le parker meridien hotel Reviews

Former Employee – worked at le parker meridien hotel

Pros – good for students who think about going to college

Cons – very hectic during some days

Current Employee – been working at le parker meridien hotel full-time for more than 8 years

Pros – The union staff, which will become stronger real soon.
  Once this one hurdle is jumped we are on to a gold

Cons – Management and Human resources
Time for fresh eyes and new ideas, out with the old and in with the new.
The time is now to get it done.

Advice to Senior Management – Don't play games with the staff, understand most of them are union employees.
These games can cause a revolt, and management can't handle that.
As management you know there is a cause and effect for everthing. As for the issues you are having now ask each other why. Who, and why then blame the director of that department who put it out there, not the staff. Blaming the staff or prolonging the process is only going to make the situation very uncomfortable for everyone, really everyone involved.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

Former Employee – worked at le parker meridien hotel full-time for more than a year

Pros – great people but that's about it

Cons – too many management changes,no raises

Advice to Senior Management – listen to the hourly people

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend – I'm not optimistic about the outlook for this company

Current Employee – been working at le parker meridien hotel

Pros – The owners of the hotel fully own the property the hotel is on, so they aren't struggling to make mortgage payments, which means the hotel is much more crisis-resilient than others. The pay is fair and employees are given free breakfast, lunch and dinner. Employees are paid weekly. Everyone at the hotel is generally very good at what they do, and it is always clear what one's responsibilities are. Employees are encouraged to join Gravity, the fantastic on-site full service gym for $15 a week, which is much less than a normal membership. As the hotel is franchise of the Starwood brand "Le Meridien," employees enjoy fantastic staff rates at hotels around the world as well as many corporate discounts on things like cellphone service, Dell computers, Broadway shows, etc. The hotel is rather well known and respected, so a reference from LPM looks very good on a resume.

Cons – New non-union employees are not granted sick days or paid vacation for the first year of employment. This is not disclosed prior to being hired. If you are sick or need time off, you simply aren't paid. This leads many new employees to come to work sick, since they can't afford to miss a day. After 1 year, employees receive 10 days paid vacation and 5 sick days per year. Unused sick days are not paid out if not used at the end of the year however employees who use all of their sick days are considered "unreliable" by management. There is a 401K program, however contributions are not matched. The medical benefits package is pretty bad, covers basic health insurance and very basic dental care. No vision coverage. Very high deductibles and co-payments. The company changes insurance companies every 1.5 years or so to save money, which causes many headaches with having to change doctors and such. Upper management micromanages mid-level management and second guesses everything. Anything that costs money, no matter how little, nor how vital to one's job, must be approved by the Vice President, who says no to everything the first time it's put before him. Employees often go out and buy their own supplies rather than go through the trouble of trying to get the things they need from management. Office politics are a big problem. Suggestions from staff are not appreciated or desired by management. Employees with incentive-based pay are given unreasonably high goals, and when the goals are reached, incentive pay is withheld for as long as possible. It is not unusual for them to withhold incentive bonuses 6 or more months. Internet and telephone usage are monitored and heavily restricted. Personal phone calls are not allowed; if you are called by or call a particular phone number regularly, you will be asked to identify the number; if it is not business related, you will be reprimanded. Cellphones are not allowed. As most non-union employees work 45-50 hours a week, this makes maintaining a good work/life balance very difficult as you are cut off from the outside world while there. The hotel has extremely strict financial policies; no matter how important a client may be, if he cancels a room reservation late, no matter the cause, the hotel will charge a large cancellation penalty. The hotel does not waive late cancellation penalties due to bad weather, illness, or deaths in the family except in very rare circumstances. This makes maintaining amicable relationships with clients very challenging. When co-workers quit or are let go, it generally takes a minimum of 6 months for them to be replaced. Their workload is usually given to another employee, who must complete the extra work without any additional compensation or recognition. Many times, they don't bother replacing the person at all, which causes employees to burn out from being overworked. Several positions in the hotel have a very high level of turnover because of this, especially the position of Human Resources Coordinator/Assistant. No one stays in that job for more than 6 months. Employees are not given holiday bonuses and for the past 2 years, there have been no cost-of-living pay adjustments, just ever-increasing disciplinary policies which make one feel like a child.

Advice to Senior Management – Your employees are your most important asset; treat them as such. Give new employees vacation or at least sick time; it's only humane. Stop treating employees like it's a huge honor for them to work there. If you want to have good people working for you, you need to offer a more attractive set of benefits. Lastly, allow your employees to do the jobs you hired them for; micromanaging people only frustrates them, it does not lead to higher efficiency or profit. The annual crackdown on office chatter, phone calls, internet usage, and tardiness does not increase the bottom line, but does make your employees very resentful.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend