by Max Marbut
Staff Writer
“You never know who’s going to walk through that door. One day I turned around and there was R2-D2 and Darth Vader.”
That’s how Francesca Romero, director of VIP Services at the Hyatt, describes what she does every day.
She hasn’t always been in the hospitality business. Born in Manhattan, Romero was educated and trained as a vocalist and spent time in Europe studying her craft. She debuted on stage at Lincoln Center at age 17 and also performed at Showman’s in Harlem next door to the Apollo Theater and the Blue Fox nightclub in Chelsea.
“That was a tough crowd,” said Romero.
Though she has never lost her love for performing, Romero eventually began a career that would lead her to the hospitality industry. She worked in the New York City Mayor’s Office of Protocol, where she learned the art of making VIPs feel welcome.
“If a prince arrived with his 26 wives and each one wanted her hair braided in a different salon, it meant 26 appointments and 26 limousines,” said Romero.
She decided to move to Jacksonville in August 2002 and soon went to work for a developer who had opened a new apartment community in Arlington. Romero was the assistant property manager and found her background to be a blessing and a curse.
“I figured if there were people involved, I could do it,” she said. After eight months, Romero said, “I had four leasing agents working for me, but I leased 62 percent of the units myself. We were fully occupied eight months ahead of schedule and I had worked myself out of a job.”
A friend helped her find a position at Downtown’s Adam’s Mark Hotel, later to fly the Hyatt flag. Romero said the timing couldn’t have been more exciting.
“I started as guest services manager and the first thing I had to do was train the concierge staff and bell staff to get ready for the Super Bowl,” said Romero.
When the Hyatt brand took over the hotel, she said, it ushered in a new level of customer service and Romero began specializing in making VIP travelers and groups feel welcome.
She takes as much pleasure in surprising a couple spending the night at the hotel for their anniversary with a bottle of champagne and chocolate-covered strawberries as she does in making a celebrity’s stay the most memorable.
“Some guests, due to their station in life or what they have done, are a little different,” said Romero.
One story she could share was the time Roberta Flack came to Jacksonville for the jazz festival.
“One of the things she wanted was a specific type of keyboard in her room and that it be warmed up and ready to play when she arrived,” said Romero.
“I accompanied her to her room when she checked in and noticed her feet were swollen. I just told her to put them in my lap and I massaged her feet. She found out I’m a singer and she went over to the keyboard and we sang ‘Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow?’ I ended up spending time with her the whole time she was here.”
Romero said perhaps her most memorable VIP to date would have to be Barack Obama, who stayed at the Hyatt the night before he was elected president. Romero admitted she made a “slight misstep” with the candidate.
“I was so excited that our Presidential Suite was really going to be the Presidential Suite. I shook his hand and said, ‘Good luck, Mr. President’. He looked at me and said, ‘Do you think I’ve got it?’,” said Romero.
In her office, Romero keeps scrapbooks of cards and letters from guests who have stayed at the hotel as well as a few plaques she looks at every day for inspiration. One is a quote from Marion Wright Edelman: “Service is the very rent we pay for being on this planet.”
Romero said the philosophy of service at the hotel makes her job easy and the philosophy is practiced “from the stewards who wash the dishes to Dan King, our general manager.
“We always say that the sales department brings people to the hotel, then I and the great people I work with do everything we can to make the guests happy while they’re here. We want them to remember the experience and want to come back. Hyatt empowers us to be able to make the guest’s experience unforgettable. Everyone is a VIP when they check in here.”
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