Meet Danita Harth-Bates

Director of Rooms

// Chicago, IL

Helping people, first as a lawyer, and now as the Director of Rooms, has always motivated Danita Harth-Bates.  More

 

 

Q: When and how did you get into the hospitality business?

After years practicing law, I was looking to do something different. My sister and I had always talked about opening a restaurant, and to become familiar with the industry, I signed up for a six week hospitality course, which in addition to being interesting landed me a job at the front office at the Chicago Hilton and Towers. I loved it, and decided that hotels, not restaurants, were going to be my future.

Q: What has been your progression through Starwood?

I’d say pretty rapid. After 18 months at the Tremont and Raphael Hotels, I was promoted to Rooms Manager at the Sheraton Chicago Northwest, which was then known as the Sheraton Arlington Heights. And then later that year I was promoted to General Manager. The year after that I transferred to the Sheraton Gateway Suites O’Hare as General Manager. At that stage, Sheraton Chicago asked me to become their Director of Six Sigma, and I signed on and stayed there for two years, and then, wanting to return to operations, I became the Director of Rooms for the Sheraton Chicago.

Q: Your title is Director of Rooms, but what does that entail?

I oversee the Front Office, Housekeeping, Laundry, Bell Services, Security and several smaller departments. I interact with guests regularly and work with my teams to ensure we are providing the quality of service Sheraton guests expect.

Q: What is your favorite thing about working for Starwood?

Starwood’s willingness to take risks, to try new things, and their ability to embrace change. The information and cross-company communication is phenomenal.

 

 

North America College Recruiting: Management Training

Starwood offers a Management Training program for graduates that exposes them to the places, people and practices that sets the foundation for success throughout their careers. Trainees concentrate in rooms, food and beverage, culinary, revenue management, finance or sales and rotate through other areas in the hotel to learn from leaders in some of the most successful Starwood hotels in North America. The length of training varies from 6 to 18 months depending on discipline. At the completion of the training, each participant is placed into an assistant manager, manager or equivalent position, usually at the same hotel where they trained.

Management Trainee opportunities are limited to current undergraduates attending school with work authorization in the location of the position (U.S. or Canada).  Experienced, non-student candidates and those without appropriate work authorization are invited to search for current career opportunities.

At Starwood we have high expectations for each associate we hire. The environment we create for our managers includes programs that provide:

• Training and development in functional areas, leadership skills and rotational exposure
• Performance-based salary increases and bonuses
• Succession planning to help get you into the next progressive set up
• Annual assessments of performance, skills to guide career planning
• Productive feedback from managers, direct reports and peers
• Opportunities for projects, task force assignments in other hotels

Starwood recruits for Management Trainees during the fall and spring. Students who attend the schools listed on our campus roster are advised contact their career services office for instructions, and to complete an online application during the application period in order to be considered. We will next accept applications for Management Trainees in September 2010. Please come back to this page for instructions at that time.