that I would be working for an organization or maybe something having to do with charity. But, i found that in a job like hotel management, they are making people happy every day with how they treat them at a hotel. Seeing people happy and knowing that i contributed makes me happy, ecstatic.I would love the feeling of knowing that I made someones stay at a hotel worth and I contributed to them enjoying their experience.

4th visit

I spent the last day another 10-6 visit at the fairmont in San Francisco with my mentor. We were trying to focus on something else other than the food and beverage part but that was my favorite so I didnt want to do anything else, but I had to know more about the hotel and the other parts of it. I was introduced to a lot of people that had different jobs from just answering the phones in customer service to house keeping. The house keeping was an interesting part to learn about because when i have stayed in a hotel, you dont see much of the house keeping and what they really do and especially what they really think about what they do. The people that I talked to in house keeping made it clear that it wasnt like cleaning up after some kind of motel 6. I mean, i was at the fairmont. Most of the staff i got to interact with made it clear that customers always come first and i got that answer with any job at the hotel. Of course it was hard to just stand behind people while they do their job so my mentor pretty much walked me through everything so i can observe the best I can. I got to walk through the empty room and watch the house keeping make up the room and see what they go through to make the rooms perfect for when the next customer comes. I got to see how hectic it got behind all the front desks in the lobby especially because i was there for easter weekend so there was a lot of people checking in and out and having questions about touring. It made me realize how much you have to know because you will get a million questions a day.

Time logged for this session: 8 hours
Total hours: 26 hours

May 3rd

My 3rd visit I still stayed in the food and beverage part of the hotel because it really interested me and I had a lot of fun doing it. I had a really long at day at the fairmont, I was there 10 am to 6 on a Saturday because I desperately needed hours, so I did what I had to do. I spent a lot of the time in the kitchen watching how everything goes down there. I met the chef and all the people who work in there and play a part. My mentor walked me through everything they have posted on the boards that the chef and all the other cooks look at each day to know what they are going to do. The best part was sitting in the office with my mentor and watching all the calls and emails come through that concerned reservations and any problems from customers. I was at the fairmont easter weekend and got to experience all the calls regarding the easter brunch, people were nervous and called about making sure their reservation still okay. People were also calling requesting places to sit and it was hard for the manager to promise them somewhere they want to sit. I also got to learn about the whole bar while one of the bartenders was off duty. I learned how the bar is set up and also learned about what comes up from the kitchen to keep the bar stocked and how they let the kitchen know. It wasnt easy seeing everything because im not 21 and cant just hang around the bar. But while learning all of that, my mentor explained to me the people who come in and inspect/check that the bar is the way its suppoed to me. It isnt just for the bar too,. people come check the way tables are set up, the way the kitchen is, ect. So my mentor walked me through how the whole dining hall is supposed to look at all times for a while. I got to experience the food and beverage manager go through a lot because of short staff all the times I was there. Everything that was needed to get done, he was called for and I got to be there for everything. It is kind of weird because at times I felt like I was in the way and was stopping them from getting stuff done.
Time logged for this session: 8 hours
Total hours: 18 hours

2nd

 May 2nd

My next 5 hours at the Fairmont in San Francisco was dealing with my mentor and the food and beverage part of the hotel. Food and Beverage was really interesting to me from the beginning so I was hoping to focus a lot on that because I was moving the whole time and it was the best part of the hotel. I got to go all around the hotel, to the cafe downstairs all the way to the kitchen downstairs also. For this day, my mentor really focused me on customer service in the main room where there is breakfast lunch and dinner. For a long portion of the time, I stayed in the front with my mentor where customers come through constantly. I wasnt just standing around, she was walking me through everything that happens the moment a customer walks in. I even got to experience a run down of how the whole thing works by just watching my mentor interact with each customer. I was really nervous that she would ask me to greet a customer or even seat someone but luckily I didnt have to. She did make sure I knew how to if I ever did have to. I was taken into the cafe where staff was short so we had to bring a lot of items from the kitchen down to the cafe to stock them up because they were running low on everything. It was really difficult taking elevators up and down with carts of food all the way to cups and napkins down to the cafe. Doing that took up the whole time I was there but gave me a good experience because it was a lot of work to do for just two people, me and my mentor.

Time logged for this session: 5 hours
Total time logged: 10 hours

Capstone

First hours 

April 18 2014

My first day with my mentor was a long day at the Fairmont in San Francisco. When I first got there I wasn't really sure what I would be doing. Would I be actually getting to deal with stuff on my own in the hotel or would I just be following someone around the whole time listening to them talk? I was excited to find out that I would be able to do tasks on my own and interact with staff and guests. The first day was basically getting to know the hotel and learning the different jobs there is throughout the hotel. Before starting anything, I got to talk with my mentor for a good while about the history of the hotel, how long some staff that I met have been there, what other companies they communicate with, what kind of people come through the hotel everyday, ect, The talk did last for a while so I did get kind of bored. But after that I did get to take a tour of the hotel where I got to see all the rooms on the top floor to the general managers office on the bottom floor. I did get to learn a little bit about the rooms like room service and housekeeping but I mostly was there all day getting to know the hotel and learning about the different jobs I will be shadowing while I am there. It made me kind of nervous being introduced to all the people at the hotel but I had a really great time there.

Time logged for this session: 5 hours
Total hours: 5 hours