Matt call

This is a photo of the front of the White Hall hotel, which is located in downtown Chicago. The White Hall is a very popular downtown hotel, and known for a more affordable upscale in the downtown area. The White Hall offers a European style of hotel and is consider a boutique style with an urban twist. The building was designed in the early 1920’s by Ernest H. Klaber and Ernest A. Grunfeld, which once was high end apartments, but after the depression the building turned to The Whitehall in the mid 1950’s. This hotel has a great location downtown Chicago on 105 East Delaware Place, which is considered Chicago’s Goldcoast. The Goldcoast is considered the pat of town that never sleeps, and has an abundance of touristy activities.






The Whitehall offers many various features for its tourists. They have a high end restaurant that serves 5 star Italian dishes and Asian plates. Fornetto Mei, which is what the restaurant is named has a elegant dinning area which can accommodate many guests at a time. Fornetto Mei also has a glassed in sun room area to dine, which allows tourists to see many sites while they eat. Attached to the restaurant is a beautiful bar that contains over 200 world class wines and 40 in house by the glass wines. Besides accommodating tourists with food and beverages 24 hrs day, there is also a workout facility if a guest wants to workout during there stay. A few other features of the hotel is 24 hr security, free internet, self parking, and great limo/taxi to and from O’hare and Midway airports.


Employment opportunities are very attainable at the Whitehall, but a degree in the tourism field helps very much. I was able to reach one of the managers of the Whitehall, who happens to be a good friend of mine. His story is a little different than most who want to manage a hotel. His name is Joe Gagellos, and he got his foot in the door by bartending and serving. During his bartending shifts he learned a lot about the city and people, which he then used his knowledge to help with the tourism aspect. Knowledge of the city helped with gaining the position of manager, and being a bartender and server helped the hotel trust him when it came to financial matters as well. I asked him about what are good ways to move up in the hotel system, and he explained to me that having knowledge of the city and being able to point out landmarks, knowing your directions off the top of your head, and having great people skills are a must.



With the Whitehall being located downtown it is by many great tourist sites. The Whitehall offers special room and tourist packages that include tickets to The Art Institute of Chicago, which is pictured above. The Art Institute is not the only monument located near the hotel, it is located by Millenium Park, The House of Blues, and a long coast line of Lake Michigan. Joe explained being in the tourist area helps generate revenue and create a lot of jobs for people who would like to go into the tourism area.

I asked Joe about how tourism and business was due to economic status of our country. Joe explained to me of different ways to promote the hotel, without it not being vacant. Promoting the bar and restaurant to tourists is a way of breaking into the tourism market, such as marketing the major icons who have dinned or stayed there, such as The Beatles and Michael Jordan. Location was a primary cause for people staying at the hotel, being close to so many arenas and places for concerts helped a lot. Holding events for major Corps in the restaurant and also catering helped generate income.

Joe described that there company’s definition of leisure is providing recreational activities for those who need a way to spend there free time, especially those on vacation. Examples, are providing room and board with packages to events and tourist spots at a good rate. Providing activities and accommodations for those who want to spend there leisure time in a higher class environment.

Synopsis
Tourism has always been somewhat of interest to me, and how somebody goes about learning and teaching it as well. I enjoyed my experience of learning about tourism and came to find out that it ties into a whole lot more than just directing people or point out sights. The way I look at tourism at the moment seems to have a lot more pro’s than con’s. The pro’s of going into the tourism area is gaining so much knowledge about more than just one element. Tourism can be a bunch of different areas, and also can be combined with other areas like the White Hall. I believe that tourism fits into leisure in a variety of ways, because it’s a way that people spend there free time. The White hall may be a place for tourism and some may not be spending every minute of there free time there, but it’s a place where a person can enjoy leisure with many recreation activities that are offered.