by Max Marbut
Staff Writer
Do you remember exactly what you were doing the morning of Sept. 22, 1987?
Eric Brown does. He’s the guest services captain at the Omni Hotel and that’s the day Downtown’s only four-diamond hotel held its grand opening. Since then Brown has greeted countless thousands of guests at the front door and helped make sure their stay was memorable in terms of personal service and attention to detail.
“We’re like ambassadors,” Brown said of himself and the rest of the staff at the Omni. “We can answer guests’ questions about where to find a restaurant, arrange transportation and even get our guests tickets to Jaguars games or the symphony or the Florida Theatre.”
The best part of the job is getting to meet people, Brown said. In addition to the hotel’s business and leisure travel guests, he has also met many celebrities. The list includes Burt Reynolds, Diana Ross and Mary J. Blige on the entertainment side. Brown has also met three U.S. presidents (both Bushes and Bill Clinton) and presidential candidates John Kerry and John McCain. Florida’s chief executives have been greeted at the front door including former Gov. Jeb Bush and Gov. Charlie Crist, who had an unusual request the hotel staff was happy to fulfill.
“He left his reading glasses in Tallahassee so we found him a pair,” Brown recalled.
No request from a guest goes unmet, he added, “As long as it’s legal and moral.”
The philosophy that guides the work of the first people guests meet when they arrive at the hotel is to always be ready to meet every expectation. Brown said each guest is different and arrives with different needs and wishes.
“We are ready to provide the highest level of service for everyone who walks through our door,” said Brown.
It’s the people that make his job so enjoyable and that’s what has kept Brown at the Omni for more than two decades.
“In my job I get to meet people from all over the world. We always make sure they enjoy staying with us so they’ll come back,” he said.
It’s not very common for someone to work at the same hotel property for more than 20 years, but Brown said that’s what works for him. When asked what it would take to make him even consider working at another hotel Brown quickly replied, “Only if they build another Omni in Jacksonville.”
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