Wardman Park around the Holidays

Today, I am working Thanksgiving and it is so extremely slow here at the Marriott. This is my first job that I have had working on a holiday. I guess that comes hand in hand with working in the hospitality industry. It is interesting to witness serving our guests on a holiday and how different guests act towards us. We actually enjoy a stress free day, as most guests are much nicer to us regarding their rooms and their stay in general. I personally do not working when it is so slow, which at our hotel we rarely are. I was talking with another co-worker today and we discussed that since we are the largest hotel in DC and that we have high occupancy most of the time, it would be very difficult to go work at another hotel due to the fact that we might be extremely bored and feel less challenged. The best part about working at Wardman Park is the meeting so many people and how everyday is unexpected and different.

Holiday Season

During this week we are hitting our last week of large conferences and conventions before the Thanksgiving holiday approaches. This is a time where our large front desk staff including managers shifts are cut down slightly due to the lack of guests traveling to our hotel around the holidays. I work Thanksgiving next week, as I won't be going home back to Arizona. I figure since my family is not around here for the holidays I would work to cover my co-workers who do have family around the D.C. area. This week is also very busy as Janet Napolitano and the Department of Homeland Security has a convention at the Wardman. It is wonderful to have the opportunity to see well know people come to our hotel. I think that being at Marriott Wardman Park has got me spoiled only due the fact that we are constantly busy, we have a great reputation, we have a long history and that we are the largest hotel in Washington D.C. I honestly do not think I could work at a smaller hotel now that I am so use to the structure and organization of Wardman Park. I feel like I would be bored if I was not checking in or out 700 to over 1000 people a day. We are all so fortunate to be interacting with so many people from the United States and Internationally. I have learned quite a lot about many types of people. Going into the holiday season our staff works just as hard to make an impact on our guests even if there are less of them. It cannot be easy to travel during the holiday season and our staff strives to make it that much easier for all of our guests.

New Projects

This week has been so fun and busy due to the fact that President Obama and the Prime Minister of Israel are planning on speaking at our hotel in D.C. to a large convention that we have in house. We have a high level of security at our hotel right now that it feels like we are at the airport. It is nice to work at a hotel that draws influential leaders from throughout the world. It has been inspiring and exciting to get to be in my position to witness it all. This week a couple of my managers also came to me to let me do mini projects other than my daily tasks of the front desk. It is nice to see that they trust me enough to let me do other projects. I did things like help with accounting/billing jobs, as well as other tasks to prepare for over 1000 people checking in one day. All of us front desk agents work hard everyday pulling long hours/overtime and it pays off when are managers recognize us. We also have great team building days that helps us recognize how hard we do work.