Diane Schmidt: Hotelier at Heart

By Josie Gulliksen Florida Keys News Bureau

It’s a total understatement to say that hospitality industry veteran Diane Schmidt, general manager of the Westin Key West Resort & Marina, gets excited watching her employees and even former employees succeed. Her delight was evident at a recent Florida Keys & Key West Lodging Association event when a former employee received a coveted award.

“One of this year’s winners was the Casa Marina’s director of operations, who started out as a housekeeper there,” said Schmidt. “I was her first boss and when she came to this country she only spoke Polish — and look at her now.”

A Missouri native, Schmidt became a Miami girl at age 12 when her father’s job brought the family south. Soon after graduating high school, she began her hospitality career with a summer job at the Miami Airport Marriott.

After completing dual degrees in marketing/management and English at Barry University, she landed a position on the opening team of downtown Miami’s Omni Hotel. Starting out as dining room supervisor, Schmidt rose through the ranks to become catering manager.

“I spent seven years at the Omni doing catering and convention services until my husband decided he wanted to be a charterboat captain,” she said, “so we moved to the Keys.”

That was in 1983, and her first Keys job was at Key West’s historic Casa Marina Resort. When the Casa Marina affiliated with the Reach Resort, she worked both properties in different positions.

In 1999 Schmidt’s career took the couple to Arizona, followed by stints in southern California and then the Carolinas. During the seven years she and husband Mark were away from the Keys, she worked primarily as general manager of various properties.

In 2006, the Schmidts returned to the Keys and Diane accepted her current position at the Westin — but not without some initial reservations about managing a property in Key West’s exuberant downtown area.

“At Christmas of 2005 I visited the property,” said Schmidt, “and as I took in all the buzz and activity I said to myself, ‘How could I not be here? This is where I belong!’”

According to Schmidt, her husband couldn’t be happier about returning to the Keys.

“He says he’s not leaving again until he’s in an urn,” Schmidt quipped.

Her time at the Westin has been rewarding and filled with uniquely memorable moments — like hosting a live broadcast of NBC’s top-rated “Today Show” on the property in 2009. The monumental production involved dozens of people and called on all her management skills. Schmidt regards it as the experience of a lifetime, in part because the show spotlighted not just the Westin, but also Key West and the Keys.

Some of her experiences at the Westin’s helm have been memorable for less agreeable reasons. Take, for example, the guest who tried heating up some food in her room safe, thinking it was a microwave, or the guest who came to the front desk naked to announce that he had lost his room key.

According to Schmidt, it’s this unpredictability and her love of the hospitality field and the Keys that keep her in Key West. She loves the pace of her island life, and finds great satisfaction in the energy and active atmosphere at the Westin.

“It keeps you youthful and active,” she says of the hospitality business. “You have to be energetic and love it — if you’re not having fun, you need to get out of it.”

Besides her career, Schmidt also carves out time for community involvement. She currently chairs the Lodging Association of the Florida Keys & Key West among other commitments.

When she’s not working, her favorite way to slow down is to sit on her front porch looking out at the water with her husband and dog.

“I tell everyone how the Keys are perfect because you can work and play hard here,” Schmidt said. “The diversity here is great — you can be wild and crazy one night, and the next sit in the backcountry in your kayak enjoying nature.”