Learning to keep tourists happy

Working in the hospitality industry isn’t as laid-back as it seems, some Huntington Beach High School students learned recently.

An all-girl group from the school’s Entertainment and Tourism Academy spent the day touring and job-shadowing at the Hyatt Regency Huntington Beach Resort & Spa on Feb. 10.

“It is a great program, and the Hyatt has given them real-world experience,” academy teacher Pam Hostetler said.

“All of Hyatt does this with all of our hotels,” General Manager Cheryl Phelps said. “We hope it triggers a little bit of interest. This group had great questions. One of the young ladies was the daughter of one of our security officers, so she was assigned to her dad for the day.”

The job-shadowing program has been in existence since the hospitality program started at the high school.

“This is one of the highlights of the academy experience,” Hostetler said.

The academy offers both courses and hands-on experiences in everything from the culinary arts to the entertainment industry, and works with companies in a range of industries to prepare students for their futures. Students follow a rigorous schedule to gain an edge in business.

“I wanted to get a lot more experience, so I would be picked over the other guy for a job,” said junior Krista Flint, 16.

She worked at the resort’s spa for the day.

“It was so beautiful there that I wanted to stay when the day ended,” Krista said. “But they go through a lot to keep their customers happy.”

Krista learned about the software the spa employees used for scheduling, and said the experience taught her to be organized.

“The people there were great — very open,” she said.

Danielle Nash, an 18-year-old senior, said she was blown away by her tour of the resort’s engineering department, which included the maintenance and laundry areas.

“I didn’t really understand what the engineering department does,” she said.

She compared the resort’s operations to that of the neighboring Hilton, which she learned about in the past, and said that although each resort handles things very differently, both are extremely efficient.

“There are so many people who do so much without anybody even noticing,” she said.

Danielle hopes to become a sign language interpreter in the hospitality industry, which will afford her the chance to travel.

Senior Viviana Cerda, 17, had one of the hardest shadowing days, as she worked with the room service staff.

“That was a lot of work,” she said. “I thought it would be really easy, but you had to walk a lot.”

Viviana, who wants to be a photographer, said she developed her etiquette skills, learning how to work with the hotel guests’ needs and quirks.

“Everybody in room service was so respectful and upbeat. I just thought it was so interesting,” she said.

Junior Talitha De Le Torre, 16, who worked in guest services, ended up with a bird’s-eye view of the hotel’s operations as she was given a tour of the property.

“I learned that you have to be in tune with everybody who works here,” she said. Her employee consort, who was from New Jersey, showed Talitha that he had to know all about Huntington Beach to offer recommendations to guests for restaurants and activities.

Talitha hopes to become a pediatric nurse, so she said the traits she learned while shadowing — to be friendly, have a good attitude, show patience and be respectful — will be of use in her future career.

Lucia Romero, 16, plans to be a hotel general manager one day, so she took a lot out of her experience working in the banquet department.

The junior learned how to set a fancy table, but more importantly, she learned how to move up the employee ladder.

She observed just how hard every employee in the hotel has to work, she said, and that respect has to be earned.

“It teaches someone how to be in the business world,” said junior Cecilia Clara, 17, who worked in the culinary department and made desserts.

“I thought it would be easy,” Cecilia said, echoing many of her schoolmates. “It was a lot of work to do all that. But I’m a lot more interested in doing this now, after today.”

“You never know what’s going to spark somebody’s interest,” Phelps said.

REPORTER CANDICE BAKER may be reached at (714) 966-4631 or at [email protected].