Biography
Lino Palomba was born in beautiful Sorrento, Italy, in 1930. His first
concern in life was to join the local art school where the skills of the
world famous "Sorrento legno intarsio" (wood inlaying, veneering) was
taught. His early interest in the hotel industry was heightened by the
glittering presence in Sorrento of the Excelsior Vittoria Hotel where the
famous and the rich spent their summer vacations.
At the age of sixteen he
left the art school and joined the staff of the Excelsior Vittoria Hotel as
a page-boy. Three years later he enrolled at the "Scuola Alberghiera" (Hotel
school) in Bordighera where he won the "top student prize". The prize
awarded by the Sanremo Tourist Board included, besides a very welcomed
cheque, the job of "Tournant Concierge" at the Royal Hotel in Viareggio.
To widen his experience he spent the next twelve years travelling all over
Europe learning new languages and working in the various hotel departments:
restaurant, bar, reception and of course "concierge".
In 1962 he went to england to learn the English language, with the intention
to stay only one year and return to Italy, instead he joined a large,
luxurious London hotel where he was promoted head concierge and has remained
there for 29 years.
He has been President of the Golden Keys Society of Great Britain and the
Commonwealth, society of hotel concierges, today extended in 35 countries
with over 4.000 members.
He has also been involved with the (I.C.I) "International Concierge
Institute" and has held seminars in London and New York and conducted a
course for concierges at the "Hilton Training School in Basle-Switzerland".
Lino Palomba's opinion is that the concierges are probably in the best
position to organize the training for their department, because being
constantly in contact with clients they are aware of the necessity to
improve the quality of their service to the advantage of the hotel industry.
This compact manual is the answer to the question he is most asked: "What do
you do as a hotel concierge?"
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