In the year and a half I’ve been a hotel journalist, I covered almost every topic in the industry: marketing, revenue management, financing, construction and companies’ earnings, just to name a few. I thought I had covered something in every aspect of the industry—that is, until December, when I shadowed some of the staff of the Hilton Columbus Downtown.

I realized then that while interviewing sources had helped me acquire extensive knowledge about what hotel staffs do, I had little knowledge about the specific attributes required to properly run a large full-service hotel. I was given the opportunity during my two-day stay at the recently-opened Hilton Columbus to sit in during the team’s weekly operations meeting, as well as a revenue management meeting, which turned out to be a once-in-a-lifetime learning experience.

COLUMBUS—After receiving an invitation to check out the recently opened Hilton Columbus Downtown, HotelNewsNow.com graciously accepted. Reporter Stephanie Wharton will spend Monday and Tuesday touring the property, which opened in October, and shadowing some of its employees. She also will have the privilege of interviewing Christian Coffin, GM of the 532-room property, and sitting in on some staff meetings.

Wharton plans to return with great behind-the-scenes content for HotelNewsNow.com readers about what it takes to operate such a large property on a day-to-day basis. For now, follow Wharton’s trip live via Twitter, which will be streamed below.

As a native New Yorker, seeing images and hearing news of the destruction Superstorm Sandy left in her wake hit me incredibly hard. I felt an overwhelming sense of compassion and nostalgia for the city (and surrounding areas) I know and love. But most of all, I kept wishing there was something I could do to help.

Donating what I could to the Red Cross made me feel better about my desire to contribute to the cause, and as days passed since the storm hit, it has been great to hear the countless stories of heroes and communities stepping up to help.

If there’s one thing I love more than anything else, it’s taking a cold, hard look at my generation and analyzing our behavior. For example, the satisfaction we millennials get out of claiming to be such individuals—refusing to give our hard-earned money to big-name corporations, but then waiting in line for hours to buy the new iPhone.

So that said, in the one year I’ve worked in the hotel industry, I’ve heard a lot of talk about the death of email, particularly among millennials. Let me assure you this is not the case, ladies and gentlemen.

Much like the typical millennial, in the past two years since I’ve graduated college I’ve spent a lot of time comparing myself to my peers who appear to be doing better than I am in many aspects of life. (Thanks a lot, Facebook). A good friend and I spent last weekend discussing the plight of our generation: We are never satisfied. We realized we know a number of people who work or have worked for top corporations they’ve dreamed of all their lives (think Apple, Google, etc.) and quit, hoping that there’s something out there that will satisfy them more … while still banking the same (or increased) salary.

Only recently have I really become cognizant of this millennial dilemma and started to reflect on my own situation: How blessed I am to have graduated from a solid university, to have found a job in my field so quickly after graduation and to have an amazing network of family and friends behind me every step of the way.

As someone who can very rarely work an entire day and then muster enough energy to make it to the gym afterward (there just aren’t enough hours in the day!), I have the utmost respect for people who can manage to get full workouts in during the workweek.

Olympic athletes, however, take it to a whole new level (obviously) … and I’ve recently gained an ever deeper admiration for these people.