c.s banquets w. barrington

i went to the Marriott, shante and i were in the same department , we worked with Barrington. t we learned a little bit about him and helped him set up tables for a meeting. he taught us how to set up the pens, paper, candy and glasses. after we were done there was nothing really to do so we went to a Marriott lunch for the employees. we just ate and talked to Barrington. he told us about where he came from and what his country is like, i learned a lot.

banquets

When i went to the Marriott Tuesday i worked with Anton, Jimmy and Anne in the banquet department, this division also works with food and beverage. The Marriott was hosting a lunch for the farmers bureau. They had a buffet and when the food ran out we filled it , i learned that the cod food , the less expensive foods are put out first and the last selection is the most expensive things. They do this so that by the time the guests get to the expensive food they're pretty full and don't eat as much and it saves the hotel money. The goals for this department is just like the others : make the guests happy and make them want to come back. The challenges just like any other job are getting along with everyone and trying to please all the people. We had some problems because some people from the convention were coming in as we were trying to clean up the banquet room. In this department i got a lot of experience. I enjoyed everything i did in the banquets department and i would like to have a job like that.

banquet cook

Yesterday when i went to the Marriott i worked with Steve who was the sous chef, which means he's the second in charge of the kitchen. when i arrived he didn't have that much work to do so he showed me how to cut vegetables. I cut onions,green and red peppers, celery, carrots. he told me when your handling vegetables you always cut the ends off first and lye the flat surface on the table and if there Isn't one then you cut the watchable and make one. If there's not a flat side the vegetable isn't stable so it might roll and you could get cut. Steve and i prepared the vegetable's for tomorrow's meals, which were soup and sausage and peppers. I had to cut the sausage which i didn't enjoy. He said the hardest part of the job was preparing the food because threes so much that needs to be prepared for every meal. Steve said it is also hard to make every guest happy.

conceirge department w/ joan

I worked in the concierge department with Joan. This department reports to the director of food and beverage and is responsible for greeting the guests, looking who is arriving and leaving ( they have a list). Joan is also responsible for dinner reservations, salon appointments, activity packages for guests and she has to know the area in case guests have questions. This department works out of the front office and it is a lot of interaction with guests so you have to be a social person. Unfortunately Joan was very busy the day we went so i didn't get to spend a lot of time with her but seeing there wasn't much for me to do i got to help Jimmy. They were setting up for a event in the ballroom so they had to take off the dirty table clothes that the last event had used. i had to pick up all the garbage off the floor and stack the blue chairs. we had to put the red chairs out in the hall for a different event(3 at each table). I really enjoyed helping Jimmy, he is very nice, he has a job that takes a lot of labor work. jimmy showed me how to correctly put a tablecloth on a table.

guest speaker Gary Miltner

Today Gary Miltner from Robison&smith textile services came to our Lodging management class to talk to us. The main focus of the presentation was what the business he works for does, he talked about when businesses rent from them they save expenses and the most important thing he talked about was customer service and good communication is the key to success in this industry.Robinson and smith services rents out chef coats, napkins,table cloths, coveralls, pillow cases.Renting saves the businesses from expenses like electric (b/c of washer and dryers), detergent expenses and expenses for buying uniforms. I think it was interesting when he talked about how he went to c college for P.E. teacher and after he got his two year degree he knew it wasn't what he wanted to do. Gary has worked at all different places like a dishwasher at the Italian community center, construction ans he operated and unloaded trucks(so therefore he has a bunch of experience). He never thought he would end up in the industry he is in today. the thing i learned from Gary which is the most important and beneficial to me is you have to love what you do or else you'll wake up every morning unhappy with going to work, but if you love your job you'll be excited to wake up every morning and go to work. when you have a job you have to give it your all. This presentation related to Lodging Management because he talked about the industry a little bit and told us working in the industry you have to be very flexible with positions and be able to work long hours. All this information he shared with our class today will help me out if i decide to get a job in the Lodging industry.

room service at the marriott-catherine

Our class went to the Marriott for our internship. I was in the room service department, I worked with David who has worked there for about month. His responsibilities consist of putting the orders together, getting the food from the chef, bringing the food up to the room, pick up any dirty dishes that are outside the hotel room. The goal for the room service department is to make the guests happy just like the other departments. David told me there are challenges to his job. He says it's hard to make his job easy because their are lots of demands especially in the morning for breakfast. The BASIC at the Marriott today is "I Stay Flexible" There was a little problem for David that day because when he was taking a order upstairs he forgot the coffee downstairs which didn't make the guest happy and it took longer to deliver what the guest wanted. I learned a lot from David and had fun working for the room service department but it is not what i would want for a job.

centery house+ holiday inn fieldtrip-catherine

Our Lodging management class to the century house hotel, when we got there we met Samuel who runs the century house ,the Ramada hotel, and the new Holiday Inn Express. we introduced ourselves to him and then he told us about what he went to college for and what his career has been so far. we learned the century house was independently owned and he gave us a tour of the hotel. we saw the business rooms, some hotel rooms,suite rooms,the bar, the eating areas and the main ballroom. after he gave us a tour we met him at the Holiday inn and he gave us a tour there and we saw the laundry room, the ballroom,a hotel room, the lobby area. i thought the holiday inn was a pretty nice hotel. we went back to the century house to and to listen to a meeting that was being held there and the century house made us sandwiches for lunch. I thought this field trip was fun and Samuel taught me a lot about the Lodging field and in a way inspired me to go into the Lodging field , he is a very successful man.

1st day at banquets-catherine

When we got to the Marriott we met Kristy the Food and Beverage Captain. She talked about her responsibilities, different jobs there were, and she showed us a room that they had set up for a business meeting. Our class then split up and went with different servers in the banquet department , i was with Scott. Anthony, Christa, and i helped him set up the buffet . Some of the food ran out in the buffet so we had to replace the food . He showed us the kitchen and we helped him clean up one of the two buffets because at one point they only needed one open. We waited for all the guests to get their food and eat it and then we went around to all the tables and took their plates and asked if everything was OK . I also met briefly with Jimmy who is the housemen and Banquet Director and he gave us a little tour around the hotel and told us about his past and all the awards he has won at the Marriott.

first day at the marriott internship-catherine

Today in our lodging management program our class went to the Marriott, we met the banquet manager Debbie.Our class also met ann and Anton who work in the banquet division. Debbie talked to us about what she does at her job and some other jobs there are at the Marriott. she showed us a layout of a wedding thay hosted at the marriott and told us what the workers have to do to set up for a occasion like that. Some of the responsibilities are for the banquet dept, such as : setting up events, doing coffee breaks, making the food, setting up rented rooms for occasions, and to know excatly what the costumer or guest wants.The goals for the banquet department are the same as the whole hotel's , making the guest happy. the marriott has a chart (it follows the calendar)the workers follow which is called Today's Spirit to Serve BASIC, they do something different for every day of the month. That internship's day BASIC was :I personalize the stay ( i watch and listen to the guests) learn the guest's preferences, record them, and act upon them when possible. The Marriott workers know that the guests know we care because we greet them and use the 15/5 rule( you stop what your doing when a guest is fifteen feet away and when they get to five feet away from you smile and greet them) and because we always go beyond to make the guests happy. Some of the problems the marriott can have in a day is internet goes down when a group rents out laptops or having enough room for all the people for an occasion a guest rents a salon room for.Debbie discussed with us what GSS means , it is Guest Satisfaction Service. Today i really liked learning how to fold the napkins for different events and i saw the kitchen area. i wish i could of worked at the marriott more tht day .

orientation-catherine

$4,ooo,ooo lobby renovation

our Lodging management program went to the Albany Marriott for our first orientation. When we arrived there we went to the salon D for a power point presentation and to meet the general manager Olsen and his assistant Jen. They told us a little bit about themselves and showed us a presentation of all the different Marriott's around the world, about the hotel, what happens there and what the workers have to do on a daily basis.Thomas and Jen also talked a little bit about the Columbia - Sussex who owns the franchise and J.W. Marriott who owns the name of the hotel.We met the directors of the different departments of the hotel like Deborah who is the food and beverage director and we met Micheal who is the front office manager. We also took a tour of the hotel and saw the gym, housekeeping,the pool area, some conference rooms, the lobby,the bar,the front desk. Going to the Albany Marriott was important because they showed us a little bit about the Marriott which will be helpful for our Lodging management group when we start our internship there. One of my favorite parts of the orientation was meeting the directors , listening to what they're jobs are at the Marriott and learning a little bit about them. I thought it was neat how most of the workers went to college for a different major and ended up in the Lodging field. I really liked going to the Marriott because it is a very good experience to have and i got to learn a little bit about how the Marriott runs. I gained a lot from this experience , i know a lot more about the Marriott now then i did before the orientation. This internship is going to really help me when i start a internship at the Marriott, i will already know some workers and know a little bit about working at the Marriott. This internship will be really helpful when i want to get a job in the Lodging field because i will already have a experience working at a hotel.

intro.-catherine

I'm Catherine Simeone. I attend Bethlehem Central High School and I attend a Lodging management class at capital region career and technical school. My strengths are: I know how to work a cash register and I'm really good with customer service from my current job at the Saratoga shoe depot. I know that customer service is really important in the Lodging Field. I don't know to much about the lodging field yet, i just started my internship at the Albany Marriott and I'm really excited to learn there. I'm keeping a blog to record my experiences at the Marriott and what I may learn there.