Holiday luncheon

Associate of the Month for November

There are a lot of creative and talented associates in the kitchen, but we have a real winner with Rafael Sanchez! Rafael is the Associate of the Month for November. He helps a great deal when we have site visits come to our hotel and helps us all keep working when the groups book! Thank you so much for all your hard work, Rafael!!

Way to go team!!!! We nailed this wedding - awesome job everyone!

This is what John Kim (of THE Kim wedding) said about us! Thank you and congratulations on an amazing turn around!

"5.0 Star Rating
11/2/2011
Our wedding was held at the Manhattan Beach Marriott and it was a wonderful experience.

From the Event sales manager Kristy Smith, and her assistant Bonnie Han, they were able to give us a custom wedding package that can only be described as spectacular.

Our Event director Kristen Sato was able to fine tune all of our needs and concerns down to the little details. She personally made sure things went smoothly, and actually came the day of the wedding to personally make sure the service staff and food quality meet our high expectations; an task normally delegated to assistant at most events.
All calls and emails were promptly returned, and there was a sincere feeling that she cared about making sure we enjoyed our wedding.
She even left some small treats and a bottle of bubbly in our suite.

The Asst GM Chris Wilkinson also personally guaranteed absolute satisfaction and was there to ensure the staff gave nothing less than excellent service. He also surprised us with a special wine just for the sweethearts table that we really enjoyed. How he found out that we loved this wine is still a mystery, but just shows how this hotel operates to ensure you are happy.

The GM Sherie Guirgeis poked his head in to also make sure everything was running smoothly.

and Scott Ogorman an expert at wines made excellent choices
for our event. He knows his wines!!

OK you only get married once, so i cant really compare the service to anything from my past, But what i can say is that I would recommend this Marriott team. Everyone in this hotel, which includes the parking attendants, to the banquet staff, and management treated us very well.

Every person that went to the wedding said that the food quality was excellent and delicious. the taste, temperature, the plating. and i have to agree, since Kristin was nice enough to have all of the horderves , we choose and some extra meals not served delivered to us after the reception. Ha ha i don't even remember eating during the reception, and my wife would have bust out of her dress if she did, so this was a very nice touch. And yes the food was excellent.

With the recent renovations, and the beautifully kept grounds, our wedding photos came out amazing.

If you are looking for a wedding venue I would really like to suggest you check out the Manhattan Beach Marriott. We really enjoyed working with them, and cant say enough good things about how perfect they made that one day."

Have you met John yet?

This is John Collette and he is here on task force helping us in the front office! We thought we were going to have to say goodbye to him next week, but we get to keep him! Well, not permanently, but he is here until December! Yeah! Thank you John for all your passion for Marriott and your long hours! You are making a difference and we are thrilled that you get to stay longer! Yeah!

Some photos from today's luncheon - Happy Halloween everyone!

October's Associate of the Month - Luis Antonio Rodriquez

The nomation came from Maria Nieto for Luis Antonio -
"Luis Antonio is always anticipating our guest needs; he is proactive in every way possible. He is always working hard to get our GSS scores higher and is always the first one to sign on the WIG boards on a daily basis.

He takes pride in what he does, we always see him with a smile.
Luis Antonio is an innovative self-starter, who rarely needs supervision.
Luis Antonio is punctual and is always exceeding our expectations.
He handles pressure well, and will voluntarily work overtime or work during special occasions.
Luis Antonio Rodriguez is an invaluable asset to our F&B Team."

Well deserved! Well deserved! Congratulations!

Associate of the Month for September - Luis Martinez

Luis Martinez, housekeeping, is an amazing! Here is the nomination that was sent in for Luis from his bosses:
"We want to say a big THANK YOU to Luis from the Laundry Department; he does an amazing job in the Laundry. The laundry department no many people know about it that we have one in property, but so many people get touch by it. Specially at this time with the construction, he has been a key player to get ready to re-open all the floors, it is so much prep work before we open the floors and he has been getting all the linen, mattress covers, curtains and bed skirts clean and organize.
He comes to work everyday full of enthusiasm; he is an inspiration for all of us, that after so many years working in the Laundry he stills have the same passion for his job.
Thank you Luis we could not do it without you!"

Congratulations Luis!!

Our Magical Marisa -

Congratulations to Marisa Mejia! She is our Associate of the Month for August! Marisa recently received a great review from a guest who wrote it on Mr. Marriott's blog (see below.) Marisa does a great job here and has a super positive attitude! Thank you Marisa and congratulations again!

Leader of the 2nd Quarter - Yesenia Carrol

Yesenia came to us from the Torrance Marriott and hit the ground running! She has made huge strides in the housekeeping department and our hotel. She has a wonderful "can do" attitude! She can be seen everywhere in the hotel doing various jobs! She has taken on many new jobs with Kristina Brown leaving and we are so grateful to have her on our team - sorry Torrance, she is OURS! Congratulations Yesenia! Well deserved award!

Leader of the 3rd Quarter

Please congratulate Michelle Quintero, our very powerful event manager! She has been awarded the Leader of the Quarter for the 3rd quarter! Michelle is a dynamo when it comes to taking on huge groups, such as Skechers! She was terrified, but took the challenge and Skechers said they had one of the best events yet with Michelle! She rocked it! Way to go Michelle!

Way to go Marisa Mejia!!!!! This is a guest's comment on Mr. Marriott's blog!

Posted By: David Trusty (09/05/2011 at 05:38 PM)
Comment:
Bill;
I enjoyed your blog. More important however is I see this as an opportunity to highlight why I am so loyal to Marriott.
The customer service at Marriott is the industry benchmark. But I have been looking for a chance to talk to the top of your company about a specific example that reinforces my hardcore belief in the Marriott. Here it goes.
My team had secured a meeting room at the Manhattan Beach Marriott (Manhattan Beach, CA). Our plan had us there for Monday afternoon and all day Tuesday (8/22 & 8/23/2011).
That fantastic property is undergoing some renovation – which started to generate some extreme sound. On my side we were working on a very stressful project.
The sound started to overwhelm me and I picked up my phone to see what could be done. Just as I was about to dial my point of contact – in walked one of your greatest assets…Marisa Mejia.
She was like an angel manifesting at a most stressful moment in time. She said that she had heard that noise and thought of us immediately. Thus, she proactively came down stairs to see if we wanted to move our meeting to a more quiet location within the hotel.
Marisa made sure that all of our stuff was moved with the least amount of effort to us. She set us up in the new room and seamlessly handled everything. She did that though with such an incredible sense of duty, a tremendously warm smile and a generous sense of care and warmth.
I will never forget how Marisa took care of us that day. She went above and beyond the call of duty. But I must say that we decided to extend our meeting room through Thursday at that hotel. And we saw her help others in the exact same way. Thus, it who she is – a top employee in a company filled with great talent.
I took my time to write this letter, on Labor Day, because she is your team member that truly made a difference. I believe that this happens every day to some level at your great company. But Marisa is one of a kind. I would be grateful knowing that senior leadership takes a moment to recognize Marisa Mejia.
My best regards and loyal returns. Feel free to respond to me at my e-mail address – a prerequisite to reply to your blog.
Dave

July's Associate of the Month

Diana Eulloqui, associate extraordinaire, is our Associate of the Month for July! Diana can be found upstairs, downstairs and all over the hotel. She has a real "can do" attitude and does it all with a smile. Please congratulate and thank Diana when you see her

Associate of the Month for June - Robert Moreau

A well deserved award! Robert is an amazing young man and never ever does he say no to any request from a guest or his peers. Congratulations, Robert.

Here is the nomination from Kristina Brown: "I am really proud of all that Robert has done these past few months, but especially this one, in his absolute dedication to learning. Robert is completely committed to the ‘guest experience’ and this is paying off ten-fold! Robert continues to receive fantastic remarks on GSS verbatims for ‘Arrival Experience’ … he is a contender for this month’s ‘Top 10’ King/Queen as he continues weekly to receive the highest ranking from the guests he encounters. Robert has built numerous unbelievably cool programs for the Front Desk and AYS Teams … to help them shave off time and make their lives easier, allow us to execute SGI to its maximum potential, put together an amazing Directory to make it a one-stop-shop for information for his colleagues to use …. And that’s just the tip of the ice berg. On a recent shop that Robert and I performed at a couple of our sister properties in Los Angeles, it was fun to watch him have the ‘a-ha’ moments … seeing what matters (service, service, service!!) and what many organizations tend to solely rely on (the product). Then Robert brought his experience back to the team – on his own accord – and told his colleagues what he saw, what he learned and what we need to do to continue to beat our sister properties in Regional GSS Rankings. And Robert has made the ‘85/30 Rule’ all the craze at the Desk … forget 15/5 (and a year ago, we were more like 15”/5”). It is amazing how one person can make a difference … and Robert has motivated everyone to do this! And on a recent mystery shop a few months back, Robert knocked that one out of the park too … embracing his lead measure of his WIG (Spirit to Serve scripting) to provide a flawless arrival. Robert’s dedication to his team and his guests is outstanding … and his passion to learn from every opportunity is truly commendable. I’m very proud you, Robert!!"

Leader of the 1st Quarter - Scott O' Gorman

Scott O'Gorman is our Leader of the Quarter for the 1st Quarter. We are sincerely sorry Scott that this is so late. Well deserved.

May's Associate of the Month - Victoria Paitan

Congratulations to Victoria from At Your Service. Victoria is also known as our "yes, I can" gal! She has such a positive can do attitude. She has great passion for her job and takes on new challenges with amazing enthusiasm! Thank you for all you do Victoria! We are so happy you are part of the Manhattan Beach team!

Associate of the Month for April 2011

Congratulations to Grace Haynes, our outstanding Associate of the Month for April! We apologize to Grace for this late award as it was to be done in May, but the Associate Appreciation Week took over! Please know Grace that we think you are an amazing associate and we are thrilled to have you on our team! You are awesome! Congratulations!

2010 Leader of the 3rd Quarter

Maria Nieto came to us and hit the ground running! She has done an amazing job with all of our associates and our food and beverage outlets!! Everyone loves Maria and the word "no" is not in her vocabulary! She has such a "can do" attitude. We are thrilled to have Maria on OUR team!!! Congratulations Maria.

Congratulations to two awesome guys!

March Associate of the Month was a tie! So congratulations to Alfredo Dieguez in Engineering and Pablo Lopez from Banquets! Both of you do such an amazing job at our hotel and give 100% effort! Congratulations and thank you!

Quick Connect Celebration for February

Congratulations to Maria Elena - she is Ms. Quick Connect for February with 160 calls! The teams, both housekeeping and engineering are making incredible strides in improving our rooms and our scores! Thank you everyone for all the hard work. It was great today as we had several guests from corporate and our regional team. Thank you Doug Watson for your very encouraging words to our teams!

Associate of the Month for February - Feliciano Tobar

Feliciano has been a huge help to both Dennis and Floyd in helping them get established and up and running. Feliciano is a "can do" kind of guy! Congratulations Feliciano and thanks for all your hard work. We all appreciate you!

February's Associate Appreciation Luncheon

Fun Minute to Win It Challenge - The Nutstacker! We had several winners! Great job everyone!