I started off as a luggage attendant, and moved my way up to Bellman about a year later. I worked at a property that I found it a cool place to be, even though it was WAAAYYYYYY out of my price range!
Becoming a Bellman
If a property is large enough, there will be positions filled with just bellmen. Some smaller properties, it also could be valet or any number of service tasks. My property was large enough to have Luggage Attendants that support the Bellmen. That’s where I started.
As a Luggage Attendant, my main task was to store bags neatly and promptly. When I wasn’t doing that, I was supporting the Bell Desk in every way I could. This included taking anything to rooms when the Bellmen were swamped, cleaning up the storage area and stairwell, making sure carts were in good supply and their tires full of air, making sure the water coolers were full, checking on bell tickets and resupplying when necessary.
As a Bellman, 95% of my work was greeting guests and assisting them with luggage. It was so easy. This included writing tickets, storing luggage, and delivering their luggage. It was so easy. I also delivered various items to rooms for guests from the Bell Desk or anywhere else in the hotel. It was so easy. I did all of the Luggage Attendant duties a good portion of the time (they didn’t work evenings/nights, when I worked most). It was so easy.
Job Highlights
- I got to open a cab door for Cody Rhodes, one of my favorite professional wrestlers, and his wife.
- One time, I went up to one of the penthouses and when the butler opened the door. I saw a woman in lingerie inside a birdcage fall on to a guy who was trying to take a picture of her.
Positive Takeaways
- Perhaps the easiest job I’ve ever had, and the pay was very decent for the amount of work I did.
- Paid hour lunch break.
- Lunch was free – I got an $8 lunch allowance a day. The food was better than most casinos. Most Casinos you get a buffet style Employee Dining Room.
- I learned how Capitalism can motivate someone to actually work.
- Marriott is partnered (not owned) with The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas. This meant I could get up to 80% off hotel rooms in the Marriott family. One of the best benefits I’ve used from any company.
Negative Takeaways
- I will never work another tip job again if I can help it. It might be bad to make this decision based off of one experience, but a lot of people I know with other tip jobs (especially ones where you pool tips) reinforce this decision. If I do, I definitely will make sure I’m not pooling.
- The overnight shift I did for 10 months took its toll on me, and there was no foreseeable chance of me getting off of graveyard.
- I’ve never felt as low as I did when I told management that either they fire another employee or I will quit. Coworkers, guests, and management all complained about this person. The coworker was known to be a liar and extremely lazy and rude. Since they didn’t fire him, I followed through and quit. I can only believe that I wasn’t as valuable as this person, and my view on this person was extremely negative.
- It was a union job. Some of us do not have positive views of unions.
The Final Bell
I had a lot of fun, but it came down to not wanting to work with certain people. It’s amazing that in this world, someone can be terrible at his/her job, and still be able to keep it. I know this goes on everywhere. I was reminded numerous times that no matter where I go, there are going to be lazy, selfish people around – like I already didn’t know that.
I had dozens of my coworkers put it as politely as possible that I was stupid for quitting without actually calling me stupid. That was nice.
Back to Life of Loaf
Back to Hospitality
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Fun Fact: This spot use to have a link to a YouTube video of a “Day in the Life” of a bellman. At the time, I just started my own videography business. I emailed the hotel to ask if I could use the video to critique it (it was very, very poorly done). They put the video on private shortly after.