29 Apr 1200 vehicles. Two remote areas 110 miles apart. Five days’ notice. No Problem!

Guest Post by Sam Islas, Southwest District Manager

We’ve all been in a hotel staff meeting where an Event Manager drops the ol’ “by the way…”  As in, “by the way… this group staying at the hotel has decided to host valet parking and are expecting 600 vehicles, all within five days’ notice.”  What follows is a mad scramble by the Account Manager to build a plan, coordinate overflow parking and send out an S.O.S. to the District asking for much needed help.

This situation played itself out earlier this month in Anaheim, CA.  One small (big) problem… We already had a request for a similar event at the exact time/date at one of our Palm Desert locations – 110 miles away!  In true Towne Park “make it happen” fashion, we were able to round up 30 Guest Service Associates to each location and both events were a huge success!

Anaheim Marriott Account Manager Edgar Islas with his Assistant Account Manager, Derek Brown

Fast forward to the end of the events, and our Account Manager at the Anaheim Marriott received a Gold Key award for the best department in the hotel.  In the words of the hotel’s General Manager, the way we handled the event was “flawless.”

Meanwhile, in Palm Desert, the hotel’s management team could not stop raving about our hospitality services.

But we were not done!  15 of our teammates jumped into several vans for the six hour drive to Phoenix, Arizona to help with a weekend-long taskforce assignment for our region.  This type of collaboration is invaluable and a critical component to our success and commitment of exceeding our partners’ expectations.

I couldn’t be more proud to be a part of a culture where our Account Managers pull together and show up along with their Guest Service Associates to lend a hand.  I could not be happier to be a part of this big family. Thank you to all that supported and especially to those that are always the first to raise the hand and personally attend these events.