Boston Hotels Put Out the Welcome Mat
Through Its Hiring Practices, The Hospitality Industry
Growing up on the unadorned backstreets of downtown Cancún, Ruben Estrada was about as distant from the Oak Room at the Fairmont Copley Hotel as a burrito is from bouillabaisse. But thanks to consistent opportunities in the hospitality industry, Estrada, 41, now finds himself managing the hotel’s Oak Room and Oak Bar, a position he’s held for the last five years.
“The hospitality industry is built upon all the ethnicities in the U.S.,” says Estrada, who started as the Fairmont Copley’s Room Service Manager after 10 years with the Beverly Hills Four Seasons Hotel. “I employ staffers representing at least a half-dozen nationalities here at the Oak Room. This business has always been a good stepping stone for people like myself, who want to work hard and educate themselves to better serve the public.”
Multiculturalism and diversity are powerful buzzwords in Estrada’s industry. Two national organizations are particularly devoted to furthering this business commitment to diversity: the Multicultural Food Service & Hospitality Alliance (MFSHA) and the National Society for Minorities in Hospitality (NSMH). Both promote programs and services aimed at ensuring that minority groups and women can succeed in the hotel and food service business.
“This is already a highly diverse industry and being able to recruit from diverse backgrounds allows it to better reflect the diversity of the public being served,” says Jennifer Charles, 21, a 2006 graduate of Rhode Island’s Johnson & Wales University, where she served as NSMH chapter president. “Speaking for myself, I’m always a little more comfortable staying at a hotel here the staff is diverse and reflective of the general public.”
Charles, whose ethnic background is African American, is currently completing a managementtrainee program with the Hilton Hotels Corporation, after which she hopes to be placed in the Boston area. Armed with a degree in food service management, including a concentration in hospitality, Charles hopes to become a leader in equalopportunity hiring practices to amplify the broadening opportunities that she herself has enjoyed.
In an industry so dependent on networking and referrals, proactive future managers like Charles are vital. This is especially true in Boston, where the hospitality industry employs more than 50,000 workers and generates more than $1.3 billion in total annual revenue.
For his part, Estrada is convinced that maximizing opportunities for minority employees and grooming those staffers for management positions is a win-win practice for both the industry and the public it serves.
“A big key to my success is that I can relate so well to the diverse staff that I manage,” says Estrada, a native of Mexico and a Newbury College graduate. “I worked my way up from the entry level. I can relate to the language and cultural barriers minority employees encounter and I can manage with a sense of humanity. Those staffers also relate better to me because, like them, I’m from a different country. I think when your staff relates well and reflects the public it serves in every possible way, the clientele gets a real sense of value from their experience as patrons.” 