12 CALIFORNIA LODGING NEWS www.calodging.com CAREER OUTLOOK For many people who make a career in hospitality, their career path takes them to different properties, cities, and even countries along the way. Tina Keramari’s path was a little shorter: the Director of Operations for the Chancellor Hotel in San Francisco has spent her entire 16year career at the property, only a few miles up Highway 101 from her first food service job. “I started off working at a restaurant at SFO, and with that experience, I knew I loved people, talking to different people,” she said. “When I found out about the opportunity at the Chancellor, I came up here. That was in 2008, and I’ve been here ever since.” Her first role at the Chancellor was as a front desk agent, which she thought would be a temporary stop on her way to the food and beverage side of the house. “I hoped I’d get to work in the restaurant, and it was a dream of mine to open a little restaurant of my own sometime,” she said. But when she started, she found that taking care of guests came naturally and she kept wanting to do more. “At the front desk, I learned the basic operations of a hotel and everything about guest services,” she said. “I wanted to learn more, soak up everything everyone was telling me. “I was this eager young person who said show me everything.” That aptitude for learning caught the eye of her GM, who became her mentor. She moved through different positions in the hotel— AP, front desk manager, even housekeeping, as she learned the details of the business. She credits that experience around the property with her ability to handle the demands of her role as Director of Operations. “It definitely helped my overall success,” she said. “Each department is different, so getting to know how they worked was important to me.” Another thing that helped her, she said, is always having a strong sense of wanting to make people feel comfortable and at home. A first-generation American whose parents came from Greece, Keramari credits her family and their culture with imbuing her with a love for hospitality. “I come from a background of inviting people over and ensuring they feel well taken care of,” she said. “Greek culture is very hospitable, but it’s also about the connection you make with people and the memories you make for them.” That aligns perfectly with the Chancellor, an iconic property located on Union Square in the heart of downtown San Francisco. As an international destination for tourism and business travel alike, the hotel serves guests from a multitude of different cultures and parts of the world. In addition, the hotel has a significant percentage of long-time guests who return on a regular basis, giving Keramari an opportunity to develop a true relationship with them. “This hotel in particular has a lot of repeat guests, so even when I first started, I was serving guests who had stayed here for 20 or even 30 years,” she said. “So going to work for me feels like going home, because I see people who are like family. And when you’re in a place where you feel so comfortable, you want to make them comfortable, just like they were coming to your home.” Having both regular visitors as well as a steady stream of international guests also helped Keramari overcome her natural shyness. A ‘HOME AWAY FROM HOME’ at the Chancellor Hotel
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