"Another day at The Hay"

" **Beeepp, Beeepp, Beeepp**- 5.55 AM, the alarm goes off. A new working day at Hay Adams Hotel is about to start." 

Hi there! My name is Anne-Mare van der Werf, 21 years old. I am a 2nd year student at the Hotel Management School in Maastricht. Currently, I’m doing my internship at The Hay Adams Hotel in Washington DC. Do you want to know what an average day at The Hay looks like? Read my blog below. 

Early start of the day

**Beeepp, Beeepp, Beeepp**- 5.55 AM, the alarm goes off. A new working day at Hay Adams Hotel is about to start. You would say that you would get used to these early mornings. But unfortunately, that does not apply to me. I'll turn around one more time to get those 10 minutes of extra sleep... 15 minutes later, now I really have to get out of bed or I'll be late. Showered and dressed, I walk to work with a fresh coffee in my hand. It's still nice and quiet on the streets.  

Let's get started

7 O’clock in the morning and the new working day has begun. I grab my bank from the safe and walk to the front desk. I start my day with going over all the departures, making sure that all the billing is set for the check outs. Next to that I’m taking a look at our arrivals for the day, making sure that all guest requests are well processed (guests who request a quiet room are not supposed to be in front of the elevator, but somewhere at the end of the hallway for example). After that, I print some paper work that has to be settled. In the meantime, I do check outs, phone calls and answering guests questions at the desk . And before I know it is already 12 o’clock, time for a break! 

Checking all the rooms

After my break, I check all the departures, call to the rooms to see which guests have left without checking out at the front desk. We have to walk to all the departure rooms after calling, to see if guests really have left. This way, housekeeping knows that they can start cleaning in those rooms. Departures are as good as done, that’s set. 

Early arrivals

The early arrivals are coming in, let’s see which rooms are clean, so that guests don’t have to wait for their room. Time is flying by! That’s always  great about AM-shifts! 
3 o’clock is our guaranteed check-in time, it often happens that rooms are still not ready at this time. We print a list of all the dirty arrival rooms and we go up to the floors to see where we can help housekeeping. In this way we can make sure that rooms will be ready as soon as possible. 

Shift done!

Before I realize it, it is 4 PM, my shift is done! Let’s change and punch out! 
The weather is good out here, a Dutch friend is off as well and wants to grab a drink in a lovely bar close by. Sounds like a plan. After that we get a take away salad from Sweet Green and eat it on my rooftop terrace with another glass of wine. Another day in DC is over. 

Read more about the internships of the hotel management bachelor at Hotel Management School Maastricht.