By Stanley Turkel, CMHS, ISHC
1. What Is A Hotel Manager?
In 1963, the Loews Hotel Corporation published a small booklet with 18 black and white photographs from vintage movies. The booklet was named “What Is A Hotel Manager?” The captions under the photographs were funny then and, I believe, are still funny fifty years later.
The booklet’s dedication and introduction read:
Dedication:
It is with deep appreciation that we thank Tom Troy, Harry O’Brien, Pierre Bultinck, Frank Berkman, Arthur Levey, Henry Judermans, John Braun and Jerry Olin without whom this booklet would never have been possible.
Introduction:
A hotel manager is a man of many parts and responsibilities. In the following pages of this booklet we hope to acquaint you with his activities so that you will get to know and understand the many problems he faces and how he goes about solving them. A hotel manager is called upon to perform any number of things to assure the comfort of his guests and the reputation of the hotel. Here are but a few of the daily chores that call for his executive decision.
The hotelmen named in the Dedication were colleagues of mine at the Loews Hotel Corporation. I was the Resident Manager of the Americana of New York while the others were general managers of the following Loews Hotels:
- Tom Troy – Americana of New York
- Harry O’Brien – Summit Hotel of New York
- Pierre Bultinck – Regency Hotel
- Frank Berkman – City Squire Hotel of Manhattan
- Arthur Levey – Ramada Inn
- Henry Judermans – Howard Johnson
- John Braun – Americana of Bal Harbor
- Jerry Olin – Americana of San Juan
What Is A Hotel Manager?
2. Quote of the Month
“The test of a first rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposing ideas in the mind at the same time, and still retain the ability to function.”
F. Scott Fitzgerald
