Few industries serve to annoy more people than the airline industry. What even compares? Maybe the IRS, banking, insurance companies or the legal profession. But airlines sometimes seem to be built as companies that invite frustration from their customers.

It's rather amazing, then, that one of the most respected brands in the world today is Virgin. Although the Virgin empire includes disparate ventures such as music, cell phones and trains, many people equate the brand with Virgin Atlantic, its upscale airline based near London.

My sole experience with the airline was flying coach from Boston to London years ago, and the flight was one of the most pleasant I've had. From seating to food—even down to the design of the overnight bag that contained earplugs and eyeshades—I felt well taken care of.

The Virgin approach is to be a brand that comes at industries as an outsider, according to Anthony S. Marino, Virgin Group managing partner, who spoke at last week's transform: design differently conference at the St. Regis Deer Crest Resort in Park City, Utah. Marino said Virgin was all about "clever design and consumer-focused innovation."

He also stressed that although its customers want cool, the thing they really want is service.

"None of our businesses compete on price, but we do compete on value—where a customer feels like they got more than they paid for," he said.

Marino said what was on a lot of people's minds when he told attendees, "Hotels are a very natural fit for us."

Virgin has a small collection of ultra-luxe properties called Virgin Limited Edition—mostly former getaways of rock-star owner Sir Richard Branson—but there has been speculation building over the past year that the brand would jump more fully into the hotel industry.

(See Hotel Design's recent cover story on Virgin Limited Edition and Sir Richard Branson.)

While Marino wouldn't comment specifically on the company's plans or a timeline, it seemed obvious that Virgin is seriously weighing jumping into the hotel game. After his presentation, I asked Marino whether any potential entry into the market would come as a standalone Virgin product or as a partnership with an existing hotel company. His feeling was that if it happened, it would certainly be 100-percent Virgin. That's an interesting change from past rumors I've heard.

And if Virgin really isn't thinking about a new "Virgin Hotels" brand, I'm curious as to why they're apparently soliciting branding ideas, like those shown on this designer's website.

Virgin Hotels could be a great fit as a luxury brand in gateway cities, along the lines of what W Hotels has built over the past few years. And it could mean a lot in our industry. Because, as the recently launched Virgin Galactic brand shows, Virgin likes to dream big.

As editors, we are programmed at an early age to malfunction at the mention of sales. Well, maybe not malfunction, but we tend to have an awkward relationship. That's what made going on sales calls for In Your Shoes so interesting. Would I start—gulp—thinking like a sales person?

The Mystic Marriott (Conn.) is a four-star, full-service property that offers a high-profile steak house, a Red Door spa and more than 20,000 square feet of meeting space. It has attributes to sell, but in a down economic period, it's much tougher to do so.

The property's biggest client has roomnights just about every day of the year and hosts most of its meetings at the Mystic as well. This relationship really illustrates the hardships of a sales staff. I'm sure the client knows how important they are to the hotel, and I'm sure they try to use that as leverage in negotiations. And as a member of the sales staff, can you really play hard ball with a client that accounts for so much business.

Those are the types of issues I saw discussed in the morning sales staff meeting. Sales staff and revenue managers sat in a cramped office going over leads: which prospects wanted which rate for which days and so on. It was intense, and it should be intense because these decisions make or break the hotel … but I'm telling you, there was almost bloodshed at one point.

Anyway, I learned the key to all of this sales stuff is relationship building. Don't approach a client like an adversary or a target. Just like any normal relationship, as long as you are open, honest, accommodating and real, no one should end up sleeping on the couch.

I traveled with director of sales Eileen Milano and Ariel Crohn, senior catering sales manager. We ventured to two nearby clients, and almost as if it was planned, each call presented a different sales scenario.

The first stop on the tour showed promise to become a bigger relationship—like a mature person we met in college who has the same political beliefs and taste in movies. The client had a client base that would probably benefit from what the Mystic has to offer, and Milano and Crohn calmly relayed that message.

"We're just trying to be a resource," Milano said a couple times. She didn't intend on booking 15 meetings that day, just planting the seed.

"It's important to start face to face and build that relationship," Milano said to me. She believes in the soft sell and not mindlessly pushing product. For example, she'll sometimes e-mail clients a recipe that she likes, with no business strings attached, to keep the lines of communication open and foster the relationship.

The next stop wasn't quite the opposite of the first meeting, but it was close. The contact didn't get up from her desk and didn't really listen to what we had to offer. She already had her preferred hotel for incoming guests. It's this awkwardness that I couldn't deal with in sales. In terms of a relationship metaphor, this was more like being ignored by someone on Facebook.

The last client seemed like she wanted to give the Mystic business … but the Mystic was a little too expensive for her almost nonexistent budget.

From what she was saying, it seemed like a lost cause to me. But Milano still told her to consider the Mystic when the time was right. If it is off-peak time, the hotel might be able to work with them. Just keep the lines of communication open.

This relationship felt more like an everyday boy-girl acquaintanceship. Maybe it will be something someday, but for now, we're just friends.

Venturing out and starting all three of these relationships was a new experience for this editor, but I'd rather get back to my usual relationship with sales. A distant one.

One of my great fears in life has always been food service.

Growing up, I avoided part-time work in any type of food service establishment. It's not necessarily the food part; it's the service part. Being a waiter or working the counter at Burger King freaks me out for some reason. I'm more of a behind-the-scenes guy.

So, I walked into Day 3 of my In Your Shoes experience at the Mystic Marriott (Conn.) much less enthusiastic because it was filled with work in the kitchen.

The Mystic Marriott has a fairly large kitchen area that accommodates Octagon (its steak house and lounge), a Starbucks, room service, the spa cafe menu and all banquet services. Food-and-beverage is really important to this hotel and is one of its big differentiators. Because of the scope, everybody pitches in when they can.

"There's lots of cross-functionality," said Amechi Osime, director of outlets. "Everyone is willing to work in different departments, even from different parts of the hotel." I've spent a lot of time with executive chef Steve Rosen and others in the restaurant staff during my stay here discussing the hotel’s food philosophies.

Octagon has more than 200 wines on hand and many Certified Angus Beef steaks, which are cuts of meat in the upper 8 percent in terms of quality in the U.S. Octagon doesn't mess around.

And if foodservice didn't intimidate me enough, there's a lot more math involved than I thought. From Osime to Antonio Rodriguez, who is in charge of purchasing, to executive chef Steve Rosen to director of catering Mechele Shiner-McCracken, everyone is calculating figures based on the number of people in an event, how many pounds or ounces a group needs of a certain item based on the group's size, what percent more should be stocked (just in case) and what time plating should begin … all without breaking the budget allotted to both the restaurant and the banquet team. It was dizzying.

So it makes sense that I was given little responsibility in the kitchen. But there wasn't a lot of activity today either. It was a slow part of the day and tomorrow didn't have too much on the docket.

The slowness relates a little to what sous-chef Kate Decker said about the biggest challenge she faces: It's not the food or the staff, it's working in the new economic environment. Meetings and group business isn’t as plentiful as before, and many of the events come together in a shorter time frame and with a smaller scope.

"Food prices can be an issue," she said. "We're trying to keep huge clients, but some don't have the money. How can you help them and not sacrifice the quality?"

However, there was a decent-sized meeting going on during my time in the kitchen. That was my next stop. The staff had taken down the a.m. break presentation in the hallway and had just finished building the lunch presentation. I now had to jump in and help feed 180 people who work for the hotel's biggest client, Pfizer. And this is what I fear: service.

People start coming out of the doors and I tense up. When I'm in a banquet line, I give little thought to anything other than, "GET OUT OF MY WAY!!! I WANT TO EAT!!" But that's all internal. Actually going through a line is mundane. Being on the other side of it, though, is intense. Yesterday, I equated laundry to football and housekeeping to golf. Banquet service is like NASCAR: It's fast and nonstop. I got scared to tweet. I got scared to do pretty much anything.

Shiner-McCracken told me that the banquet team has the most longevity of any department in the hotel. Most have been there since the hotel opened nine years ago. She attributes it to hiring from within, the flexibility of the hours and the regular off-site catering the team does. I partly attribute it to the unique salary distribution she has set up. Instead of paying her staff by event or by task, she pools the week's event total together and distributes payment based on hours worked in that week. This removes in-fighting about who gets what job during a banquet and more fairly determines pay, she said.

Shiner-McCracken also told me to keep an eye on one of the salad tables and make sure nothing runs out. And then, when everyone piled out of the meeting room, I was asked to help dish out soup, too.

Then I discovered my true calling in food service: clearing plates. It was my best performance since vacuuming yesterday. I liked the surveying. I liked the little amount of pressure involved. I liked the quick, forgettable, polite interactions with people. I was born for clearing plates. And luckily, I didn't get to find out if I was born to wash dishes. I'm pretty sure I wasn't.

Columbus, OH -- Yesterday I learned that it takes a village to bring a hotel project to completion, even before the first stake is driven in the ground. The Hilton Columbus Downtown is a true collaboration between brand, owner, developer and city.

At the official groundbreaking ceremony for the 532-room project, which is expected to open its doors in 2012, I got a taste of how difficult it is to develop convention center hotels. Convention center managers have to match the groups they target with the capacity of the surrounding city--Where will people eat? Where can they hold events? And most importantly--where will they sleep?

Columbus and Franklin County have long had a hotel supply problem, which Mayor Michael Coleman pointed out during the groundbreaking ceremony, when he spoke about his fruitless attempts to recruit large-scale national events, like national political conventions and NCAA basketball tournaments, to the city.

Despite that, the area surrounding the convention center known locally as the Arena District, and bordered by the hip Short North neighborhood, has bloomed in recent years with the addition of visitor-friendly restaurants and shops. Still, hotel rooms are few and far between.

Experience Columbus president and CEO Paul Astleford drove the point home:

 "Our customers told us loud and clear that we needed another full-service convention hotel," he said.

He cited three main reasons why this particular project is happening:

• Provide supply to offset demand: "We must retain the hotel business that has been outgrowing our hotel package," he said.

• Provide consistency: "This will help keep the convention center running year-round," he said. "We need multiple headquarter hotels so we can support more than one convention at a time."

• Get new business: "Now we are able to attract larger regional and national conventions and trade shows that have been out of our reach," he said.

The $140-million project is owned and developed by the Franklin County Convention Facilities Authority and will be operated by Hilton Worldwide.

"We as a company could not be happier," said Ted Ratliff, SVP of operations for Hilton. He called the project "truly in the right place at the right time."

The 532-room property will connect to the convention center via a glass walkway.

Click here to read the news release.

Beyond bringing much-needed (and close by) guestrooms online, this project is set to showcase what can happen when all the development players are on the same page, for the most part. What is one small step for Hilton Worldwide will be a giant leap for the city of Columbus.

"We've heard of the stimulus package," Mayor Colman said. "This is the Columbus stimulus package. This will bring jobs. This will bring people. This is another step in our city becoming a destination city.

Cleaning holds a special place in my heart. Not because I clean much or do an especially good job of cleaning, but because I've always been yelled at by my grandmother to clean. She constantly cleans, only taking time off to cook. She'd come over our house when I was little and start cleaning up and say, "You gotta learn."

You gotta learn. Heard that phrase roughly 452,746 times from her in my life. Still hear it. Well, she'll be proud to know that, today, I learned. I'm at the Mystic Marriott in Connecticut for Hotel & Motel Management's In Your Shoes program, and I was put to work in the back of house.

I started my day in laundry. And not just any laundry. The Mystic Marriott handles the laundry for three other properties the Waterford Hotel Group manages in the area, and because of this, its laundry room is gigantic, full of equipment and bustling with energy. It's also roughly the temperature of the earth's core.

There was plenty to do, but every employee assured me today was very slow. Saturdays, Sundays and Mondays are the worst.

I started off working with Vlado, a kindly Slovakian man who spoke little English. We separated sheets and linens and started a few wash cycles. Very advanced system. A couple button pushes and you're all set. Just remember to wear your rubber gloves.

I moved to the towel folding station with Marcio, a large, gregarious fellow who spoke a little more English than Vlado. He greatly emphasized how fast-paced it normally is back there. He also emphasized the immense capacity many of the machines could handle—up to 600 pounds of dirty sheets at a time. Not an appealing image, but an impressive figure.

At the folding station, I picked up dry towels and put them on a belt; the machine folded the towels and Marcio put them in another bin. When that bin was full, we loaded it on the truck that would take the towels back to the hotel from whence they came. I enjoyed the folding station. Marcio reminded me that this is a person's job for eight hours a day normally. Constantly feeding the machine. That doesn't sound quite as fun.

Then I moved onto sheet folding. This is handled by another machine. I worked with Bobbie. She told me that 10 years ago, the hotel she worked at did not have this type of machine and she used to do this stuff by hand. She fell in love with the folding machine instantly. It messed up a few times while I was using it with her. Bobbie insisted it wasn't my fault, but I'm pretty sure she was trying to make me feel better.

After lunch I moved onto housekeeping, where I worked with Nery. I didn't take a poll, but I'd say she's the MVP of the housekeeping staff. She was very efficient, meticulous, organized and willing to put up with a bumbling writer who literally could not put a pillow in a pillowcase the right way.

I pretty much handled vacuuming and asking dumb questions. Nery went over all of the little tasks to keep in mind when turning a room over, and I would no doubt forget many of them every time I did a room.

Nery is very good at what she does. She has no interest in moving into a supervisor role because it would interfere with making dinner for her two kids and with her second job. She almost quit working at the hotel after she started six years ago because she thought she was doing a bad job.

"I almost quit because I was going too slow," she said. Her manager, Karen, told her to not quit "because, she said, 'When you're done, I know it's ok.'" The Mystic Marriott places more of an emphasis on a perfect job than a speedy job, she said. But if you're going to take your time, it better be right, which, if Nery cleans it, I'll guarantee it is.

A couple tips, thoughts and other Mystic Marriott nuances I picked up:

• Don't put bedding you're going to reuse on the floor. Guests find it unseemly.

• Leave the pillows a guest put on the floor where they are. The guest put them there for a reason. Loved this philosophy. More hotels should adopt it.

• To me, laundry is a team sport, probably football, and housekeeping is an individual sport, probably golf … perhaps gymnastics. Feel free to ask me why.

• A visible hair, anywhere, is a scarlet letter. I shed hair like a house cat, so I was nervous to enter the bathroom after she finished.

• The duvets are the least-popular feature to most housekeepers. During training, beds alone occupy three days of practice. Just beds. Very important and arduous task.

• Hold the top corners of the pillow together and push the folded corners to the end of the inside of the pillow case. Grab said corners from the outside with your other hand and then let the fold go. Pull the rest of the case up in two pulls. These are tight, so pull hard. Lastly, fold a side of the open end of the case in over the pillow and tuck the other side in after it and press down.

Don't worry … you'll learn.

Follow Chris' adventures in real time on Twitter @HWN_Chris