The Role of Consent and Normalization in Luxury Hotel Work

Consent and normalization are the two concepts that Sherman determined exist in luxury hotel work that allow the workers to maintain autonomy in their work. Consent is the idea that workers are truly invested in the work they are doing, and normalization is the idea that inequality is just in the nature of the work that they are doing.

The luxury service atmosphere is unique in the sense that, although inequality between workers and guests exists, it is for the most part ignored, and workers have more power than what may be apparent to outsiders. It is important that workers are able to feel like they have power in situations where structural inequality is so present, because they would not be able to successfully carry out their job otherwise. One way that workers feel power is through the relationships that they form with their guests. Starting with the Luxury Garden there is a very hierarchical environment, the experience is standardized, core values are transparent, and workers are required to speak to guests in a very proper way.

In creating a standardized experience for guests, workers are required to pay attention to personalization of their experience, such as setting up a room with their favorite teas and cookies, as well as anticipation, such as knowing what time they would like the tea and cookies to be in their room. Through this process, workers learn intimate facts about their guests, and “friendships” are formed between them. In any atmosphere outside of the luxury hotel, the workers and guests would rarely run into each other, and friendships would rarely be formed. This can give the workers a sense of power because they have had the chance to create these unlikely friendships with individuals who are usually a much higher social status than them. At the Royal Court, there is no clear hierarchical structure to the staff, and staff are encouraged to be friendly and authentic in their interactions with guests.

Again in this luxury setting, the workers are able to form legitimate friendships with the guests. When workers at either hotel form these intimate relationships with their guests, they see themselves as powerful by association. The hotel setting warps the sense of class consciousness. Another way workers feel powerful is through the fact that guests are reliant on them for everything. Although the guests that are able to stay at these luxury hotels are obviously well off, workers view them as disadvantaged because they are “needy”. The guests depend on the workers to do simple tasks, such as making their bed, and the workers see this as a character flaw. Because some of the luxury hotel work requires workers to give their guests recommendations, they view themselves as superior for gaining this cultural capital without spending as much money on it as the guests.

Different workers in the same hotel can also cast themselves as superior to each other. For example, desk workers may have to first-handedly go to restaurants and stores that they are recommending to their guests, a privilege that a bellhop may not have. This deludes workers into thinking also that since they have had these experiences at these restaurants and stores, even though the experiences were essentially part of their work, they are aligned with the guests, and this leads them to feel even more powerful.