Concierge and Hospitality

Ariel864

Disney Princess
Joined
Jul 26, 2009
Has anyone had any experiences with Concierge or Hospitality roles? Or know any additional information about these roles other than what the main program website tells you?

Do they mainly look for someone with a major or experience in these areas?

I'm trying to figure out what roles I want to put into my top three when I apply for Fall! Thanks! :)
 
Has anyone had any experiences with Concierge or Hospitality roles? Or know any additional information about these roles other than what the main program website tells you?

Do they mainly look for someone with a major or experience in these areas?

I'm trying to figure out what roles I want to put into my top three when I apply for Fall! Thanks! :)

I worked hospitality Spring Advantage 09 and generally speaking, they do only give it to hospitality majors. That being said, a couple CPs I worked with were not hospitality majors and got it anyway, so take that for what it's worth :rotfl:

I have a blog i created that goes into the hospitality role with pretty good detail... you'll have to go to the first batch of posts though, but my blog generally talks about ALL aspects of the CP :)

http://crissadcp09.blogspot.com/

I never worked concierge, but if you get hospitality you were either trained in runner or concierge. It was mostly the ICPs that got concierge since they didn't have a license that would work here and the domestic CPs that got runner since they did have a license and that was one of the must have's since you drive the company cars in the runner position.

If you have any more questions about hospitality i'd be happy to answer them :)
 
I'd like to second that, especially in regards to concierge. I know it is a very new role, so there's not much information out there at the moment, but I'd love to hear even a little bit about it!
 
I have a blog i created that goes into the hospitality role with pretty good detail... you'll have to go to the first batch of posts though, but my blog generally talks about ALL aspects of the CP :)

http://crissadcp09.blogspot.com/

I never worked concierge, but if you get hospitality you were either trained in runner or concierge. It was mostly the ICPs that got concierge since they didn't have a license that would work here and the domestic CPs that got runner since they did have a license and that was one of the must have's since you drive the company cars in the runner position.

If you have any more questions about hospitality i'd be happy to answer them :)

Your blog is really helpful in answering a ton of things! That really sounds like it would be a lot of fun... I'm so torn over what roles I want now lol. Okay so I was reading a bit about the runner in your blog, how did you know where you were going? I think I would get lost maybe lol.
 



Your blog is really helpful in answering a ton of things! That really sounds like it would be a lot of fun... I'm so torn over what roles I want now lol. Okay so I was reading a bit about the runner in your blog, how did you know where you were going? I think I would get lost maybe lol.

haha i felt the same way the first few times out. It was quite nerve wracking.

Running in the resort, well... you get to know the resort layouts like the back of your hand. In came in quite handy when checking in guests or giving guests directions. Especially in OKW where there were 49 buildings. I could be like "ok go down millers road, 2nd building on the right, up three floors and your room will be the 4th on the left... or so on. lol

driving to different places in Disney, well... after a while you know exactly right where everything is. Disney has pretty good signage so I just followed those a lot. You can always grab one of your resort maps before you leave property, too as they all have disney world wide maps on the back of them.

Also, when you're a runner you are given a 2 way radio that can reach back to your resort from anywhere on property. If you get lost, just radio back to your OPS team or managers and they can tell you how to get back :)

The first couple times out I wanted to cry. Then it became fun and I looked forward to it, because leaving the hotel made the time go a lot faster haha.

One time though, I had to pick up guests at Orlando international airport. That was bad. I got there ok, but took the wrong term a couple times and one of the tolls i had to go through was an automatic where you just throw in 3 quarters and drive off... so i did, and used my last 3 quarters, but it didn't recognize that i had paid the whole amount and i had guests in the COMPANY CAR with me. lol ... they told me they saw me put the whole amount it, there was a security camera there that could have seen me, so they told me just to go... but it scared me driving through, the alarm sounding and being in the company car, haha.... (tell your managers if that happens. It was all good. They didn't care)

Anyway, i'm getting off track a bit. I have a lot of runner stories haha.
 
I did hospitality before the concierge role was offered. It was great! I did a second program in the parks but much preferred hospitality. It is a lot of training but you pick it up quickly. The best part was working so closely with other cast members- you become really close with your co-workers and the managers treated us really well. They hosted potlucks backstage for every holiday so we really felt appreciated even when working long, busy days. You will be working really early mornings and really late nights, so be prepared for that. Four times during my program,including Christmas eve, I had to do graveyard (10pm-8:30am) which was rough. I did multiple 5am shifts too.

If you can bring a car, definitely do. The cp transportation to the hotels was not very good. All in all, it was a great experience. I would choose concierge over hospitality because it pays more, the hours are more limited, and it looks better on a resume. However, it's also more repsonsibility.
 
I did hospitality before the concierge role was offered. It was great! I did a second program in the parks but much preferred hospitality. It is a lot of training but you pick it up quickly. The best part was working so closely with other cast members- you become really close with your co-workers and the managers treated us really well. They hosted potlucks backstage for every holiday so we really felt appreciated even when working long, busy days. You will be working really early mornings and really late nights, so be prepared for that. Four times during my program,including Christmas eve, I had to do graveyard (10pm-8:30am) which was rough. I did multiple 5am shifts too.

If you can bring a car, definitely do. The cp transportation to the hotels was not very good. All in all, it was a great experience. I would choose concierge over hospitality because it pays more, the hours are more limited, and it looks better on a resume. However, it's also more repsonsibility.


I wanted to be trained for concierge, but with being trained as cashier, runner and lobby greeter, i didn't want to take on too much.

Which resort(s) did you work at?
 


I worked hospitality at Fort Wilderness. Funny enough, even though I "prepared" myself for any location, I was totally surprised to get FW. We jokingly called ourselves the red headed step child because people forget we are there. This includes the higher ups. It was basically it's own world. I learned more about RV's than I cared to know, but it was a good experience. At FW you have to do everything by hand b/c of the different sizes of the RV's and we had drive thru check-in. I agree with the poster who said you get close to your fellow CM's. The resorts are completely different from the parks. I really enjoyed hospitality because it was a challenge. Didn't do luggage, but did do phones room and front desk. I was housekeeping (ech) and hospitality so I didn't have a chance to do concierge, but my friends did and they loved it. Lots of upselling involved in those roles.
 
I wanted to be trained for concierge, but with being trained as cashier, runner and lobby greeter, i didn't want to take on too much.

Which resort(s) did you work at?

I would rather not say exactly where I worked, but I had experience in 3 different deluxe hotels. While the training is intense and comprehensive, it isn't overwhelming. You can easily pick up concierge as well because it builds off of front desk. I never did lobby greeter- there was an official greeter at the resort who did that as their full time job. You'll likely only do runner occasionally; I did it maybe once a week. The full time cast members loved runner (you get to sit a lot) so they got it before the CPs. You'll mostly be doing the desk or transportation greeter. If you have any interest in concierge, put it above hospitality on your check list. You can't be guaranteed to learn concierge if you are hospitality, but if you get put in concierge, you will also learn hospitality... hope that makes sense. Basically, concierge is a step above hospitality because you'd have more responsibility, get paid better, and it's not much harder. I really wish I had asked to be concierge trained, but there was a hiring freeze during my program so there were no hours in concierge open for me to work.
 
I would rather not say exactly where I worked, but I had experience in 3 different deluxe hotels. While the training is intense and comprehensive, it isn't overwhelming. You can easily pick up concierge as well because it builds off of front desk. I never did lobby greeter- there was an official greeter at the resort who did that as their full time job. You'll likely only do runner occasionally; I did it maybe once a week. The full time cast members loved runner (you get to sit a lot) so they got it before the CPs. You'll mostly be doing the desk or transportation greeter. If you have any interest in concierge, put it above hospitality on your check list. You can't be guaranteed to learn concierge if you are hospitality, but if you get put in concierge, you will also learn hospitality... hope that makes sense. Basically, concierge is a step above hospitality because you'd have more responsibility, get paid better, and it's not much harder. I really wish I had asked to be concierge trained, but there was a hiring freeze during my program so there were no hours in concierge open for me to work.

haha you got to sit a lot as a runner on your locations? I was scheduled as a runner almost every day of my schedule and we were always on the go and never got to sit haah. It was a fun role though and kept me busy, that's forsure :-)
 
haha i felt the same way the first few times out. It was quite nerve wracking.

Running in the resort, well... you get to know the resort layouts like the back of your hand. In came in quite handy when checking in guests or giving guests directions. Especially in OKW where there were 49 buildings. I could be like "ok go down millers road, 2nd building on the right, up three floors and your room will be the 4th on the left... or so on. lol

driving to different places in Disney, well... after a while you know exactly right where everything is. Disney has pretty good signage so I just followed those a lot. You can always grab one of your resort maps before you leave property, too as they all have disney world wide maps on the back of them.

Also, when you're a runner you are given a 2 way radio that can reach back to your resort from anywhere on property. If you get lost, just radio back to your OPS team or managers and they can tell you how to get back :)

The first couple times out I wanted to cry. Then it became fun and I looked forward to it, because leaving the hotel made the time go a lot faster haha.

One time though, I had to pick up guests at Orlando international airport. That was bad. I got there ok, but took the wrong term a couple times and one of the tolls i had to go through was an automatic where you just throw in 3 quarters and drive off... so i did, and used my last 3 quarters, but it didn't recognize that i had paid the whole amount and i had guests in the COMPANY CAR with me. lol ... they told me they saw me put the whole amount it, there was a security camera there that could have seen me, so they told me just to go... but it scared me driving through, the alarm sounding and being in the company car, haha.... (tell your managers if that happens. It was all good. They didn't care)

Anyway, i'm getting off track a bit. I have a lot of runner stories haha.

Did you get runner as an assignment or as a shift?
 
Related to the topic, does anyone know what exactly a "concierge buffet" does? I'm planning to transfer to hospitality but some resorts only have the "concierge buffet" option.
 

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