Coming "home" to a high-end hotel is a nice touch at the end of a busy day but behind the scenes, a lot of work goes into making your stay a success.
Richardson High School students are learning it all as they operate a simulated Omni hotel right in their school building.
"You're trying to check in a guest within two minutes," one of their mentors shared with them in an exercise.
Omni and Richardson ISD partnered up to build a mock hotel experience on the second floor of Richardson High.
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"I like, really like, the experience and going to the hotel and I'm in banquet (department), so seeing how banquets are getting set up and taken down," said Addison Clawson, a student in the program.
From event planning to high-dollar sales contracts, and waiting tables to working the front desk, they learn it all here in the middle of the school day.
"We want to look nice and crisp," Addison shared.
Carter In The Classroom
Focusing on unique things school districts are doing to help children succeed.
They're even emergency alterations for themselves or their guests.
"I mean, it's been fun learning all this new stuff. It's just sometimes it can be a little confusing, especially with everything going on around you. You have to really focus in on your work," said student John Dubrio.
Just one year in, and student Evi Morris said the hotel industry's high standards have helped her fellow high schoolers' communication skills.
"They know what they need to do but it's hard to act on it and it's helped people come out of their shell," said Morris.
"I even had a parent this morning said, 'My son got up early this morning, and he was so responsible, he put on his uniform and he got up early,' so just to have those basic job skills, right?" shared Bobbie Weir, who teaches the classes for Richardson ISD.
Carolyn Dent runs the Omni Hotel in Downtown Dallas, and has sent her staff to Richardson High to help mentor, and brought the students downtown to the hotel to watch how it all happens in real life.
"We are a smaller company than some of the bigger brands, and it affords us the opportunity to have that one-on-one customized experience where we can really get the students entrenched in what we do every day," said Dent who also shared how much they love watching the students grow.
Some of these students want to be doctors and lawyers, but see working in hotels as a great part-time job while they're in college.
Those who don't plan on higher ed see high starting salaries working here and then others like the travel perks and various paths to senior management which can pay upwards of $350,000.
It's a story this reporter knows well, my late father, got a part-time job at the Omni in New Orleans when he was high school. He worked at the Omni all through college and despite finishing his degree, he chose to stay. He rose to management positions and retired with nearly 50 years of service to the Dallas-based hotel chain. My father's story is one Omni wants to keep telling with this next generation, and I like to think he would be pretty proud to see the work they're pulling off in this classroom.
