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Horatio Alger would have loved Jim Morrissey, a 29-year-old who started out as a room-service waiter and was recently named director of operations for the biggest hotel in Los Angeles County.

Morrissey has been in the hotel business since the age of 17 and has worked in nearly every area possible before landing his current job with the Westin Bonaventure Hotel and Suites downtown. “I just went very quickly up the ladder,” Morrissey said.

“I have been so fortunate to have been surrounded by successful and very talented people,” he added. “I’ve tried to take their good qualities and skills and incorporate them into my own personal style.”

Morrissey is in charge of the day-to-day operations of the 1,354-room hotel. He attends strategy and forecast meetings, coordinates with managers, involves himself with the front desk, and oversees ongoing renovations. “Because of our size, we will be renovating continuously,” he said.

Morrissey has worked at nine different hotels during his 12-year career, starting out as a waiter with the Stanford Park Hotel in the Bay Area. Before moving to the Westin Bonaventure, he was director of operations at the Ontario Airport Marriott Hotel.

Despite a drop-off in Japanese tourism, Morrissey says the Bonaventure has had a good year and he’s optimistic that things will get even better as coming events draw more visitors to L.A.

“I’m very excited about the Van Gogh production at LACMA,” he said. “We are participating in the groups of hotels in that program, and that will be a positive experience, based on the success Van Gogh had in Washington. We will see a lot of good exposure from that.”

Karen Teitelman