Mexico!!! April 15th

Today i just got up in the morning and packed up all my bags, ate breakfast. Then we had to immediately check out and wait out front for the shuttle to bring us to the airport. I went by the pool and the bar because i had to see the beautiful landscape one more time before i left. I don't want to go home i would love top be here for ever it's heaven and much more!!

Mexico!!!!!!! April 14th

Today is my last day here so I'm having as much as i can but I'm also very sad to go home, because i want to stay i love this country its so beautiful! I really just hung out with all the people that i met there today. I also tried to get as much color as i could so i just sat in the sun for hours and hours. I visited the lobby bar on the adult side and met this very nice couple from NYC, so we talked for a bit. I took my brother to another show tonight. it was great and after i brought him to the room to tuck him in i went back out to the disco. It wasn't as fun as i thought it would be because there weren't as many people as i expected. I ran into the couple that i had met earlier that day, so i talked to them for a bit. After too many smoothies i went to my room and sat for a bit in my Jacuzzi until bed.

Mexico!!!!!!! April 13th

Today i visited the Moon Palace Resort which is where i stayed last year and i was so excited for this trip because i really love this hotel. Out of all of them it's my favorite, it's a lot bigger, has more Variety of food. when i got there i immediately went to the pool while my family ate breakfast. I really like the bar at this hotel it is a swim up but it also has hanging swings around the bar which is very unique. the lunch here was amazing i got pulled pork, chicken n lots of other things. I took a stroll on the beach also it was very nice but I've already seen this stuff. I had to leave the hotel early so we could get the shuttle back to my hotel, when i got back it was heaven. I got a manicure, a pedicure and a 30 minute massage. The massage was amazing it was unlike anything I've ever got before it was my first massage ever but defiantly not my last!! It was the most relaxing thing I've ever done. That night i also took my brother to a pirate show which was also awesome. The scenes were very colorful, the show includes a full service bar. The pirates did pole moves which took a lot of effort, plate tossing and balancing, there was also a lot of dancing.

Mexico!!!!! April 12th

I visited the Playa car Palace today in Playa Del Carmen, Mexico. This hotel was a little bit smaller than all the other ones but i still had a little fun. I got drinks all day, hungout with the bar staff. the cool thing is meeting all these new people who have such different personalities, they are all truley sweethearts. I walked into the town for a bit to get a good view of the ocean because at this hotel the beach area is just a little strip. I ate luch in their buffet i had shrimp, chicken, fries, potatoes and even second helpings. The thing i like about the Palace chain is that when you stay with one you can travel to all the other ones. i'ts the greatest expwerience of my life everytime i come here!, its also totally unexpainable. i think every person has to see this paradise at least once in their life. Once you're there you just fall in love with it. when we got back to our hotel i look my little brother Anthony to a Brazilian drum show in the disco. this show was so amazing i've never seen anybody dance like that in my life. All the perfomers worked so hard to put on a great show and i met with acouple the of the guys and talked during the show and they were so nice and outgoing . The guys there are always so sweet and one of them even let my brothers play one of the drums at the ending of the show so he also enjoyed it very much.

Mexico!!!!!!!! April 11th

Today when i woke up i went to breakfast and lounged by the pool. i also played volleyball with Miguel who worked at the hotel i stayed at and some other people that were staying there. I found my way to the adult side. that side was very nice also !!! seeing i found it i will now be over there all the time ! For dinner i ate on the adult side at the Japanese restaurant with my aunt. you get to pick an appetizer,a main dish and desserts, and seeing it's all inclusive you can get as much as you want! For an appetizer i got Tempura shrimp, shrimp roll, for my dinner i got chicken and veggies in a Terayaki sauce.

Mexico!!!!!! April 10th

Today when i woke up i went on my balcony and laid on the hammock, being out there having not to worry and seeing the beautiful ocean view really relaxes me and i love it. After we all got ready we took a taxi cab to X-PU-HA which is another Palace Resort. When you get there the lobby is outside in a bungalow, to get to the pool area or the rooms you either walk or take a golf cart through this jungle looking area with caged animals. this hotel was awesome and i like how all the buildings were bungalows because it gave it more of a island feel. we were thinking about switching there so we got a tour of the room, they were just like ours but in bungalow's. Next time i go to Mexico i would defiantly stay at this hotel. I ate at the lunch buffet there the food was really good and i got great service...!!!! I met this guy named Jorge who worked there by the pool. He gave me Myan, Spanish lessons and also salsa lessons , it was a very neat experience and i'm lucky it was available to me !!!! from the lessons i learned that X-PH-HA means where the fresh and salt water meet. Because of meeting this man i know now that after my degrees are completed my dram is to go work at one of the Palace resorts for a summer, live down in Mexico and do what Jorge did!!!!!!!!!!!

Mexico!!!!!! April 9th

Today when i woke up i went to the breakfast buffet by the pool with my mom, dad, aunt and my brothers. The staff at any of the Palace Resorts are amazingly out going. You would never ever find service like that with any thing down here, the service and treatment you get here alone is just totally worth the money. the cooks would make you homemade pancakes, french toast, eggs or omelet's. there's always so many choices of food here although it was more limited here than the other ones i stayed at. At the buffet there is also two rows of hot food because this restaurant is a buffet for breakfast and lunch and for dinner a menu restaurant. What also caught my eye today was the fresh fruit display it was very very creative. After i was done i took a walk on the beach the hotel made. You can't go on the direct ocean floor shore because the waves are to strong and even come up high on shore, even in the daytime. Although the Man made one is just as beautiful though!! At this beach you can go swimming, kaiaking, take in the warm sun. I explored the hotel a little bit and saw the condos that were for sale and they were so nice, ocean front property. I also went to the lunch buffet and dinner and got a big yummy steak!!

mexico!!!!!! April 8th

when I arrived to Mexico there was a van waiting for us at the airport because the hotel gives constant shuttle service going to or leaving the airport. we drove to the hotel and it was gorgeous flowers and plants everywhere, a huge resort. As i walked in the hotel to check in i was so excited!! At check in they ask for the confirmation of the booking, get you your wristband , that's how they know if you're staying at the hotel, if they can give you services. The concierge service was waiting for us in the lobby to take us and our bags to the room. The room was beautiful it had a two person Jacuzzi, a stone shower, a balcony viewing the ocean. After i got my things unpacked i went to take in some sun until it went down. Today was just a down relaxing day for me,so i didn't do much.

crowne plaza- cs

today we went to the Crowne plaza and met with Todd, Trudy and Kristin. They were very nice and gave treats and a little presentation on what each of them did. I think the Crowne Plaza is a pretty nice hotel for this area because there's not many. We got a tour of the kitchen area, the spoiler room, some of the offices, the restaurant, banquet area and the restaurant. Overall I think the trip went pretty good!!!

home wood- C.s.

our Lodging Management Program went to the Home Wood suites hotel on Wolf Road. Erin and chip the guest service coordinator gave us a presentation on the hotel, a lot about it ! After we got to ask questions and learn even more! They gave us a tour and showed us the pool, fitness center, a studio room, double suite. The rooms were very nice and i would like to stay there for a night and engage in he Home Wood suites experience.

capital trip

we took a trip to the Albany center in downtown. they put on a movie for us of Alban'y history which was pretty neat to learn because its where i live and i never knew most of that information. we went in the planatirium and learned about the stars. we got to take a tour of the building also, it was a pretty neat field trip !!

room service

i worked with Joel in the room service department when i got there we had some orders to do. we got the cart ready and waited for the food. after we delivered the food to the guests room we picked up the dirty dishes outside of the guests room. there were a lot of dirty carts that had to be busted down. Joel and i cleaned off the carts, filled his ice bucket. he showed me how to restock his inventory.

room service

i worked with Joel in the Room service department. The hotel was very slow that day. we took one order of salads, soups and drinks. we had to bring it to the Colonie meeting room, and had to make sure the guests were happy. Joel showed me the knocking rule that the room service workers have to follow. they have to knock three times and say that its room service before he enters the room. he showed me also how to set up the room service cart.

starbucks catherine simeone

I had to go work at the Starbucks in the Marriott because the restaurant i was supposed to work at closed early because lack of business. i went to Starbucks and we didn't have one single customer so we sat down with Nicole and she helped us fill out the yellow sheet about inventory.

housemen catherine simeone

i cleared a room. there was about twenty tables and about ten chairs at each. i had to stack all the chairs in piles of ten which was hard because they were taller than me. i got to work with the two house men Jimmy and Barringhton. we stacked about three hundred chairs and cleaned out the room. being a housemen is a lot of hard laboring work, but without them the hotel would,t be able to run.

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.