Can Ballet Make Your Hotel Stay More Enjoyable?

June 19, 2006 - 1:10pm

Doormen at the Palomar Hotel learn ballet techniques as part of a clinic a clinic on graceful movement. (WTOP Photo/Neal Augenstein)

Neal Augenstein, WTOP Radio

WASHINGTON -- Opening a door is a fairly simple action -- but at a local hotel, it's considered a work of art.

Why are doormen of the new Palomar Hotel getting a ballet lesson from Septime Webre, the Artistic Director of the Washington Ballet?

Hotel general manager Brett Orlando says a doorman is the first person a visitor sees, so the doorman should have a certain savoir fair.

So, the hotel asked the Washington Ballet to hold a clinic on graceful movement for hotel employees.

Being able to open a door with panache, or carrying a bag with flair is just another way to improve a customer's experience, Orlando says.

"[We aim to] make the flow as seamless as possible from when you are greeted by your doorman by your car to how you flow into the lobby and down the stairs into the reception area," Orlando says.

Neal Augenstein, WTOP Radio

WASHINGTON -- Opening a door is a fairly simple action -- but at a local hotel, it's considered a work of art.

Why are doormen of the new Palomar Hotel getting a ballet lesson from Septime Webre, the Artistic Director of the Washington Ballet?

Hotel general manager Brett Orlando says a doorman is the first person a visitor sees, so the doorman should have a certain savoir fair.

So, the hotel asked the Washington Ballet to hold a clinic on graceful movement for hotel employees.

Being able to open a door with panache, or carrying a bag with flair is just another way to improve a customer's experience, Orlando says.

"[We aim to] make the flow as seamless as possible from when you are greeted by your doorman by your car to how you flow into the lobby and down the stairs into the reception area," Orlando says.

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