One of the most enviable position in accommodations around the world is to reach the classification ranking in with the 5-star hotels. To be classified with 5 stars means that the hotel meets and exceeds certain standards in the hotel industry. Guests at our hotels, then, are in for the royal treatment, knowing that their needs will be met with the same consistency of excellence night after night. The design will meet and exceed world-class standards, but the pleasure to the eye and the rest of the senses is only the beginning. Dining is, of course, of the highest standards, with an elegance in cuisine and service. And service, generally is quite superior, and extremely customer-oriented.
One of the hallmarks of a 5-class hotel is the presence of a night porter. The night porter will make sure that the guest’s needs are always met, and it is often simply the knowledge that there is someone there, twenty-four hours a day, that make a stay a comfortable and rejuvenating experience. It’s interesting to look at the position of the night porter, to see how it has changed over time, but also to note how it has stayed the same. The porter has been around at least since the Elizabethan Renaissance, when the porter was responsible for keeping guard over the castle gate. There are many mentions of porters in literature and theatre, and many memorable actors who play the role of porter at one time or another.
There is a famous film, Il portier di notte, from 1974, where a concentration camp inmate and her captor meet again, after World War II, when she is a guest at a Vienna hotel where he works as a night porter. The film caught the public’s attention and imagination, and is regarded as an excellent piece of world cinema. There is also a recent book of photography by Chris Shaw, whose writings on his life as a night porter are accompanied by his photographs, which are startling in their portraits of the intimacy of contemporary human identities. There is more to the job of a night porter than simply taking care of the guests, it would seem.
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