"'Radiating Harmony and Happiness': Emotional Labor and the Hotel Social Director"

In the 1920s, the United States experienced its first national boom in hotel building. The boom was specific to hotels for middle-class travelers, primarily men on the road for business but also including families traveling together. Because there were more hotels than needed, they suddenly had to compete for guests. They did so by creating services and amenities that would make guests feel they were being personally cared for. Some of these services were delivered through the Social Hostess or Social Director, a role almost always staffed by a woman. Social directors acted as temporary local friends, especially serving female guests. They provided suggestions for activities and helped guests navigate the city but also ran errands, bought gifts, and occasionally looked after children. The practical and emotional labor of the social director presupposed the needs and desires of guests even while remaining overtly flexible to accommodate the particular. In this paper I explore the construction of this role and its evolution by the 1940s into publicity and public relations work. That this role was first conceived of as ideal for women allowed untrained young women to enter the hospitality industry in roles that were more professional than the traditionally female work of hotel housekeeping. As the Social Director was phased out and the Publicity Director emerged, women also filled these roles, giving them opportunities for high-paying positions in which they bridged the public life of their cities and the semi-private life of hotels. In both roles, however, they practiced the art of anticipating needs that have long been considered the responsibility of women in relation to family. Using industry literature, vocational guides, and the papers of one particular social director, I consider the implications of gendered staffing in these roles to understanding the emotional labor of hotel work.