She
Lobbied for Better Commute, Now Commutes to Better Lobby.
Julie Lynem, Chronicle Staff
Writer
Anna Morris has been concierge of the
Westin Hotel Santa Clara since 1994. But in the past year, she's noticed that
some guests have started to behave peculiarly when they see her.
Sometimes, they'll walk up to her,
point and stare. Or they'll glance her way and say, "What a riot,"
"That's kinda weird," or "That's so cool."
How could this congenial 33-year-old
woman provoke such outbursts? Maybe it's because the Morris guests see isn't
actually in the hotel.
Morris works at home in Antioch, but
thanks to a videoconferencing system, she can help clients 75 miles away. She
faxes directions off the Internet, books rental cars and reserves tables at
chic restaurants while her Silicon Valley guests watch her on a flat plasma
monitor, which hangs behind a desk in the lobby.
Her job as the world's first virtual
concierge has taken some getting used to. But Morris says she's willing to put
up with the occasional gawkers and comments from inquisitive guests for a life
without a killer commute.
"I hope one day other people with
families will be able to do what I'm doing," said Morris, who moved to
Antioch in 1998 to escape the South Bay's exorbitant housing prices.
A former Los Gatos shoe designer,
Morris became the hotel's virtual concierge by accident.
The idea sprouted from a casual
conversation she had last year with a guest who was in town to do business with
the hotel's owners. The guest, Skip Rodenbush, was early for his meeting, so he
stopped to chat with Morris.
Morris discovered that Rodenbush was
the co-founder of Interactive Multimedia Artists, a Santa Monica multimedia
communications design firm. She told him about her grueling commute and her
childcare needs.
At the time, Morris was pregnant with
her son, Luke, and was traveling to the South Bay every day with her husband,
James, now a general manager at a Concord grocery store. The couple, which also
have a 2-year-old son, Jacques, would leave their quiet cul-de-sac at 4:30 a.m.
Often, they would catch a few winks in the car at the Westin before Morris'
shift began.
Rodenbush asked her if she could do her
job from home, and Morris said yes. He suggested the hotel give virtual
concierge a try.
Morris was on maternity leave in March
2000 when the hotel's management contacted her with the good news. She greeted
her first guest from home last September.
"It was a miracle," Morris
said. "I was overjoyed and excited to start."
But first, the Westin had to outfit her
home office with more than $40,000 worth of videoconferencing equipment and a
T-1 line. And Morris, who describes herself as technologically challenged, had
to learn how to use it.
Morris, who never owned a computer
until recently, suddenly had to operate a PC, video camera equipment, printer
and fax, lapel microphone and an object camera, which projects images onto the
monitor. After nearly a year in her virtual office, she's much more comfortable
with the equipment, although it does have its occasional glitches (sometimes,
Morris freezes on screen if there's a delay).
With the click of the mouse, she can
create maps and, using the object camera, Morris can show guests the maps on
the Santa Clara screen. Guests can hear and see a life-size Morris on the
3-by-4-foot monitor as she guides them along their route.
From her desk at home, Morris also can
control the camera in the lobby, survey the lobby and follow guests around.
She's pretty handy with the zoom.
"I used to do things the
old-fashioned way," Morris said. "I had the Rolodex. I just made
copies of maps and I would write everything out. I was not up on looking at all
of the Web sites. I didn't feel so confident about it. Now I really believe in
it."
Morris is at the hotel only one day a
week now (to stay in touch with her colleagues and attend staff meetings). She
says, however, that she has not lost her personal touch.
She's helped a few gentlemen with two
left shoes to find a new pair just in time for their job interviews. She once
offered to track down the long-lost cousin of a woman visiting from Burma.
And when the Westin launched its
Heavenly Bed promotion, Morris transformed her office into a bedroom. She
donned pajamas, covered herself with a fluffy comforter and propped herself up
with pillows.
On occasion, Morris has even brought
her children into her Westin home office, at the special request of guests who
want to see them.
"They like the fact that you're at
home," she said. "It makes them feel at home, too."
So far, only one guest has refused to
talk to the virtual Morris, opting instead to call her on the phone from her
hotel room. There is a phone at the desk in the hotel lobby, just in case
customers have a confidential request.
Most guests are not intimidated and are
technologically savvy enough to understand that all they have to do is stand in
front of the screen and start talking, she said. Others get the drift once she
explains that she's a real person, and that she's not working in some upstairs
room at the hotel.
"Sometimes people are really
surprised that you can help them," she said.
Bruce Carpenter, general manager of the
Westin Santa Clara, said he knew Morris could pull it off. Besides, there was
no way the hotel was going to give her up.
"She had developed strong
relationships with many of our longtime customers,
and we recognized the value of her
knowledge," Carpenter said. "We also looked at the market to replace
her position and what it would take to do that. We reached the conclusion that this might be a way to help
her."
Strategic Hotel Capital, the Chicago
company that owns the hotel, also has been supportive of the pilot project,
especially in high-tech Silicon Valley, Carpenter said.
"There's no doubt that it was
worth it," he said. "I haven't seen any downside to it."
Rodenbush said he sees no reason the
virtual concierge service can't be in hotels all over the world. As for the
Westin's project, Rodenbush admits that technology is not the only reason the
virtual concierge is a success.
"It wouldn't work at all if it
weren't for Anna," he said. "She loves the whole notion of it."
Morris certainly has no complaints
about her new gig.
Instead of pulling out of the driveway
before sunrise, she now sleeps in until 6 a.m. and can prepare breakfast for
the boys. As soon as her mother, Elena, arrives to watch the children, she
showers, puts on her makeup and slips into some casual slacks, a shirt and blazer.
Shortly before 7 a.m., Morris steps
into her camel-colored office and adjusts the room's lighting before turning to
face the camera. She ends her first shift at noontime, when she breaks to have
lunch with Luke and Jacques, run some errands and start dinner.
Then she's on again from 5 to 8 p.m.
On a recent evening, Morris startled
some guests as she helped a man find his way to Half Moon Bay.
Kansas City residents Jeanette Holmes
and Lorenzia Jackson said they didn't know what to make of Morris when they saw
her on the screen. They both did a double-take as they passed by.
"I thought she was here, but in
another room - or that it was prerecorded," Jackson said. "I'm just
amazed."
Not everyone, however, is completely
blown away by the virtual concierge. Felix Malidong, an engineer from Atlantic
City, N.J., wanted to find a good place to eat, and Morris delivered just like
any other concierge would, he said.
"It's different," said
Malidong, noting that initially he wasn't sure how to talk to Morris. "But
it's really no big thing for me."
For Morris, being a virtual concierge
is a big deal - bigger than she ever imagined.
"It's nice to be able to spend
time with my family," she said. "You know, I believe everything
happens for a reason."
E-mail Julie N. Lynem
at jlynem@sfchronicle.com.