Bel-Air bellhop bags best-worker honors

By Bob Pool
Los Angeles Times

RICHARD HARTOG / LOS ANGELES TIMES Tony Marquez takes guests' luggage out of a room at the Hotel Bel-Air in Los Angeles. Marquez, the hotel's bell captain, has a reputation for keeping often high-maintenance celebrity guests happy.

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That's the short version of how a Los Angeles bellhop has won the title of best hotel worker in America.

Marquez is bell captain at the Hotel Bel-Air, a sprawling hideaway north of Los Angeles' Westwood section where cottagelike suites can go for $3,000 a night and celebrity guests can come with a truckload of luggage.

But hauling heavy suitcases and trunks around the Bel-Air's 12-acre grounds isn't what earned Marquez a national hotel-rating service's only individual five-star ranking.

It's the way he took care of one departing guest's shopping bags — shipping them by air freight so the guest would not have to take them on an airplane — that packed a punch for Mobil Travel Guide's undercover inspectors, who selected Marquez after visiting U.S. hotels.

With its 91 rooms, patios and a tree-shaded dining area connected by meandering walkways, the Bel-Air puts special demands on bellhops. There is no roof overhead on blustery, rainy days. There is no dumbwaiter to lift heavy, room-service trays. Steps, not elevators, lead to some suites.

Guests can be challenging, too.

High-profile actors, musicians and politicians who stay there can be high-maintenance. Some expect their rooms to be set up almost like home — with specific amenities and refreshments along with the Bel-Air's standard 440-thread-count linens.

A wealthy guest once asked Marquez to arrange for a portion of Disneyland to open early — and exclusively — for him and his family the next morning.

"I never say no," Marquez said. "But there are some things I can't do — like open Disneyland."

When guests arrive, Marquez greets them by name.
 
First-time guests are treated like regulars. And one rewarded Marquez with the best tip he ever received. An out-of-state woman delivering her daughter for the start of college at the University of Southern California was fretting over where to stash the girl's belongings until her campus room was ready. No worries, Marquez said. He personally would store everything.

"I got a $500 tip from that lady. But there are people who tip nothing. I don't take it personally," said Marquez, who relies on gratuities to supplement his modest wages.

Mobil officials sent three secret inspectors to evaluate the Hotel Bel-Air this year before issuing it the top five-star rating.

Shane O'Flaherty, a Mobil Travel Guide vice president who oversees North American inspections, said Marquez "wowed" raters with his "warmth and affectionate greeting." But his packing skills won them over.

During this year's five-star awards ceremony in Colorado, Mobil officials announced that Marquez was the sole "Best of the Best" hotel employee. Hotel Bel-Air Managing Director Carlos Lopes said the individual award was a surprise.

"I'd have taken him with me if I'd known," Lopes said. "This is a tremendous honor."

Marquez received a plaque from the travel guide, and a bonus and a recognition party from his hotel. The party was for employees, but some hotel guests wanted to attend.

Marquez, 40, has worked the Bel-Air's front desk for 23 years. He got his start as a high-school student when a friend recommended him for a summer job.

Marquez now lives in the working-class town of Bell, in southeast Los Angeles County, with wife Angie; daughters Stacey, 18, and Stephanie, 14; and son Jonathan, 9. He says their home is far less glamorous than his workplace.

"They sometimes ask if I met any celebrities today, if work was exciting," Marquez said of his children. "I tell them that the people I meet are just like you and me. I try to teach them the value of hard work and how hard it is to make a dollar. I tell them that their job is to work hard at school."