Bellhop

"Bellboy" redirects here. For other uses, see Bellboy (disambiguation).

Robert Walker as a bellboy in the 1945 film Her Highness and the Bellboy

A bellhop, also bellboy (pronunciation^ⓘ) is a hotel porter, who helps patrons with their luggage while checking in or out. Bellhops often wear a uniform (see Bell-boy hat), like certain other page boys or doormen. The job's name is derived from the fact that the hotel's front desk clerk rang a bell to summon an employee, who would "hop" (jump) to attention at the desk to receive instructions. The term "porter" is used in the United Kingdom and much of the English-speaking world. "Bellboy" or "bellhop" is an American English term.

This employee traditionally was a boy or adolescent male, hence the term bellboy. Today's bellhop must be quick-witted, good with people, and outgoing. Bellhops will meet a variety of different people each day and must have the social skills to deal with them. Duties often include opening the front door, moving luggage, valeting cars, calling cabs, transporting guests, giving directions, performing basic concierge work, and responding to the guest's needs. They must be able to escort guests into their rooms while carrying luggage, or help move any baggage a customer needs. In many countries, such as the United States, it is customary to tip such an employee for his service.

Famous bellboys

• Brandon Flowers (born June 21, 1981), who is the American frontman, keyboardist and primary lyricist of the Las Vegas-based rock band The Killers, served as a bellhop at the Gold Coast Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas.
• Ted Serios was a Chicago bellboy, who gained notoriety in the 1960s by producing "thoughtographs" on Polaroid film, which he claimed were produced using psychic powers.
• Karl Ernst was an SA Gruppenführer who, in early 1933, was the SA leader in Berlin. Before joining the NSDAP he had been a hotel bell-boy and a bouncer at a gay nightclub.

Bellboy from a hotel in Kyoto, Japan

See also

• Porter (carrier)
• Skycap

References

Footnotes

External links

Media related to Bellhops at Wikimedia Commons