Wednesday, November 25, 2009

Training, training and more training

Training...
This has been the be all, end all, trav-all and learn all for the month of November. I've been trained up one side and twice down the other, but I've made it through. For anyone who is under the assumption that hotels simply hire personnel, give a little OJT and then let them go, please be assured that nothing could be further from the truth. Now that theory does hold true with my home improvement projects, but we take out hotels a little more seriously.

The first training took place in Seattle Washington and surprisingly enough, in pretty good weather. I learned everything there is to know about Courtyard and Marriott hotels and if you thought bacon being accompanied by eggs is just an old adage passed down through time, its not. Marriott came up with that. Okay, maybe not, however when you come to breakfast, dinner or even get a snack out of the market, all of these things occur according to a very specific plan. A place for everything and everything in its place.

The second training took place in Washington, DC. President Obama wanted to get together to go over some of these policies and standards, however really, who has the time. I apologized very graciously and continued on with my training. This section went over all kinds of great things that go into making the team that is at the hotel as successful as possible. And in hotels, the happier our team members are, the more successful they are. I had a severe case of jet lag, a sinus infection and was on the verge of information overload, however when they put you in a room, blindfold you and tell you to figure out what parts are missing from a puzzle you and your class are holding, you can't help but be interested. And you learn the value of communication.

So at the end of this, I'm a little smarter and hopefully will perform my job a little better. The next thing is to see if it will help with the next home improvement project. That will consist of replacing a chain link fence with a new wooden fence. I'll have pictures shortly.

Thanks for reading.