Writing by Eliot Caroom

Franklin Genao, Hilton concierge

by Eliot Caroom

The job of a concierge is to keep hotel guests happy, and the recent Broadway shutdown hasn’t made that job any easier.
“No matter what we recommend, the guests are disappointed,” said Franklin Genao, a 31-year-old concierge at the Hilton. “They can’t see what they had tickets for.”
The Hilton Times Square prepared a crib sheet for guests in search of theatre. The impromptu playbill features the nine Broadway shows still performing, as well as a list of off-Broadway productions.
According to Genao, tickets for the remaining Broadway shows are scarce: “they’re scrambling for shows that aren’t on strike . . . off-Broadway has seen an incredible jump in ticket sales, I’m sure.”
On the positive side, Genao pointed out, New York “has so many other things to do as well.” He’s steered guests to comedy and jazz clubs. These other options have always been there, Genao said, but now they are “forced alternatives.”
Francisco Andeliz, 30, is the concierge at the Westin New York at Times Square, where theatre tickets and tours are booked through a separate desk. For the first two days of the strike, he said, that desk was swamped by guests with tickets and questions. He was busy with tourists looking for alternatives. Now both desks are quiet.
“A lot of people cancelled the whole trip into the city because of this,” Andeliz said.
Those who have remained are looking for alternatives, and not all of them are in the city.
“We had a lot of people wanting to go to New Jersey to the Prudential Center to see Bon Jovi,” said Andeliz.
Back at the Hilton, Franklin Genao works the phones, but the strike is an ongoing problem he must face.
“What’s really sad is not being able to tell them the strike will be over on this date,” Genao said. “We’ve had a few cancellations, and guests calling, and we don’t have much to tell them.”
“It’s just a sad scene, the faces of all the tourists,” Genao said.