Revisiting a Career, a Childhood, and a Code
My father didn’t just work in hotels — he lived in them. And for a time, so did I.
I grew up in hallways that smelled like lemon polish and warm bread, in banquet rooms where I learned to fold napkins before I learned to tie my shoes. My father — Frank Adam Rota — spent a lifetime in hospitality, managing grand hotels and humble ones across the country. After he passed, I found his resume. It wasn’t just a list of titles. It was a map.
Each new hotel was a chapter of my childhood. Each city was a memory — of bellmen who taught me about the turning wheels, a chef who taught me to taste before judging, and quiet moments watching my father check a ballroom one last time before guests arrived.
This website is my way of revisiting those places, through his footsteps and my memories. I’ll be going entry by entry through his resume, sharing stories — not just about the properties, but about the people who worked there and the lessons they left behind.
It’s about the humanity behind hospitality. It’s about how service is passed down, not just taught.
And it’s about honoring a father who showed me that good service isn’t just a job — it’s a way of being in the world.
I hope you’ll follow along.
My dad’s résumé wasn’t just a career summary, it was a roadmap of my childhood. Lines on a Résumé follows his 53 years in hospitality (and the 13 hotels I called home) through stories, letters, and a little well-earned chaos. A sort of a behind-the-scenes tour through mid-century hotels, family memories, and the occasional banquet disaster that still makes me laugh.
Hotel Brat Revisited peels back the layers of a childhood lived in hotel rooms and lobbies…the grand adventures, the heartbreak, and the quiet in-betweens. These stories explore what it meant to move constantly, to find comfort in impermanence, and to discover that “home” isn’t always a place… sometimes it’s the rhythm of the lobby itself.
Hospitality shows up everywhere…in the way we greet, create, teach, and share. Everyday Hospitality features the stories of people who build connection for a living, from hotel managers to makers, mentors, and dreamers. Together, they show how generosity of spirit can shape not just a career, but a life.