Beauty within the Crunch

As part of a new series of reflections on working in hospitality, we hear from Maria Jose Velez Arango, who is about to move to Whistler, BC for Four Seasons Hotels & Resorts.

I am sure we have all been in the midst of a "crunch"; if not several at once. Even though it's a period of time where the overload of work surpasses the workforce available to perform it, if we look at it closely it's truly beautiful and inspiring.

Not only do co-workers from other departments jump in to help in the best way they can even if they had not done that specific task ever before, but absolutely everyone is at the top of their game. Multitasking becomes a common trait, and team bonding and support arise even when some employees have not spoken to each other before, but most importantly, we realize that we genuinely know what we are doing.

If the rush is on our department, we have to do our tasks without much time to think or analyze, trust ourselves, and lead others to assist in the best way possible. If it is a cry for help from another department, we later understand that even when we think we are doing everything we possibly can, we are always capable of doing so much more.

In the industry, we are used to being hospitable to guests, but what is really beautiful is when we are hospitable to one another. We notice that once we are all fighting to reach the same goal, there are new ideas, points of view, and ways of doing our usual day-to-day activities that come up from everyone who is helping. In the end, we only get positive results for what we initially thought was an overbearing amount of work.

Maria Jose Velez Arango is a recent Master's graduate of the FIU Chaplin School of Hospitality and Tourism Management. She has been working for Four Seasons Hotels & Resorts in Surfside Florida as a management trainee and is moving to Whistler, BC with the company.