SAN DIEGO— When the Omni San Diego opens its doors in May, guests will not see too many uniforms. Instead they will see the hotel’s staff dressed in outfits they might wear themselves. “Guests will like the staff attire. It will be like something they would wear at home and that’s the image we want— residential and contemporary,” said Rick Trapane, corporate director of procurement for Omni Hotels. Front desk staff will wear wool-blend black suits with white or ivory shirts and blouses. “The men will have contemporary ties in various colors— burgundy, blue and gold— while the women will wear scarves. It will be a Pierre Cardin-type look,” Trapane said. The concierge will have similar attire “but they will have different ties and the ladies different blouses than those at the front desk. We’ll mix it up a bit with colors and they may have charcoal suits rather than black,” Trapane said. The doorman and bellmen will wear long black coats with matching trousers and Remington hats “in a mesh material and with a bill similar to what a military officer would wear,” he noted. Logos will not be much in evidence, he added. “Only the nametags and perhaps the cuffs will have a logo in keeping with the residential idea,” he said. The attire worn by the concierge and front desk staff is similar to designs produced by Armani, according to Trapane. The banquet staff will include captains clad in wool-blend tuxedos and servers wearing white shirts and black ties with black trousers and “mock notch” jackets. Room service staff will have black pants, a collarless black shirt and a silver brocade vest. Outsourcing The operation of the Omni San Diego’s restaurant, McCormick & Schmick’s, will be outsourced, Trapane noted. Housekeepers at the new hotel will wear cotton blend “Patti” dresses in charcoal and gray with aprons. “They will be fairly utilitarian and in the classic style,” Trapane said. The 512-room hotel will have a staff of 345 with each staff member issued three uniforms, according to Ed Netzhammer, gm. He estimated that the uniforms would cost from $75 to $125 each and last from one to two years.
