Rochester, NY - May 3, 2021
T and I worked together at the old Hampton Inn here in town back in 2008. I remember her coming in to our Hampton Inn in for an interview in 2014 and after realizing who it was, I didn’t even hesitate or continue the interview, as I remembered what an awesome team member she was. She was hired on the spot.
Since then, in these 6 ½ years, she has given her all to our hotel.
Her work ethic is incredible. She’s never missed any more than a few days of work and even then, those were extreme circumstances. If anything, we have had to tell her that she needs to take a vacation and use up some of her PTO.
When the pandemic hit, T stayed on board and cleaned all rooms, did her own laundry for those rooms and implemented our entire “CleanStay” program. Now, she is the first one in for the housekeeping department each day, ensuring that her team has enough linen to get started on their rooms, and the last to leave as she inspects everyone’s rooms and closes out housekeeping for the day. You’d also think it’d be easy for her to come in and head home each day, but no- she takes the bus in in the morning and home each night which nearly triples her commute time.
T is also responsible for a lot of our laughter throughout the day. We can always count on her quick wit and sarcasm in any situation. Most recently, she enlisted the help of Jessica, our Director of Sales to doctor up a fake ‘out of work for the next six months effective immediately’ note to give to myself and Eddie, our AGM. After ten minutes of sheer panic, we quickly remembered it was April Fool’s Day, but the note looked very real! Being in a supervisory role, I am also very proud of T’s growth. She has developed an excellent set of leadership skills and has learned how to effectively manage her housekeeping team & department. We often refer to the housekeeping department as the “heart of the house” because they keep everything running from behind the scenes very carefully to ensure our guests’ experiences are positive. T is the heart of our house, and we’re so lucky to have her on our team.
It would come to no surprise that when we learned of T’s Cancer this past fall, we were all devastated. We put together a self-care basket for her before she went out for surgery and upon her return, it was as though she didn’t even miss a beat. Most recently, she began chemotherapy treatments and has insisted on continuing to work throughout it, doing her treatment each week on her day off. As a team, we felt that we needed to do something to help her even though it would be immeasurable to the help she’s given us the past several years.
We thought it would be fitting to host a “Pie in the Eye” fundraiser for her where team members, guests and friends and family of team members could throw pies in the faces of our management team. The event was a HUGE success as we raised a total of $1,663 for T which will help with her ongoing medical costs. The most amazing piece of the event was a surprise visit from a long term guest of ours, Josh Hall, that lived in our hotel for 2 years in 2015 & 2016. He’s been working for the same company (Freight Handlers Inc.) down in Allentown, PA for the past several months and found out about the event via the posts we’ve put on our Facebook pages. On Friday, he texted our AGM saying he was going to drive up to put pies in our faces and support T, who he remembers very well from his time with us. We nearly didn’t believe him until we saw his reservation come through. He drove 4.5 hours each way, paid enough for 50 pies in our faces and spent the evening catching up with all of us. What a powerful testament to our hospitality that a guest that we took care of with T five years ago came to show his support.
We’ll continue to be there for T in any way that we can while she continues her fight & a huge ‘Thank You’ to all that made a donation!
Kimberlie Miller
General Manager
Hampton Inn & Suites Rochester/Henrietta