Career and Leadership Development Academy Cohort One, Hospitality Day

Throughout the Wilmington Chamber of Commerce’s Career and Leadership Development Academy ten month program, each of the eight middle schools are assigned a day to write about their experiences. 49 students from across all eight New Hanover County middle schools participated in the third industry exploration day in Cohort One, Hospitality, on November 1 at Blockade Runner in Wrightsville Beach. In addition to learning about the careers at the resort, they had the opportunity to hear from other entrepreneurs in the hospitality space. Below is the third blog write up from Cohort One of the Wilmington Chamber of Commerce’s Career and Leadership Academy experience.

Today’s field trip was to the Blockade Runner Hotel in Wrightsville Beach, NC.  Although most of us had been to Wrightsville Beach to go swimming and play in the sand, most of us had not been to a hotel there.  The Blockade Runner was owned by a family up to a few months ago and now it is owned by the Trailborn hotel company.  This company focuses on hotels and traveling for active living and active travelers who want adventures and outdoor activities.  The Blockade Runner is 60 years old and named after Civil War era boats called blockade runners which were English steamers painted gray to prevent them from being discovered at night when running close in along the land.  We learned many things today that we’ll talk about in this blog post including:

• What is hospitality?
  We learned that hospitality is when you welcome guests into your home, business, or school, and make them feel really special.  You make them feel like they really matter to you and you give them things they might need like room service, a pool pass, beach access with towels, food, a restaurant, a lounge and bar, extra toiletries, cleaning, and laundry.  Hospitality can also be fun stuff like going on a boat or paddle board.  At school they are hospitable by giving us a microwave in the cafeteria, personal supplies in the bathrooms, extra clothes from the social worker and counselor, snacks if the counselors have extra, and school supplies and prizes.

• What’s involved in the hotel industry?
  The hotel industry is a hospitality business.  There’s a lot involved!

Skills/skill sets
    The most important skills for anyone who works in a hotel and all hospitality businesses are positive communication, patience, adaptability, and being a good writer and advertiser.

General Manager position

    The General Manager at the Blockade Runner is Mr. Nicolas Montoya.  He’s been in the business for 31 years and lived in different cities.  In Miami he worked at a 60 room hotel and went to NYC to a 1,400 room hotel!  He said this was a big change for him.  His wife likes NC and is from here, so when she wanted to move he took the position at the Blockade Runner.  He said he moved up in the business.  He started as a bellman who carries bags and packages for guests and moved up to general manager over time.  He said he was able to do this by being flexible and getting used to having team members change.  Even though he had to work with many different people, he said the most important thing is human interaction and his journey is a ‘human journey.’  It’s all about relationships, problem solving, studying positions, learning about others, and himself.  He said positive communication is at the top of the skills to have.  If we want to work in a hotel, we can use jobs as a stepping stone to another job within the hotel to move up like he did or to go into another career.  He is the boss of the whole hotel.  

Housekeeping, Bellman, Concierge, Night Auditors

    The manager of the housekeepers gave us a tour of the Blockade Runner’s most expensive and biggest guest room.  It has a balcony, small living room, a separate tub in a room all by itself, a shower, and a big bed.  She explained that the housekeepers are cleaners and fixer-uppers who are responsible for keeping things clean including the rooms, hallways, bathrooms, linens, and lounges downstairs.  She said they are the backbone of the hotel, cleaning every room every day.  They have an inspection team & supervisors who clean and also inspect other cleaners’ work to make sure it’s up to their standards.  Under them are the housekeepers and housemen who might bring guests things to their room and give anything the guest asks for.  The room we saw costs a lot!  It is $700 in peak (summer) season and $300 off-season.  One of the surprising things we learned is that the hotel counts every single linen (sheets, pillows, pillow cases, towels) every week to see where their expenses are going.  Like if someone takes a towel and doesn’t return it, it affects the budget for linens and housekeeping.  She said that the work is there every day because hotels are open 365 days a year, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.  Housekeeping is the closest job at the hotel that is 9-5.  All other jobs have irregular hours.  THe manager had majored in education in college and then shanged her mind 2 times to a psychology major, then a major in tourism management and recreation.

Kitchen - chef, pastries & dessert, servers, runners, catering, holidays, other dining room staff

    The kitchen seems like the busiest place in the hotel.  The kitchen supervisor who spoke to us is Heather.  She said she started in a Dominos kitchen making pizza and decided to go to culinary school and got a certificate in pastries and enjoys making desserts.  She said the Blockade Runner head chef gets to decide everything on the menu and will soon be changing the menu with new recipes and foods.  They have a lot of people working in the kitchen and dining room. They can bring food to people’s rooms called room service, they host a lot of catering events like weddings and big parties and holiday dinners.  They have a big dining room and big and small tables you can eat at.  They have servers and runners who bring things in and out of the kitchen/dining room. There are prep cooks who assist the main chefs who prepare food from the head chef’s recipes.  They have a rule and told us to expect our food at the Blockade Runner and at any restaurant in 20 to 25 minutes, no longer.  We met the event manager who helps guests set up showcases, shows, and presentations.  He went to the University of Virginia and played football for them.  He majored in psychology and sociology and said the most important skills are customer service skills like being happy and positive.    

People & Culture

           The director of people and culture said her job in other businesses might be called human services.  She went to UNC Chapel Hill, but left.  She moved up in the hotel industry from cook to server, restaurant manager, then human resources after she went back to college and majored in human resources.  She helps interview team members, hires and recruits staff and works with accounting and maintenance.  She explained that the Blockade Runner has seasons and there is a high hiring time from June to October when guests come to be at the beach.  

Accounting, Reservations, Sales, Marketing

The person who spoke to us about accounting said they keep the finances in order for all the expenses they pay out and money they take in from room rentals.  The accountant works with staff who take reservations for rooms and services they sell like renting the open spaces for business events, weddings, and reunions.  The hotel was owned by a family, but is now owned by a company who has other hotels around the world.  If you work for Trailborn you can transfer to other places like Colorado, California, and the mountains of NC.  The travel benefit no matter which location you work at is a discount on hotel rooms if you’re traveling for vacation.

Guest Services

Ms. Alex Jones is the Guest Services Supervisor.  She said the runs the front desk and works with the bell staff who takes the guests luggage and packages.  She said she gets the guests anything they want or need and this is the hub of the hotel.  She said her main goal is to ensure the best guest experience.  She works with bellmen, concierge, and the night auditor who works 11pm to 7am to get guests anything they need.  She hires seasonal staff from June to October like the other departments in the hotel.  She said good classes to take in high school and college for her job would be business, hospitality, computers, budgeting, and finance.  

Facilities, Repairs, and Grounds (landscaping)

Mr. Doug gave us a tour of things he maintains with his team of maintenance staff.  They maintain the floors, doors, walls, ceilings, kitchen, pool, and the HVAC unit which gives heat and air conditioning.  He said the Blockade Runner has compressors and a chilled water loop.  The chiller takes heat out and puts it into a refrigerant to make AC.  He gave us a tour of the roof to see the HVAC units and the cell tower units that are on the roof.  The cell towers are leased out to the hotel and they make money from the rent of the space..  We loved the view from up there!  We could see a lot of Wrightsville Beach from the Sound to the Ocean!  If you like tools and fixing things, this would be a good job for you.

Recreation Coordinator

The Recreation Coordinator said her job slows down from October to June and is very busy from June to October.  She oversees the paddle boats and charter boats the hotel offers guests for additional costs.  She also keeps up with the lawn games on the hotel’s lawn that overlooks the ocean.  She said you can major in recreation in college and have a good job where you get to be outdoors and help people have fun where they are, like she does at Wrightsville Beach.

• What is empathy and how does it relate to the hospitality industry?

  • Executive Coaching, Jody Fletcher

Mr. Fletcher has 30 years of experience in the military, 20 as a medic and 10 in leadership.  He seems so calm and not militant, so this surprised us.  Maybe that he’s calm and thoughtful allowed him to go into leadership in the military and now have his business as a Professional Coaching Consultant.  He said leadership and teamwork are one-in-the same.  One of the most important skills to have in any hospitality business is Empathy which is all about self-awareness.  He asked us a lot of questions and we discussed being friendly, caring, having positive communication, providing food and comfort, having good social skills to talk to people, being responsible, patient, and flexible,  He said the golden rules of empathy are:

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  Extend a welcome

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  Make eye contact

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  Smile

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  Say hello

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  Introduce yourself 

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  Call people by name and 

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  Extend words of concern

At school and on our Chamber of Commerce Leadership field trips we talk about the state’s Portrait of a Graduate.  It’s about skills we need to be successful in high school and afterwards.  Here’s a link on our counselor’s Trask site if you want to know more about it.  We learn about self awareness which Mr. Fletcher says is the first step to having and showing empathy.  You have to know how you're feeling and say it deliberately.  In the hospitality industry you have to make everyone feel safe and welcome and learn what people like and don’t like.  If you’re self-aware, you can make it all about the guest.  Empathy is the recognition and respect of someone else’s feelings and you need to follow the Golden Rules of Listening with Intention which are:

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  Ask someone how they’re feeling or identify their feelings based on what they’re saying and showing

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  See the person’s perspective

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  Pause

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  Be aware of body language

• Other businesses in the hospitality industry:

  • Maritime Maids, Ms. Krystina Fuge

Ms. Fuge saw a need for house cleaners for boats and started her business with just herself.  She now employees 32 people in her own business, Maritime Maids.  They clean private and commercial boats that are 125 feet or smaller.  She and her staff have to pay very close attention to every detail when they clean and make everything shiny and spotless.  She used to clean houses part time after working her full time job in pharmaceuticals and had this idea in 2020 and took a chance leaving her main job.  She now has cleaning crews in 5 locations.  They all wear a uniform which is a cute red dress and white sneakers.  She said clients and people who might become clients know the uniform and make the connection with Maritime Maids since they all wear the outfit or uniform.  She sill cleans boats herself and shows her staff how to do a great job.  They use all organic products and know which cleaning products to use on which surfaces.  Boats have different types of wood, plastics, and fabrics that have to be cleaned with certain chemicals so they don’t get damaged.  She said they clean, set up kitchens, do boat owners laundry, and do bar and dinner services.  She has to let go of some control and trust managers she’s hired in her other business cities.  She set up standards for them to stick to and they then train cleaners to do the same job every time.  She said her degree is in biology and chemical engineering and she was in the pharmaceutical business before she left to start Maritime Cleaners.  She and her staff have to sign Non-disclosure agreements with clients who are rich and/or famous.  The clients don’t want her crew telling the public or media when they are in town, what they eat and drink, and things they notice on the boat that are private like laundry, clothes, hygiene products they use, etc.   Her business expanded from Wilmington to Morehead City and the Outer Banks, NC.  She also works on Charleston, SC and Virginia Beach, VA.  She mostly gets clients by word of mouth when one boat owner recommends her to another.  She has storage sheds for products and her managers do marketing and inspections.  She said the most important skills for her and her employees are to have good conversational skills (making small talk with clients and potential clients), being friendly, and courteous and being trustworthy like when signing and sticking to the non-disclosure agreements.

• Perfect Touch Rentals, Chris Montero

           Mr. Montero has a lot of energy and really likes his business.  He moved to the US at age 15 from Caracas, Venezuela.  He is bilingual speaking Spanish and English which he can switch between very quickly.  This helps him in his business working with clients from all over.  He went to UNCW on scholarship playing soccer.  He worked in a lot of jobs such as being an on-air radio DJ speaking in English and Spanish.  He also worked in student affairs and alumni relations at UNCW.  He has an associates degree (AA) in communications and a bachelor’s degree (BA) in communications.  He went on for a master’s degree (MA) in Spanish and High Education.  He said code switching is a very important skill he and his employees use every day.  This is where they are able to walk into places of celebration and places of mourning (depending on who hired them for which occasion) and switch the empathy skills to match the family’s needs and moods.  His energy is very high, but he said he has to code switch which is adjusting his style of speech, appearance, behavior, and expression to make other people comfortable.  This gives his clients fair treatment, good service.  His business, Perfect Touch Rentals,  is to rent and set up for celebrations.  He rents them portable floors, some of which light up, tents with regular tops and some with clear tops so you can see the sun and stars.  They also rent tables, chairs, and linens for the tables.  He said he promotes employees very quickly if they work hard and are able to solve problems and see needs quickly.  The youngest age he hires is 16 years old and they start at $16/hour wage.  You can move up in his business to make between 40 and 50 thousand dollars a year.  His business is only 2.5 years old and is almost at the one-million dollar mark!  He does not have regular hours and sets up for a lot of weddings which are on weekends.  Wilmington is the #1 wedding event location in NC.  He purchases his tents and flooring in other countries like China and offers unique set-ups that people like because they are different from standard tent set-ups.  

• Creators Print House, Bobby Flood    

Mr. Flood is the founder and owner of Creators Print House right here in Wilmington, NC.  Mt. Flood was born and raised here having gone to Sunset Park Elementary, Myrtle Grove Middle, and Hoggard High School.  He then went to Cafe Fear COmmunity College (CFCC) and got an Associates degree (AA).  He graduated from NC A & T University with a degree in business management.  He lived in Raleigh and had a coding brand business there  He moved into the print business in 2016.  His costs to run the business are having a building, purchasing a print machine, and having a customer service program.  His first priority is in customer service, providing good quality products, printed to perfection and on time.  At first his business went by word of mouth recommendations, then he started to advertise on social media, radio, and connections with the Wilmington Chamber of Commerce.  He helps create brands for other people’s businesses, embroidery, screen printing, and a special printing process called sublimation which he was one of the first in the business to make.  He has 7 employees and a business partner.  He said the best thing to do in school is get a degree.  You can change the type of business you’re in later, but having a degree shows you can think, solve problems, and work with others.  He agreed that having empathy skills helps with customer service so you can hear what your clients truly want and need in their products.