Historic Hotel’s Pint-Sized Professionals

Any interest in making your summer vacation a working one…for the kids? It’s never too soon to get the kids thinking about future careers, and here’s a fun way to do it: The National Trust Historic Hotels of America has special summer programs with several locations that allows kids to be a part of the hospitality action. Here’s the scoop on how your kid can be doorman, duckmaster’s assistant or bellman for the day:

At the Fairmont San Francisco, kids can play Doorman for a Day. This complimentary program is a chance to don an official doorman cap and help hail down cabs with a keepsake doorman whistle.

The Peabody Memphis employs a uniformed Duckmaster who cares for the famous resident ducks and escorts them on their fountain walk each day. The hotel’s Ducky Day Family package (starting at $290/night) lets kids act as the Duckmaster’s Assistant, marching the ducks on one of their daily treks.

The Basin Harbor Club (Vergennes, Vt.), offers a Junior Staff Program that allows children 12 and over to choose to “work” in a department for two hours. Positions available are bellman, hostess, boat captain, gardener, bag boy, front desk and host/owner. Budding journalists may prefer the Teen Escape program, which encourages teens to play reporter during their stay. The information is compiled into a newsletter for them to take home as the memories of their vacation.