The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1920-03-01
TOPEKA STATE JOURNAL
Information Bureau
FREDERIC y. HAsKIN. Director.
Washington, ID. c.
TRAINING HOTEL IIELP.


Washington's collection of colleges,
young ladies' seminaries, and business
schools has just been added a unique
institution-the only hotel training
school in the United States.
The hotel training school does not,
| as might carelessly be inferred teach
people who expect to live in hotels
how to order a balanced lunch, or
when to joke With the waiter. When
| we heard of the school, we rather ex-
pected to find would-be bell hops
cording to the latest scientific meth
DDS. But the school turned out TO be
something quite different. 1t trains
its students for executive positions
mana gers. assistants, hostesses, house
keepers, and head accountants.
At least 80 per cent of the indus
I trial work of the world (not the L.
/ W. W.. the business manager of the
school tells you, is done by unframed,
unskilled workmen, who belong to the
/ hire and fire class. OF the remaining
no per cent. five are in what used to
be called the apprentice class. Phey
have some technical knowleged of one
! particular job 1t is the other per
cent, which is highly trained, that the
school is interested in increasing.
For fifty years." the manager ex-
planned. the hotel fraternity has
been talking about the need for a
school to train executives. Some
mathematical shark has figured out
that every employe taken into hotel
! costs the management $50 That Is
the loss to the organization before the
recruit gets to be worth anything.
Then usually the ambitious employe
/ has to work about fifteen years be-
| fore he reaches a position of author
! ity. To offset the loss and to prepare
their employees for advancement some
! of the large hotels maintain their own
systems of coaching! such as the we'll
known classes at the Waldorf-Astorla
under the leadership of the famous
| Oscar. But the school, just opened
| at Washington, is the first to be estab-
ushed as an independent institution
covering the entire hotel business"
! The only other school of the kind,
/ so far as the manager knows. is i'll
Switzerland. and Is under state con-
troll, as i'll that country prospective
hotel manager must pass an eXamina-
ton before he is granted license.
| The Swiss institution. however. Is
| quite different from the Washington
| training school.
The school itself is a series of lee
ture rooms with blackboard and long
| rows of chairs. rest rooms, and bua-
ness offices-rather like any business
| school.
I'VE teach our pupils" the princi-
pal explained. "a1l about the 81 posi-
lions in d modern hotel, starting with
the bellboy and going on up to the
manager. Then. when they enter
hotel service, they are not merely
familiar with one branch, but they
understand the whole system.
"All the detail Ola big establish
ment has to be considered. For ex-
ample: How is the life of linen pro
longed, and what is the acid test?
How does a night clerk assist guests
he cannot care for? What is a by
product of grapefruit or fish, and
how may it be used to save money
for the hotel?
These are random questions, but
they serve to show the territory that
has to be covered in training hotel
executive. Then there is the psyche
logical side.
lone of the most important things
We teach the pupil is how to smile.
1t mustn't be Il sarcastic or an lndlf-
ferent smile, or the smile of the man
ager who coull beam at a guest with
one side of his face and scoVl at
clerk with the other, We try to I'M
press the idea that the guest must be
greeted with genial smile that comes
from within. And We don't like the
vampish, coy smile. 1t must be guile
less"
The principal paused for breath,
and unconsciously gave US sample
of the successful, guileless smile that
would be guaranteed to make any
hotel guest feel cheerful, and vel
| come, and glad to part with five dol
lars a day.
out of difficulties" he went on, I'VE
don't dwell on that tho. because it
is better for them to be able to avoid
unpleasant situations by perfect serv-
ice Still, if a guest is irritable or
wantes a check honored or some other
situation arises which a subordinate
I % 69 nd1
know how to refer the matter without
unpleasantness TO an executive, and
the executive must be resourceful
enough to satisfy the demand or, oc-
casionally to refuse it in such way
that the guest will not be offended
las a rule. the request of a hotel
patron is law. The biggest men in
the business have set down the motto.
The guest is always right and hotel
employees soon learn not TO argue, and
not to refuse any demand, however IN
reasonable, unless it is physically i'm
possible 90 comply"
Better service is the goal ahead of
constantly to study the guests and note
signs of satisfaction and annoyance.
One diner may squirm about in his
chair because he is nervous over the
stock market or. his best girl. But If
half a dozen people in the dining room
look as if they feel uncomfortable,
then 1t is time to have the chairs test
ed. They may be beautiful examples
of some historic period. just bought
and very expensive, but if they are too
high, too straight, or too hard, they
must be fixed, or discarded.
This policy follows the guest into
! every phase of hotel life. If the
patrons of a hotel dining room are
mainly of a gay type and seem to pre-
fer jazz, the orchestra leader grinds
out jazz. tho personally he may prefer
Debussy or Rubenstein.
This ardent desire of the hotel to
make its guests happy at any cost
occasionally adds new positions to the
already long list of hotel serviteurs.
| Hostess. hostess housekeeper. and as
sistant to the manager are the latest
things in the way of assistance at
hotels.
| Hostesses have become quite famiI-
lar to US as adjuncts of our canton
ments. The camp hostess, who usual