Time Square hotels during New Years Eve. French Quarter hotels during Mardi Gras. The Hayward Hotel during the Capoeira Brasil – Los Angeles Batizado. Many hotels have their crunch time when there’s a long waiting list for a room. For my hotel, the Hayward Hotel, the high season is batizado time. Good luck getting a room!
For those scratching their head a bit, Capoeira is a Brazilian martial art that combines kicks, acrobatics, music and dance into a fluid and physically powerful art form. I have been practicing Capoeira for nearly 8 years and it has become a major part of who I am and what I do on a daily basis. Once a year our group in Los Angeles hosts an International Capoeira Festival. For six days, capoeiristas from all over the world come into LA to train, exchange knowledge and reunite with old friends. The final day of the event is the Batizado ceremony where those who train locally are either baptized into the group for the first time or if deserving, will move up to their next cord level. Not only is this an amazing time for me to focus on the art of Capoeira, it is also a chance for me to tap into my travel knowledge and work on my hospitality skills.
One day in the not too distant future, I hope to run and manage a small bed and breakfast. Details like where and when are still undefined, but I do believe it will happen. In the meantime, my proving ground is my current apartment which is affectionately known as The Hayward Hotel. Between friends, family and random capoeiristas, I do actually have a fairly decent annual occupancy rate, but Batizado week is the true test of my abilities. I deal with domestic and international guests (in multiple languages), organize schedules and transportation options, make sure people have places to sleep (be it floor, couch, bed or air mattress) and do my best to keep everyone fed, showered and generally happy. It is exhausting but I secretly like it (well, most of it).
In addition to the 6 or 7 people staying in my two bedroom apartment, I also have to coordinate approximately 80 other people coming into town – almost every one of them has a special request to accommodate. Somehow I get “volunteered” to organize the housing for the out of town guests every year. Either I’m doing something right, or no one else is crazy enough to do this job year after year. The smart money is on the latter option. All this to say, if my next two posts are either very poorly written or just totally non-existent, it s because I have a full hotel to manage. Wish me luck!
