Abbas Guingani

Valet
St. Louis, MO

I am nominating Abbas Guingani for East Coast Rockstar of the month. On March 13, Propark opened the Magnolia Hotel in St. Louis, MO. A week prior to our start date we only had 1 employee hired and we were not retaining any of the current staff. Propark was faced with the decision to postpone the start-up and disappoint the client or bring in Task Force and start as planned. We chose to bring in Task Force and one of the first people to raise their hand was Abbas. Abbas joined the Propark family just a few months earlier by way of the Sovereign acquisition and typically worked at the Post Oak Hotel in Houston, Texas. Even though Abbas was new to Propark he was willing to leave the warm weather in Houston to help us get started. As soon as he got to the hotel, he offered to work any shift that needed coverage. We took advantage and had him on first, second, overnight……he may have even worked a double shift. After 14 days in St. Louis his time came to an end and the St. Louis team (client included) was sad to see him leave. But that isn’t the end of the story. We lost a few of our new hires within the next week. St. Louis is particularly hard to hire valets since there are twice as many valet positions posted as there are individuals looking for a valet job. We put the call out for task force again and Abbas was quick to raise his hand for another two-week stint. Again, he came in everyday with a big smile on his face and worked every shift that needed covered and got us through our two busiest weeks so far. His 2nd two-week stint ended, and he went back to Houston. I wish the story ended there, but as we continued to struggle getting staff, we put out a 3rd call for help. Again, Abbas hopped on a flight and spent another 2 weeks in St. Louis. It takes a special employee to raise their hand for a two-week task force assignment; it takes an exceptional employee to volunteer for 6 weeks. For this Abbas deserves to be the East Coast Rockstar of the month.

Submitted by Rudy Touvell, Senior Vice President