Bellman with ‘gift of gab’ retiring after 50 years
For Sheraton Cavalier bellman Dan Cardinal, hotels are the great equalizer. Even Johnny Cash is just another person when he’s standing in his pyjamas grabbing a tray of room service.
After 50 years serving as the first point of contact for many people visiting Saskatoon, Cardinal, now supervisor of guest services at the hotel, has decided to retire. April 1 will be his last day at the Sheraton.
He credits his career’s longevity largely to a passion for the work and the people he’s met as a result of it.
“I like just seeing people and the genuine appreciation that you get back, when you get the people that genuinely mean it,” Cardinal said. “But my biggest thing for how long I stayed at the hotel is I took pride in what I did. Another thing is respect. If you have respect for your job and for other people, with those two things, any job, any part of the walk of life, is a breeze.”
Cardinal grew up at St. Ann’s Children’s Home in Ituna until he was moved to foster care at 14. He moved to Saskatoon for a twomonth job placement program at the Sheraton.
Although he was originally hired as a maintenance worker, after a few years he realized he wanted to work with people.
“I had the gift of gab, and think that’s still kind of true. I could talk to anybody, you would figure I’d been friends with them for years,” Cardinal said.
“So just by watching the bellmen do the work and interacting with different people, I said, ‘I’m going to give this a try.’ ” When a bellman position opened up, he asked to be transferred.
Lorne Calvert worked as a bellman under Cardinal while he was in university. Aside from training the former premier, Cardinal said the most memorable celebrities he met were Kenny Rogers, KISS and the Cash family.
“But my best one I think would be the Cash family,” he said. “The whole family stayed in the hotel because they always went up north, went fishing. They’d come every summer and every summer I’d look after them.”
Cardinal was named Employee of the Year by Saskatchewan Tourism, Starwood Hotels and Properties of North America and the Tourism Industry Association of Canada in 2016. He decided 50 was a nice round number at which to retire.
“When I won those awards all in the span of a year and a half, that was overwhelming,” he said. “But it can’t be done without the people that you’re looking after and it can’t be done without your family in-house, with your co-workers.”
He doesn’t have any big plans for his retirement. For the time being, he’ll continue to work in the community as a member of the Army, Navy and Air Force Veterans in Canada (ANAVETS) and do odd jobs for people that need them, he said.
“I don’t mind shovelling snow, cutting grass. I love staying outdoors. I’ll be keeping busy.”
Cardinal hasn’t changed much — since he started at the Sheraton, he guesses he’s dropped an inch in height and his moustache is far more salt than pepper. For the next few days, he’ll still come to work half an hour early to have coffee and read the paper. But he’s taken note of how much and how frequently the hotel has changed since he was 18.
“It’s always changing. People, personnel are always continuously changing. There’s not too many people who stay for long-term periods of time anymore, it’s more of a stepping stone so they can go to a bigger, better career,” Cardinal said. “Which is understandable. But I made a career out of this, of looking after people.”
A farewell reception for Cardinal will happen on April 3 at the Sheraton Cavalier from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. Anyone who would like to attend should RSVP to hr@sheratonsaskatoon.com.