· A March 30 Metro article about the Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center incorrectly said that Babe Ruth hit 715 home runs. He hit 714. The article also said that the hotel employs a fromagier. It employs a fromagiere, or female cheese specialist.
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Putting On the Glitz
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Last week, window washers were suspended 230 feet to wipe smudges off 500-pound glass panes while a hard-hat crew drilled through concrete to place a stair rail. In the shops, workers unpacked and organized souvenirs.
Hudson, director of brand projects for Gaylord, and Birrer, a New Jersey-based artist, fussed over what they consider the hotel's pi¿ce de r¿sistance: the 6-foot-tall wooden statue of Baltimore-born George Herman "Babe" Ruth.
"Let's turn him around so that he faces out that way," said Birrer, a computer programmer by day. The artist seemed sad to be relinquishing the statue he spent 800 hours creating.
"Remember, he's finishing his follow-through here," Birrer said of his piece. "He's already hit the ball."
The statue, in front of the resort's National Pastime Sports Bar & Grille, pays homage to the local sports scene. Hudson said a baseball will be implanted in a glass pane in the atrium on a trajectory similar to the one Ruth's ball traveled when he hit his historic 715th home run. A plaque will be placed at the site of the statue, at the beginning of the Walk of Fame, where athletes will be asked to leave their fingerprints and signatures, as entertainment stars do in Hollywood.
Near the statue, the home plate from RFK Stadium, donated by the Washington Nationals, is embedded in the floor near a giant logo of the team. Paintings celebrating the heroes of the Negro Baseball League and local sports legends will be hung on the walls.
To get children involved in the resort's history, they will be given a "passport" at check-in with clues to historical facts and items in the hotel and asked to find them for a reward.
As the hotel prepared to check in its first guests, employees milled about, adjusting furniture and practicing greetings.
"Hello! Welcome to Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center!" a liveried bellman said in greeting before introducing the valet who would park the guest's car.
"They're so polite, it's almost scary!" said a contractor. "We're really not used to this kind of treatment in Washington."
Sheldon Suga, general manager, said guests who patronize the hotel years from now will be treated to the same level of service because of the hotel's focus on hiring pleasant people and providing a fun place for them to work.
In the main lobby, decorated in a nautical theme, bell supervisors took their teams through the paces near the front door. Elsewhere, front-desk employees ran through their training.
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