Capt. Dale rushes to greet guests

Tacoma blogger greets guests, recommends restaurants and ducks sawdust

By Jamie Forsythe on December 27, 2007

As you enter Tacoma’s former Sheraton Hotel, now Hotel Murano on Broadway, Bell Captain Dale Rush’s smiling face usually greets you. He’s a 61-year-old who not only enjoys life, his job and Tacoma, but every hotel visitor.



“What I like most about my job is seeing the new faces that pull up in front of the hotel everyday,” he says. “Seeing all the smiling new faces is the best part.”



Rush has been working at the hotel more than three years now. As the bell captain/concierge, he’s responsible for training front door staff, the valet and additional bell men. The job also comes with fun responsibilities like scheduling, parking cars and sweeping the curb.



Rush also helps hotel guests figure out what to do and where to dine. But with so many choices in Tacoma, how does he decide what restaurant to send visitors to? “By asking them what their palette is or what they are salivating over,” he responds. “I ask clarifying questions about what’s going to excite them, and then I stand out in front of the hotel and start pointing.”

Somehow he also finds the time to make sure a new blog is posted on www.tacomahotelblog.com.



The Pennsylvania native has been in Tacoma 35-plus years now. He came to the City of Destiny with a background in health care as a chiropractor. He was involved in two businesses before getting laid off unexpectedly. After being unemployed for “too long,” he approached a friend he knew at the then Sheraton. He knew what he wanted to do — work at the bell stand. “I knew I wanted to be at the front door and greet people,” he says.



Rush’s most interesting day on the job occurred just a couple of weeks ago when Tacoma’s very own gnome stopped by for a visit. Rush referred to the gnome as one of the hotel’s many celebrity guests. What other special guests has Rush encountered? He won’t name names.



“We get the best of them,” he says. “This is the place to be seen and the place to be in.”



Rush insists that will continue as the Sheraton transforms into the Hotel Murano. “It will be the focal point of the city. This is a whole new chapter in the life of this building.”



As far as the construction, Rush’s response: “What construction?” He tells customers the hotel’s lobby music isn’t typically jackhammers and will be changing soon.



The hotel lobby may look and sound like a construction site now, but Rush advises visitors to come back in 30-60 days to see the complete transformation.



As for the father of two and grandfather of one, Rush has no plans of slowing down any time soon.



[Hotel Murano, 1320 Broadway, Tacoma, 253.572.3200]