Welcome to Lines On A Resume: A Hotelman’ Journey…
Frank Adam Rota was an enigma. By the time I came into being, my Dad had already lived a lifetime of adventures, had one marriage annulled, one divorce, served in the Korean War, worked in some of the hottest clubs and hotels in New York City, and brushed shoulders with a future president, movie stars, band leaders, and top performers.
After my birth, my dad continued his career at 13 hotels, with me in tow, sometimes we had company, sometimes it was just us. I never knew where we would be in the future, but I knew I would be by his side. When my father passed in 2023, he had reduced his life’s records to fit in file box. Years prior, most of our family pictures, slides, records…were destroyed in a flood. I realized that any chance of filling in the blanks of his - our - lives were gone with him.
And then I found 22 copies of his resume, each with a recommendation letter…
This anthology series focuses on my dad’s career, most of which I was front and center for. One resume post at a time, (and a couple that were left out), I piece together the trials and tribulations of a brilliant hospitality professional whose career was many things….
…but never boring.
Missing Entry #1 - The Truth Is Out There
In 1973, my father stepped outside hotel life to manage a sprawling development in Marietta, Georgia. The project was chaotic, short-lived, and unforgettable…and it taught me something essential about hospitality, home, and the accents we pick up along the way.
All In: My Father’s Gamble on the Cherry Hill Inn
In 1971, my father, Frank Adam Rota, walked away from the New York Hilton and placed a bet on himself. His next stop was the Cherry Hill Inn in New Jersey, a property connected to the Garden State Racetrack, where the stakes were as high as the ambitions of the men who ran it. For my father, it was his first shot at the title he’d chased since his Hilton days, General Manager, and the odds were entirely his own.