On May 14, hospitality instructor Walter Rapetski attended the National Tourism Week Summit at the downtown Renaissance hotel. This was an opportunity to meet with local industry leaders, many who already support our program, to discuss the importance of tourism in our community. Rapetski was able to catch up with several hospitality management graduates who were in attendance as managers with local hotels and other tourism-related businesses.
Later that evening, the Aloft downtown was honored as the recipient of the 2019 Alice Marriott Community Service Award. The award is presented annually to one hotel selected from over 6,400 Marriott properties from across the globe for their commitment to enriching the community through extensive volunteer efforts.
David McCartney, the former general manager of the Aloft, and an A-B Tech Foundation board member, was in Washington to receive the award at Marriott’s annual national awards ceremony. The hotel had gathered members of the local community Aloft had partnered with in volunteering to share in this special event to watch the presentation live via Skype.
Rapetski represented A-B Tech and has worked with McCartney on many projects that give hospitality management students extraordinary experiences beyond the classroom. Marriott had made a video depicting the community involvement of the Aloft and included Rapetski and A-B Tech. The video was shown at the awards banquet and broadcasted to Marriott hotels across the globe.
This video includes several hospitality management graduates who are now managers at the Aloft including Cody Brown.