This week we heard from two guest speakers: the general manager of the campus Hilton

Garden Inn and the manager of the local boutique hotel The 1842 Inn. Jonathan Andre, the

Hilton manager, did not seem to have much to offer future hoteliers in terms of advice,

especially as he reiterated that he did not actually work for any hotel, except to say, rather

confusingly, that the thing is to treat every hotel you manage as your own. Meanwhile, 1842

manager Charles Olson had an old-fashioned mindset of service that seemed to produce a

more profitable (or at least more satisfactory) result. I especially liked his saying that “the

answer is yes. Now, what was the question?” I was impressed by the scope of services offered,

often without charge, for a price not too different from the chain hotel. It seems to disprove my

general assumption that a franchise of a big business is more profitable than a small business,

although perhaps all I am noticing is the difference in acceptable profit. Still, while Andre spoke

against cutting costs by skimping on employees and tools, I got no impression that such an idea

had ever even crossed Olson’s mind.

Perhaps the one useful takeaway from Andre’s talk was the information he gave on the

partnership that the hotel has with Mercer. Mercer wanted a hotel, and so has given the

company a lease for effectively nothing, and provides a slew of customers, but, in return, the

hotel has to give Mercer a number of reduced-rate rooms, even (or especially) on the best days.

It seems like rather an informal arrangement, and while I am sure there is a contract that

specifies many of these policies, the basic acceptance of this quid pro quo is not something I

expected to find professionally — certainly not between two such behemoths of businesses.