Welcome to the Statler Hotel

This morning followed my usual morning routine; I woke up at 7:10 AM, left for class at 7:25 AM, and arrived at 7:40 AM. Today's class, however, was far from the usual; Mark and Reneta had invited two guests to speak with the class. Our first speaker was Ilana Bobroff, the General Manager of a Country Inns and Suites and our second was Greg Mezey, the Food and Beverage Manager of The Statler Hotel. They described to us their daily schedules, as well as their responsibilities. During their presentation, they stressed the importance of establishing bonds with not only your guests, but your employees as well. By doings employees with feel empowered enough to make rational decisions without consulting a manager, thus minimising the amount of issues that a manager has to mediate.

My personal favorite anecdote came from Mrs. Bobroff-she said that she never sees a problem as such, rather she sees them as opportunities to wow her guests, which was something I found both inspirational and highly accurate. Since being in the hotel industry requires that one must always make their guests' satisfaction a priority, it is pertinent for hoteliers to have the resourcefulness and optimism needed to properly solve an issue so that the guest is even more pleased than if the problem had never occurred at all. 

Later in the day, the three admissions officers of Cornell University School of Hotel Administration's admission officers Heather Fortenberry, Carla Cooker, and Erin Rodriguez spoke to the class about the hotel school's curriculum and admission criteria. Prerequisites for applying to the School of Hotel Administration include one year of introductory chemistry, the completion of pre-calculus or higher; and that one has taken any version of the SAT Subject Test for mathematics. They also told us that the academics of the School of Hotel Administration could be divided into four categories: core courses, which include culinary and finance; major electives, interdisciplinary distributive electives; and finally, free electives. Another interesting tidbit I learned was the Cornell University accepts external college credits, granted that they are not being used to fulfill for high school requirements. This means that I am eligible to transfer a portion of my credits from Contra Costa College to Cornell University, which makes the prospect of applying to Cornell all the more compelling and sensible.

Mark allowed the class to take tours of the Statler Hotel during Office Hours. I went with the 4:10 PM group, and spent the next hour exploring the hotel in all its splendor. Our tour guides led us through the entire hotel, sharing with us the Statler's corporate history operational procedures. We were even allowed access to some of the hotel's most secluded areas, such as the kitchen, their most expensive executive suite, and their exclusive meetings rooms. 

I spent Office Hours making the final revisions to my CHESS Report. I'm glad that were are at last officially done with this project-it was a dreadful experience and even Mark and Reneta commented on how we were far too rushed with everything. Hopefully our upcoming group CHESS Report will entail a much better experience.