Paid to Play and Play to Get Paid:Emotional and Aesthetic Labour in thelife of Entertainment Coordinators

Anne P. Crick, PhD Senior Lecturer

Mona School of Business & ManagementThe University of the West Indies

Mona CampusJamaica, W.I.

T: 876.977.3775/3808 ext.262F: 876.977.3829

Anne.crick@uwimona.edu.jm

1

Paid to Play and Play to Get Paid: Emotional and AestheticLabour in the life of Entertainment Coordinators

Introduction

On the first full day of their stay at an all-inclusivehotel guests will probably be invited to an orientationhosted by an entertainment coordinator. The orientationwill be part information and part lively welcome to thehotel. The coordinator will probably explain his or herrole as being the person charged with making sure that theguest will have a good time at the hotel. Throughout theirstay guests will encounter lively entertainment coordinatorsat the pool, bar, shows, disco – just about anywhere in thehotel. Guests may be impressed and energized by them orthey may be annoyed by their presence. They may or may notknow that the coordinator’s job depends on their response.

Entertainment coordinators are unique in the structure of ahotel as their job is highly intangible and even amorphous.Whereas other service jobs tend to focus on the performanceof specific tasks complemented by the creation of specificfeelings, creating feelings is the job of the coordinator. Afront desk receptionist must for example be efficient,friendly and welcoming in checking in guests, but theprimary job involves checking them in and out, answeringquestions and so on. The coordinator’s primary job howeveris to make the guest feel happy through various games andactivities but primarily through their own emotional labour.In order to create this happiness coordinators mustthemselves be constantly happy and upbeat, friendly andwelcoming, warm and engaging. They must manage to makehundreds of guests feel as if they are each special andimportant.

2

The job of entertainment coordinators has been described asone in which they are paid to play (Ustanny, 1998). It iseasy to see why. Coordinators spend their days organizinggames, chatting with guests, dancing, singing and in a hostof activities that do appear to be fun, especially whencompared to the jobs of other hotel employees. Focusing onthese specific activities however masks the real requirementof the job which is to make sure that the hotel atmosphereis experienced by all of the guests as being happy and lighthearted all of the time. This is not always an easy job.Nor is it always fun. Guests come from all over the worldand have different expectations and different needs.Coordinators are responsible for identifying thoseexpectations and needs and responding effectively to them.Coordinators are also responsible for representing thehotel’s brand in the way that they interact with guests.

The job therefore requires them to perform both emotionaland aesthetic labour as they try to manage the happiness ofguests. This type of work is becoming increasinglyimportant in organizations but has not been adequatelydiscussed in the context of Caribbean tourism. This paperattempts to fill that gap by analysing and discussing therole of entertainment coordinators in the life of the all-inclusive hotel.

The paper continues with a brief discussion of the datacollection. It then continues with a discussion of the jobof entertainment coordinators. We will explain theemergence and significance of the role of entertainmentcoordinator and highlight the three primary responsibilitiesthat entertainment coordinators are expected to perform aswell as the expectations of each responsibility. We thencontinue with a discussion of the ways in which managers tryto control the job of entertainment coordinator and thetension that their efforts create for coordinators who mustbalance the expectations of guests vs. managers. Weconclude with a discussion of these types of jobs and theway that they should be managed in the future.

3

Data Collection

The paper is based on a study of the jobs of entertainmentcoordinators conducted in Caribbean all-inclusive hotels.The study involved two different surveys with current anddeparting all-inclusive guests, structured interviews withentertainment managers or supervisors and structuredinterviews with entertainment coordinators. One guestsurvey was conducted at a Jamaican airport as an exit surveybut all other data was gathered from the all-inclusives inthe sample. There were a total of 17 hotels and 56entertainment coordinators involved in the sample. Themajority of the hotels were in Jamaica (12), but hotels fromAntigua, Barbados and St. Lucia were included in the sample.Data was collected from 200 guests in those countries.

The average entertainment coordinator was in their lateteens or early twenties and a graduate of secondary school.Most were taking a break before heading to university orcollege but some were using the job as an entry point intothe hotel industry. The average length of tenure in the jobwas under two years and most anticipated another year at themost in the job.

One of the limitations of the study was the inability toobserve all of the coordinators on the job and thus toverify all that they had described about their jobs. Thiswas partially offset by the opportunity to get multipleperspectives from coordinators at the same hotel as well asacross hotels. The composite of a coordinator’s activitiesand job requirements was therefore verified by numerousreports.

Paid to Play

Negril Beach Village which opened its doors in the 1970s inJamaica introduced the concept of entertainment coordinatorsto the Caribbean. The hotel based its operations on twotourism models that were successful at the time – cruise

4

shipping and Club Med (Winston, 1984) It therefore adoptedthe concepts of bundling accommodation and food in oneprepaid package and making the vacation fun throughinteraction with fellow guests and staff.

Club Med had a unique staffing model where employees weretitled as “gentil organisateurs” or simply as GOs. TheFrench term literally translates to genteel or niceorganizers and the role was not the traditional service rolebut rather one of enhancing the guest experience. Thelabour of the GOs was constructed so that they would notappear to be working (Furlough, 1993), and in some of theearly resorts it was difficult to tell who was working andwho was there to enjoy themselves (Blednick, 1988). In factsome of the staff members hired for Club Med were coached tothink of themselves as paid guests (Blednick, 1988). Manyof the GOs were in fact former guests themselves who hadchosen to stay on as employees so that they could be a partof the experience that they had loved. GOs would organizegames, lead groups of guests to local bars and clubs for anight out and generally just socialize with them. Club Medat the time was known as a place for swinging singles andthe games and activities developed by the GOs were tailoredto this group.

Negril Beach Village which eventually became Hedonism IIstuck closely to the Club Med script of a stress-freeenvironment of spontaneity, relaxation and good, simple fun(Blednick, 1988). Blednick contends that even the NegrilBeach Village logo was very similar to the one used by ClubMed and that the idea was to create ‘a looser and lustierClub Med’. Negril Beach Village did not fully adopt the GOmodel throughout the hotel. Instead it chose to identify aspecific group of employees as entertainment coordinators tointeract closely with guests and to keep them entertained.Other employees served guests in the traditional waysalthough their interactions with guests were often lessformal than in the convetional European Plan hotels.

5

This Negril Beach/Hedonism II all-inclusive model wasquickly replicated in Jamaica and eventually throughout theCaribbean. All-inclusives are open only to paid guests andhave been described as enclaves (Freitag, 1994). Touristsin these types of self-contained resorts tend to have a lowtake up of activities outside of them (Coles, 1994), andtherefore all-inclusive guests could be expected to spendmost of their time in the property consuming its activitiesand amenities. Entertainment coordinators were responsiblefor creating the emotional atmosphere of that world.

The all-inclusive world is usually a resort consisting of aphysical environment, a workforce and a group of consumersbrought together for periods of limited duration with anunderlying financial imperative that underpins interactionsbetween the various participants (King, 1997).Entertainment coordinators are therefore creating fun tohelp the resort make a profit and act as boundary spannershelping to shape the perception that customers have of theservice quality of the entire firm (Chung & Schneider,2002). For hotel guests they create the hotel experiencethrough their behaviour. They also act as buffers forother members of the hotel by absorbing some of the stressor anxiety experienced by guests.

Entertainment coordinators are engaged in social engineering– trying to ensure that guests mix together and thateveryone has a good time (King, 1997) . To do so they mustengage in emotional labour – managing their own emotions sothat they appear to be always happy and upbeat and usingthese emotions to try to create similar emotions in guests.They must also be able to engage in a range of activitiesincluding sports, theatre and dance. They must be fit,energetic, multiskilled and flexible. They must also be anappropriate fit with the hotel’s guests. Jamaica’s adultsonly Hedonism II for example boasts of its reputation forshattering inhibitions and would require a different type ofcoordinator from the Beaches family resorts which aim toappeal to kids of all ages. Coordinators must therefore

6

also perform aesthetic labour by looking good and soundingright for the resort in which they work.

Managers deny that looks are a part of the job requirementbut most advertisements for coordinators require that apicture be submitted. Additionally coordinators must attendan interview which normally takes the form of an audition atwhich they are expected to perform some talent. Some hotelsrequire coordinators to model in a bathing suit at theseauditions. Some hotels even require coordinators to spenda day or two working in the job so that they can be observedon the job. The process effectively screens outcoordinators who do not fit the image that the hotels wantand who are unable to perform emotional labour for sustainedperiods. As a result coordinators tend to be fit,relatively slim, attractive, extroverts and goodconversationalists.

Coordinators work a long day starting as early as seven inthe morning with fitness exercises and sometimes continuinguntil early in the next morning at the nightclub or disco.Most work a six day work week. Even though coordinators aretypically in their early twenties and in excellent health itis still a gruelling schedule. In exchange they get asalary, housing on or near the property, meals and daypasses for their friends or family. They come in at theentry level and are considered to be line staff but theyalso enjoy the run of the hotel’s facilities including perksusually only reserved for managers. Coordinators describedthe job as being one in which they experienced glitter andglamour, being treated like a guest of the hotel and beingpaid to play. The lifestyle associated with the job istherefore a major attraction. Coordinators also valued theopportunity to use the job as a stepping stone to other jobsin the hotel once they have proven themselves in theircurrent position. Coordinators understand what is requiredand try to live up to that in order to fulfil their part ofthe bargain.

7

There are three essential functions that must be performedby entertainment coordinators in pursuit of this funenvironment. They are expected to act as liaison betweenthe hotel and the guests, provide entertainment andsocialize with guests. In the liaison roles entertainmentcoordinators are expected to identify and resolve problemsthat guests might have during their stay. They may haveestablished this during the orientation. If in chattingwith a guest, a coordinator hears that the guest is unhappywith a particular aspect of the stay then the coordinator isexpected to either resolve it or make sure that it isresolved by someone else. Coordinators may also play a moreproactive role by identifying opportunities to delightguests. They may discover for example that a guest ishaving a birthday and arrange a birthday celebration.

Hotels have a daily schedule of activities that must beproduced and entertainment is the second major role thatcoordinators are expected to perform. Coordinators mustconduct or support other coordinators in aerobic, dance,mixology and other types of classes. They organize gamesand activities by the pool or beach and they are responsiblefor lending out board games and some sporting equipment.Guest and/or staff talent shows are a staple of most all-inclusives and coordinators must produce these shows. Itinvolves recruiting volunteers and working with them tocreate performances. The coordinators themselves areusually a part of the show and are therefore expected tohave their own talents.

Socializing is the third major responsibility of coordinatorsand it involves informally interacting with guests. Whileguests may approach coordinators to chat with them, the onusis always on the coordinator to engage the guests. This isa separate activity from the interaction that takes placeduring the games and events. When coordinators socializethey approach guests in the bar, at the pool, beach oranywhere in the public areas and spend time getting to knowthem.

8

While managers set the general terms of how coordinators andguests must interact they cannot control the actualinteraction experience. That interaction experience is co-created by coordinators and guests in real time. As they co-create the experience with guests coordinators mustdetermine whether they are meeting the needs andexpectations of guests or those of managers. The greaterthe difference between the two sets of expectations, thegreater the conflict that the employee is likely to face intrying to determine in who to please.

Managers have hired coordinators to perform the threefunctions of liaising, socializing and coordinating with thegoal of keeping guests happy and entertained. The outcomesof happiness and fun are intangible so measurement isdifficult. Managers have however developed some tangiblemeasures that they believe represent successful performanceof the coordinator’s functions. It is by these standardsthat coordinators are assessed.

Measuring Performance: Managers vs. Guests

The coordination of entertainment activities is the mosttangible and easily measured aspect of the coordinators’three roles. Managers can easily identify whether showsstart on time and whether they are run professionally forexample. It is not so easy to measure the other functionsof liaising and socializing which are less tangible and alsowholly dependent on the response from the guest. Managerswant to see that coordinators are performing the jobs thatthey are paid to do and they have developed ways ofmeasuring this.

Coordinators are expected to liaise and socialize withguests when they are not actively engaged in setting up orperforming a show. These activities are measured in twoways. First managers want to see coordinators talking to

9

guests. If they are not, then they are seen as goofingoff. Talking to guests is not always enough however. Somemanagers want to know that the interaction with the guestshas resulted in a positive impression. They therefore wantto see coordinators’ names mentioned on the guest commentsheets that are completed on departure. Some managers wantto hear directly from guests as well. One manager explainedfor example that when he was a coordinator guests used tochant his name as a way of encouraging him to come andcoordinate an event. For this manager that kind ofrecognition would be an indication that the coordinator hadmade an impression. Some coordinators indicated thatmanagers were pleased when coordinators and guests stayed intouch after the guest had left because this meant that thecoordinator had formed an actual relationship with theguest.

Despite the managers’ focus on coordinators making animpression, it seemed from the guest surveys thatcoordinators were best appreciated from a distance. Whenasked to name a specific coordinator who had made animpression on them, most guests could not mention any.Fewer than ten percent of the guests surveyed had exchangedtelephone numbers or addresses so that they could keep intouch with a coordinator once they had left the premises.When guests were asked what they understood the role of thecoordinator to be the most popular answer was notsurprisingly, managing the entertainment aspect of thehotel. A meagre two percent thought that the coordinator’sjob was to be friendly. Just over ten percent thought thatthe coordinators were there to encourage interaction betweenguests. In discussions with guests it became clear that notall of them appreciated the role of entertainmentcoordinators. For some of the guests the ‘forced fun’ asone guest described it on the survey, was an interruption totheir desire to just enjoy relaxing.

Whether they believed it was part of the coordinator’s jobor not however, the guests did appreciate specific qualities

10

in coordinators. The most popular word used to describecoordinators was friendly with the second most popularanswer being energetic followed by happy and enthusiastic.When they were asked what was the most important thing thatthe coordinator had done to enhance their stay however lessthan 10% of those who saw the coordinators as friendlynoted that being friendly was important to them. Similarlywhile nearly a fifth of guests noted that coordinators werecheerful, only 3% of them noted being cheerful as somethingthat the coordinator had done to enhance their stay.

The responses from the guests indicated therefore that whilethey thought that coordinators were friendly, cheerful,energetic and enthusiastic, these did not necessarily impacton the quality of their stay. Coupled with the desire ofsome guests to avoid forced interaction it would seem thatcoordinators were not as important to guests as might havebeen expected. An alternative explanation is that thecoordinators created an atmosphere that the guests liked butit would perhaps be seen as a hygiene factor where itsabsence would be noted but its presence was not reallynoticed.

By coordinating activities and creating a fun atmospherecoordinators could therefore be doing all that guestsrequired. They would not however have been meeting therequirements of managers. Coordinators were intuitivelyaware of the disconnect between what managers wanted andwhat guests wanted. They knew that some guests wantedinteraction and they were quite skilled at spotting theseguests and responding to them. Managers however were nothappy if coordinators did not seem to be circulating amongthe guests so that meant that coordinators had to try tochat up all guests and to encourage them to participate inevents. Moreover it was not only managers who observed andmeasured their behaviour. Coordinators reported that otherhotel employees took it upon themselves to monitor what theydid. Some wait staff for example refused to serve

11

coordinators who were not dining with guests because theyfelt that they should always be interacting with guests.

Coordinators therefore had to make a choice in determiningwhose expectations and needs to meet. On the surface thechoice seemed simple. Managers were responsible for theirpay and promotion so pleasing them seemed only logical. Thecase should have been even more clear cut because all-inclusive employees do not receive tips so thereforemanagers were in total control of the compensation package.There are however compelling reasons for employees likeentertainment coordinators to be pulled towards meeting theexpectations of the customers. Chung & Schneider (2002)argue that employees are influenced by what they refer to asthe immediacy of the customer. This immediacy is due tofive factors – the physical proximity between serviceemployees and customers, the amount of time they spendtogether, the amount of feedback customers provide, theamount of information customers provide, and that fact thatemployees know how crucial customers are to the organizationand to their own jobs.

Based on these characteristics coordinators would thereforeexperience high levels of immediacy when interacting withtheir guests. Annoying guests could result in them not onlydeciding not to return or refer the hotel, but in a directcomplaint about the coordinator. It is not an unfamiliarproblem. Leidner (1996) notes for example that fast foodemployees were often caught in the awkward position of beinggiven instructions by managers that they knew would annoythe guests. In this situation she argues that they oftenmade the practical decision to resolve in the customer’sfavour. It was a practical decision because the serviceworkers realized that they did not personally benefit fromwhat management wanted them to do. So how do coordinatorsmanage these different expectations? In the next section wewill discuss the strategies utilized by coordinators tomanage this particular situation. We will argue thatcoordinators have become adept at understanding what is

12

expected of them and they have learned to play theappropriate games in order to meet the needs of guests andmanagers.

Playing to Get Paid

Coordinators understand that they must present an image ofhigh energy, excitement and ‘hype’ as one coordinator calledit. They must mask physical and emotional exhaustion sothat they appear fresh all of the time. While the typicalcoordinator is young, fit and energetic even the mostdynamic coordinator will become exhausted as thiscoordinator explains:

This job takes a lot out of you. Your hours here run an average 16-18hours – you’re here on holidays, Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year’s– you’re working 18 to 20 hours and you have to do that withoutlooking tired. And you have to get up and go out there and it nevershows

Coordinators are not only expected to mask their feelings ofexhaustion but to show endless energy as another coordinatorexplains

You just have to have that flair… people wondering where you getthat energy from? Where are you coming from with all this hype? –you cyan be real – that is the impression that guests have of you.Where you get it from – you can’t – are you human? Because youhave to just keep going – like an energizer bunny – going and going

Coordinators must therefore may the job look effortless. Ahuge challenge for coordinators was the requirement to be‘on’ all of the time as when they were not setting up a showor coordinating an activity they were supposed to beinteracting with guests. Even meal breaks were part of thejob since they were expected to socialize with guests atthose times.

13

The coordinators were part of the hotel’s strategy ofbuilding customer satisfaction and loyalty and thereforethey were expected to form close relationships with guests.One hotel even went so far give the job the title of ‘bestfriend’ as an indication of this expectation.Relationships are characterized by trust, mutual knowledgeand the expectation of future interaction (Gutek, 1995).Relationship quality depends on two characteristics – amutual perception of a relationship and the belief by bothparties that there is a special status that goes beyondoccasional contact (Barnes & Howlett, 1998). Further,customers must want to have a relationship (Barnes, 1994).Relationships develop as individuals begin to trust oneanother and are committed to maintaining and/or increasingthe level of interdependence and interaction withorganizational representatives (Williams, 1998).

Relationships therefore take some time to build, and whileit is possible for coordinators to form relationships withsome guests it will be challenging to do so with many for acouple of reasons. First, there is the constraint of time.The ratio of guests to coordinators is very high as hotelsin the sample generally had hundreds of guests and onlythree or four coordinators on duty at a time. Part of thattime has to be spent setting up and coordinating the showsso the actual time left for interacting with all of thoseguests is limited. Secondly, most guests will be at thehotel for no longer than a week limiting the opportunitieseven further.

Similarly, while it was easy for coordinators to behave in afriendly way it was less easy to befriend guests.Friendships involve complex actions and emotions such asenjoying, accepting, respecting, helping and confiding(Davis & Todd, 1982 as cited in Sherrod, 1989). Likerelationships friendship is highly dependent on thedevelopment of trust. Individuals are drawn to those whothey believe can meet their needs and a friendship willremain active as long as the parties continue to get value

14

from it (Sherrod, 1989). Coordinators engaging infriendships with guests must therefore convince them thattheir actions are motivated by more than financial gain, andthat they are not merely carrying out a paid function.

It is more likely therefore that coordinators will beengaged in forming encounters. In encounters employees areessentially interchangeable to customers as long as theyprovide the basic level of service (Gutek, 1995). Based onthe responses from guests in the survey, it would seem thatguests have encounters rather than relationships withcoordinators. They enjoy interacting with the coordinators,find them pleasant, energetic and fun but they generally donot know them individually and are not particularlyinterested in keeping in touch after the vacation.

Coordinators have therefore had to become creative in tryingto meet the expectations that managers had of them, while atthe same time not overstepping their boundaries and annoyingguests. The most creative response came from onecoordinator who described using onions to stimulate tears toevoke real tears from guests when they were departing thehotel. This particular coordinator was the oldestcoordinator in the sample and had become adept at playingthe game that managers wanted. Realizing that they wantedemotional farewells that he could not always guarantee, hedeveloped a strategy of play acting in order to get thedesired results.

Knowing that mentions on the comment cards were surrogatemeasures that managers used to determine whether they wereforming relationships, some coordinators would simply askguests to mention their names on the guest comment sheets.Other coordinators played the game differently. Theyassumed that the more visible they were, the more memorablethey would be. They therefore competed to literally occupycentre stage by emceeing shows or coordinating high profileevents. Manufactured emotional farewells and solicitedmentions convinced managers that coordinators were forming

15

relationships while they were in reality engaged in theencounters that most guests preferred.

While most guests preferred encounters, some genuinelypreferred relationships and these too could createchallenges. Some guests enjoyed socializing withcoordinators and encouraged and looked forward to theirconversations. While this might seem ideal frommanagement’s perspective, some managers did not wantcoordinators to spend too much time with the same guests.This was for two reasons. First, they wanted coordinatorsto interact with as many guests as possible so interactingwith one or two guests would mitigate against this.Secondly, they wanted to prevent coordinators from formingintimate relationships with guests. Coordinators thereforefound themselves in a tricky position of being told to formrelationships but not really being given the space and timeto do so. Some managers also forbid coordinators fromdiscussing their personal lives with guests. This rule wasapparently to avoid topics such as salary and solicitationsfor financial assistance. Guests did not have theserestrictions of course and coordinators confessed thatguests sometimes divulged some very personal information.Naturally these rules lead to unbalanced interaction withcoordinators listening and engaging but not being able torespond in kind. They had to mask the unbalanced nature ofthis interaction however so that guests would believe thatthey were really in a friendly relationship rather than apaid encounter.

This became even more complicated because of a ‘nofraternizing’ rule created by managers. Fraternizing wasnot defined but was widely understood to mean no sexualrelations. Coordinators were therefore forbidden from goingto guest rooms or hosting guests in theirs. They were alsonot supposed to see the guests outside of the property.Perhaps because of the Club Med association and the earlydays of Negril Beach Village with its reputation for casualsex between guests and staff (Blednick, 1988), there is the

16

perception in some quarters that sexual rules are relaxed inthe confines of the resort. With the possible exception ofJamaica’s Hedonism II which has built its reputation onshattering inhibitions, the all-inclusives did not encouragethis perception. Nevertheless the relaxed settings ofresorts, particularly those that were adults only, couldsometimes lead to coordinators becoming the prey of guests.These were clearly cases of sexual harassment but somecoordinators did not feel the support of management inrejecting advances. Sometimes a gentle reminder that ‘weare not included in the package’ would be enough to get aguest to desist, but in some cases guests could become quitepersistent. If a coordinator rejected a guest tooforcefully the guest could make a report to management andthe coordinator could be in trouble. One coordinatorexplained the challenge in this way:

There were times when the guests would want to take advantagethough because in their mind they paid for the coordinator’s livingquarters. So that made the coordinator the guest’s house servant…and there was some sort of tolerance towards the coordinator –tolerance mixed with snobbery… at the same time you were theirfriends away from home.

As this coordinator explains the relationship was a complexone. Coordinators were paid to meet the needs of guests butsome guests exploited the ambiguity of the situation bydemanding more than friendship from the coordinators. Thiscoordinator’s feeling of being a house servant is aninteresting one. It recognizes the privilege of being inthe hotel but not being in the same position of guests andshe feels not accepted but tolerated. Despite these complexfeelings she recognizes that she needs to displayfriendship.

There was also the difficulty in assessing when aninteraction was merely a very friendly one and when it wasbecoming uncomfortably intimate. One coordinator gave anexample of when a male guest had rubbed the toes of a female

17

coordinator. The coordinator had seen it as a simplegesture of friendship, but a manager who saw it believedthat the coordinator had crossed the line and reprimandedher. As a result other coordinators became veryuncomfortable in their own ability to judge what wasappropriate and what was not. Another coordinator explainedthat it took some experience to know how to give a ‘nonsexual hug’ – a hug that would indicate friendship butnothing more. The difficulty was compounded because thejudgment was that of managers and highly subjective.

Of course coordinators had their own feelings to contendwith. Most were young, attractive and in some cases quiteimpressionable. In doing the socializing that was part oftheir job some coordinators found themselves being attractedto guests. Despite the no fraternizing rules a romanticrelationship might develop. In some cases coordinatorslater found out that the relationship that they had taken soseriously was nothing more than a vacation fling and it wasdifficult for them to cope with these emotions.

Coordinators therefore had to toe a fine line in interactingwith guests. They needed to know when guests preferredencounters and respond to them in this way while trying tomake it look as if they were forming relationships. Ifguests were interested in relationships, they needed tomanage these relationships so that they did not getpersonally hurt and so that they do not cross the intimacyline.

Coordinators constantly had to negotiate how to manage theimpressions that they gave to both guests and to managers.In every interaction they had to manage their own emotionsso that they portrayed a particular image to guests. Theyalso had to carefully monitor the emotions of guests so thatthey could adapt theirs accordingly. They had to choosewhether to be themselves or to act and how to act if thiswas their choice. When acting they can choose to deep actwhich means trying to manufacture the feelings that are to

18

be expressed. Surface acting involves pretending withouttrying to feel the emotions (Hochschild, 1983).

Hotels seemed to want individuals who would naturallyexperience the emotions that they wanted guests toexperience. Advertisements therefore asked for applicantswho were people oriented and who had high energy andvivacious personalities. While none of the hotels usedpsychometric tests they were able to choose appropriateemployees through interviews and auditions - those wholooked as if they could display the requisite emotions.Employees who engage in extensive amounts of emotionallabour and who genuinely experience those feelings arelikely to experience burnout however (Hochschild, 1983).

Some hotels had a strategy of just keeping coordinators onlyfor a couple of years. This meant that they left before themost negative aspects of burnout came into play. In onlyone case was a coordinator at the hotel for an extendedperiod of time – six years. This professional coordinatorwas the same one who was earlier identified as simulatingemotional farewells. Coordinators nearing burnout maydevelop coping mechanisms as this GO of a Club Med propertyexplained as he discussed the roller coaster of emotionsthat they would experience in the course of the job:

“We get to be really close and then they leave”, he says sadly,revealing that an emotional transformation takes place after a while.“You’re losing very good friends because it’s one week of quality andcompact time. That was very hard because I found myself lonelyevery Monday. Then a new group came in and I thought I’d fill thatvoid with new people. But ten days later, they’re gone. You just can’tkeep doing that! How long can your emotional system take this,week after week after week?” he asks. “You end up withdrawing a bitand you wind up dealing with people on a superficial level. You havefun with them, but you leave your heart out of it.” (Blednick,1988: 185)

This eloquent discussion of the job echoed the dilemma ofmany entertainment coordinators in the all-inclusives

19

studied. Hochschild argues that over time people who doextensive emotional labour such as that engaged in by thecoordinators may lose their signal ability to feel andresort to acting – usually surface acting. The constantrequirement to display emotional labour may lead toinauthenticity – a chronic inability to feel whole or self-estrangement (Hochschild, 1983). In this case the Club MedGO chose to manage his own emotional highs and lows bysimply avoiding the highs.

Other coordinators became jaded. The same coordinator whoadmitted to faking emotional farewells had apparently becomequite cynical explaining that when he needed to talk toguests he would sometimes wake up sleeping guests with theexplanation “Can I disturb you?, I get paid to disturbyou” . This response seems to be indicative of someone whoclearly understands the expectations and who has schemed todevelop ways of meeting those expectations. He did notbother to engage his own emotions but focused on achievingthe goal that management wanted. It reflectsdepersonalization – one of the symptoms of burnout (Maslach,Schaufell, & Leiter, 2001). Such burnout would be expectedin the situation in which coordinators engaged in suchprolonged interactions utilizing high levels of emotionallabour.

Genuinely experiencing the emotions that were to bedisplayed could lead to burnout. Faking emotions couldhowever lead to the perception that coordinators were fake.Determining what was faking and what was not was not alwaysstraightforward it seems. One coordinator tried to explainthe difference in this way

It may seem to other people as if you are being a hypocrite or so, butat

times the biggest part of it is that you have to learn how to role play

The coordinator’s explanation suggests that it is nothypocritical but an established and accepted part of the job– it is role playing. Some coordinators saw the guests as

20

an audience and themselves as performers on a stage. Likeactors on the stage coordinators would sometimes interactwith one another in a way that would create the lightheartedfun that amused guests. Their spirited repartee would havethe same effect. Knowing that they were being observedcoordinators would also act the part as this coordinatorexplains –

When we perform – when we have cabaret performance the guestswill see us dancing side stage. I mean sometimes if we are notcareful we will steal away the show from the performers becausethey are pretty much watching us and cheering us on.

While they are side stage and not an official part of theentertainment at that time, the coordinator acknowledges inher statement that they are performing.. Thinking of thejob as playing a role or performing helps coordinators toreconcile the disconnection between what they may actuallybe feeling and what it is that they are expected to express.They understand that they are being paid to play and that iswhat they do.

Conclusion

Jobs like that of entertainment coordination require adifferent type of exchange. The study of entertainmentcoordinators reveals that they have a critical but difficultto measure job. In being responsible for the happiness ofguests they have a direct impact on the hotel’sprofitability and sustainability. Hotels have essentiallybought their emotional performance and managers seek to havedirect control over this aspect of the work. The skills andtalents that employees bring to the job are only a smallpart of the package. In fact some of the hotels in thesample claimed that they hired the attitude or smile andtrained the skill. Organizations also value the ability ofemployees to portray the desired image and it seemedapparent that managers recognized the importance of imageand attitude in the role of entertainment coordinators. At

21

the same time it seemed that they still did not place anadequate monetary value on it. Coordinators thereforeworked sixteen hours a day for six days a week as a regularshift and many reported that if the hotel were shortstaffedin one area they could be asked to go and fill it.

This type of brutal schedule was not uncommon in the earlydays of Club Med when all staff were expected to work 70-80hour weeks without pay for overtime (Blednick, 1988). Thismodel was however not imported into all-inclusives with theexception of the entertainment coordinator jobs as otheremployees work a regular forty hour work week and are paidovertime for additional hours. This overloading thereforeseemed to represent a desire to make sure that thecoordinators were earning their keep since they worked hoursthat were generally double those of line staff workers andeasily rivalled and often exceeded the hours worked by mostmanagers. It suggests therefore an undervaluing of whatthey brought to the job. Putnam & Mumby (1994) argue thatwhen emotions are incorporated into organizations they aretreated as commodities. These commodities do not howeverhave a tangible outcome that managers can view.

It is indeed difficult to place a value on creating a happyatmosphere or making guests feel happy and it is alsodifficult to place a cost on the work required to do this.Because the work was so unique managers may be forgiven fortheir belief that performing it for long hours would not beparticularly onerous. Emotional exhaustion is howeverassociated with the degree of job autonomy and the number ofhours worked. Increasing the number of hours workedtherefore was likely to increase the likelihood of burnout.Similarly reducing the autonomy that coordinators had wasalso likely to increase burnout (Wharton, 1996). Thecoordinator’s job was therefore a target for emotionalexhaustion.

As such jobs become more common managers will have to placea value on them and determine that if they want these

22

functions to be performed authentically, then they need topay greater attention to the conditions of work and haverealistic expectations of the outcomes. For example it wasdifficult for coordinators to form the relationships thatmanagers wanted because of work overload and managementrestrictions on the time that they could spend with eachguest.

Fineman (1994) argues moreover that emotional labour becomesmore demanding as hierarchical control and surveillance beardown. As we have argued managers have tried to establishways of measuring performance and these measures ofperformance are sometimes at odds with what guests require.Managing this type of emotional labour is always challengingbut it is particularly challenging in the situation in whichcoordinators are placed.

Managers can make the performance of emotional labour easieror harder and more or less effective. Managers face achallenging situation in these types of interactions asthey try to control and monitor service interactions withoutdisrupting them (MacDonald & Sirianni, 1996). Fuller &Smith (1996) suggest that to the extent that managerssucceed in exerting bureaucratic control over qualityservice labour, they may extinguish exactly what sparks ofworker self-direction and spontaneity they desire. The jobof entertainment coordinator requires flexibility,creativity and spontaneity and it is therefore difficult tocontrol tightly. Where managers tried to establish specificoutcomes as a means of control coordinators chose to behavein a way that seemed to give managers the relationshipsthat they wanted while actually engaging with most guests atthe level of encounters. In some cases their simulation ofrelationships could be annoying or patently inauthentic.

The ambiguity created by the job also leaves open thepossibility that employees may actually manipulate guests tohave them fit into their routines. This is the case withthe coordinator who would wake up guests in order to

23

socialize with them. As Leidner (1996) notes employees inservice organizations may sometimes see customers assubordinates and expect them to fit in with their routinerather than the other way around. The manipulation is ofcourse subtle and may be more difficult to detect but itspresence indicates the potential for poor customer service.There may be fewer reports about this because coordinatorsare aided by the fact that guests in a relaxed hotel settingare unlikely to respond with overt anger even if they feelannoyed.

Style work also comes with its own challenges for employeesand managers will have to be prepared to help thoseemployees manage those challenges. The challenge of sexualharassment is not unique to entertainment coordinators andmay occur with tour representatives who perform a similarfunction (Guerrier & Adib, 2000) and flight attendants(Hochschild, 1983). As Hochschild has brilliantly describedin her study of flight attendants some airlines used sexualinnuendos to market the services of flight attendants thusputting flight attendants in the uncomfortable position ofsometimes having to fend off advances. Female sexuality isalso an important part of the job of many food and beverageroles in hospitality (Wood, 1992). Entertainmentcoordinators made similar claims arguing that the nofraternization rule was really a rule of not getting caught.One former coordinator, turned manager, explained that therule could be winked at if travel agents on afamiliarization trip wanted to enjoy a good time with a malecoordinator. While some managers may exploit the grey areasto achieve advantages for the organization, managing issuesof sexual harassment without managerial support can bestressful, degrading and may make the interaction with theguests even more challenging.

On the positive side however this study indicates that thereare individuals who feel very comfortable filing thesepositions. Emotional labour has been found to be positivelyrelated to job satisfaction particularly where there is a

24

fit between the interpersonal skills required and thepersonality of individuals (Wharton, 1996). Wittingly orunwittingly hotels have hit upon a winning formula by hiringyoung and ambitious school leavers. This group has thephysical and emotional stamina to perform the job well andare mobile enough to leave after working for a year or two.This may limit the extent of emotional exhaustion since(Wharton, 1996) found an association between job tenure andemotional exhaustion. The physical requirements of the jobfacilitate the hiring of young, fit individuals who are amatch with the desired image and need for auditions allowshotels to select employees for aesthetic labour withoutbeing overtly discriminatory. Finding an appropriate fitfor such style jobs is likely to result in a win-win fororganizations in the future.

The job of entertainment coordinator represents the type ofjob that is becoming more important in what Warhurst &Nickson (2007) refer to as the style market. In thismarket style is valued almost as much as substance andemployees are expected to become walking billboards of theorganization’s image. While its discussion may be new, thephenomena of hiring attractive people for frontline jobs isnot new (see for example Wood, 1992). Hiring and managingemployees to perform these jobs represents a challenge tomanagers who are used to managing traditional jobs. One ofthe biggest challenges is in understanding exactly whatcustomers want in such jobs. Chung & Schneider (2002) arguethat managers frequently do not fully understand what it isthat customers want, but their employees who are the oneswho engage directly with customers do understand. As thisstudy of coordinators indicates managers may therefore focuson behaviours that are not necessary.

While jobs that require emotional labour may be taxing, theydo have the potential to create in employees a sense ofvalue and importance. Bolton (2000) argues that there is alevel of skill demonstrated by many professionals as theyengage in the appropriate type and amount of emotional work.

25

Curley & Royle (2013) studying flight crew found that evenwhile the requirements of extensive emotional labour werereduced many still tended to display emotional labour inorder to maintain their own sense of professionalism andbecause this contributed to a feeling of personalaccomplishment. Entertainment coordinators feel tired andmay feel that some of the expectations of them areunrealistic and even unfair, but they may rise to theoccasion because they derive some personal satisfaction fromthe professionalism that this involves.

Style jobs such as the job held by entertainmentcoordinators also offer opportunities for a new type ofservice worker. While employees in many other service jobsare required to sublimate themselves to the customer as kingand therefore become their subjects or servants (Paules,1996), entertainment coordinators occupy a differentposition in the life of the hotel because of the uniquerequirements of their role. There is therefore aqualitative difference between the interaction between aguest and a room attendant or waiter and a guest and anentertainment coordinator. The opportunity to interactfreely with guests, speak to them on a first name basis,tease and joke with them differentiates this job from othersand may be highly valued. The coordinators chose to seethemselves as actors playing a role. This role did not seemhypocritical to them but just a job that they put on for theentertainment of guests who they believe had paid for thatentertainment. They therefore exchanged their acting skillsfor wages in the same way that other workers exchanged theirlabour power. Knowing that they were acting thereforeprobably allowed them to keep the healthy self-image thatHochschild (1983) considers to be important in serviceemployees performing emotional labour.

Other studies should examine gender differences. Sexualharassment may be perceived and experienced differently bymales and females. They should also examine the extent towhich the type of hotel makes a difference. This study did

26

not include for example Spanish owned hotels which areconsidered to be a new generation of all-inclusives and havea different management style and structure.

Works CitedBarnes, J. (1994). lose to the customer but is it really a relationship? Journal of Marketing Management , 10, 561-70.Barnes, J., & Howlett, D. M. (1998). Predictors of equity inrelationships between financial services providers and retail customers . The International Journal of Bank Marketing , 16 (1),15-23.Blednick, P. (1988). Another day in paradise? The Real Club Med Story. Toronto: Macmillan of Canada.Bolton, S. C. (2000). 'Emotion here, emotion there, emotional organisations everywhere'. Critical Perspectives on Accounting , 11, 155-71.Chung, B., & Schneider, B. (2002). Serving multiple masters:role conflict experienced by service employees . Journal of Services Marketing , 16 (1), 70-87.Coles, T. (1994). What makes a resort complex? Reflections on the productin of tourism space in a Caribbean resort complex . In D. Duval, Tourism in the Caribbean: Trends, Development, Prospects (pp. 235-56). London: Routledge.Curley, C., & Royle, T. (2013). The degradation of work and the end of the skilled emotion worker at Aer Lingus: Is it all trolley dollies now? . Work, Employment and Society , 27 (1), 105-121.Fineman, S. (1994). Organizations as emotional arenas . In S. Fineman, Emotion in Organizations (pp. 9-35). London : Sage Publications .Freitag, T. (1994). Enclave tourism development for whom thebenefits roll? . Annals of Tourism Research , 21 (3), 538-54.Fuller, L., & Smith, V. (1996). Consumers' Reports: Management by Customers in a Changing Economy. In C. L. MacDonald, & C. Sirianni, Working in the Service Society (pp. 74-90). Philadelphia: Temple University Press.

27

Furlough, E. (1993). Packaging pleasures: Club Mediterranee and French Consumer Culture, 1950-1968. French Historical Studies , 18 (1), 65-81.Guerrier, Y., & Adib, A. (2000). "'No, we don't provide thatservice': the harassment of hotel employees by customers". Work, Employment and Society , 14 (4), 689-705.Gutek, B. (1995). The Dynamics of Service: Reflections on the changing nature of customer/provider interactions. CA: Jossey-Bass.Hochschild, A. (1983). The Managed Heart: Commercialization of Human Feeling. Berkley: Sage.King, B. (1997). Creating Island Resorts . New York : Routledge.Leidner, R. (1996). Rethinking questions of control: Lessonsfrom McDonalds. In C. L. MacDonald, & C. Sirianni, Working in the Service Society (pp. 29-49). Philadelphia : Temple UniversityPress .MacDonald, C., & Sirianni, C. (1996). The Service Society and the Changing Experience of Work. In C. McDonald, & C. Sirianni, Working in the Service Society (pp. 1-26). Philadelphia : Temple University Press.Maslach, C., Schaufell, W., & Leiter, M. (2001). Job Burnout. Annual Review of Psychology , 52 (1), 397-422.Paules, G. (1996). Resisting hte symbolism of service among waitresses. In C. Macdonald, & C. Sirianni, Working in the service society (pp. 264-290). Philadelphia : Temple University Press .Putnam, L., & Mumby, D. K. (1994). Organizations, emotion and the myth of rationality . In S. Fineman, Emotion in Organizations (pp. 36-57). London: Save.Shemwell, D., Cronin, J. J., & Bullard , W. R. (1994). Relational exchange in services: an empirical investigation of ongoing customer service-provider relationships. International Journal of Service Industry Management , 5 (3), 57-68.Sherrod, D. (1989). The influence of gender on same-sex friendships. In C. Hendrick, Close Relationships (pp. 164-86). CA: Sage Publications .Ustanny, A. (1998, March 15). Paid to play. Sunday Gleaner Magazine , pp. 4-5.Warhurst, C., & Nickson, D. (2007). Employee experience of aesthetic labour in retail and hospitality . Work, Employment

28

and Society , 27 (1), 103-120.Wharton, A. (1996). The Consequences of Emotional Labour. InC. McDonald, & C. Sirianni, Working in the Service society (pp. 91-112). Philadelphia : Temple University Press.Williams, M. (1998). The influence of salespersons: customerorientationon buyer-seller relationship development . Journal of Business & Industrial Marketing , 13 (3).Winston, R. (1984). The Saga of Superclubs and the History of Hedonism II. In R. Ronsadt, Entreprenureship - Text, Cases and Notes. Lord Publisher .Wood, R. C. (1992). Working in hotels and catering . London: Routledge.

29