Part 2 - LA84 Foundation

580
20. Press Village
20.5
Lodging Operation
20.5.1
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Basics for Operation
The Press Village's 1,848 apartment
units in 36 buildings were divided into
four zones and 38 lodging districts,
and were managed separately.
A chief was placed in each of the 38
lodging districts' management offices
on July 14, 1988.
The chiefs handled matters relating to
the takeover, placement, retrieval and
returning of the materials. They were
also responsible for keeping order in
the lodging facilities, room service,
front desk service and laundry.
The operation personnel at the lodging
facilities numbered 1,496 in all. The
figure broke down to one director of
housing operation, six managers, 13
operation officers, 38 district chiefs, 38
front desk chiefs, 115 materials and
administration personnel, 502 lodging
maintenance personnel, 246 room
service personnel, 198 front desk
personnel, 198 guides and 152
interpreters.
Among the operation personnel, the
maintenance personnel received
audio-visual education for 30 hours in
July. Audio-visual education was also
offered to the interpreters, guides and
front service personnel for a few days
in July and August at the Korea
National Tourism Corp. Education
Center. Education for district chiefs
were conducted for 43 hours during a
week in July, focusing on the on-site
exercise at hotels.
The SLOOC took over the facilities
from the Seoul city administration on
July 1, 1988. After opening the lodging
management office, the SLOOC put
materials in place and furnished the
buildings by the end of August.
A total of 1,800 units in 35 buildings
out of the total 36 buildings were used
for lodging. There were a total of 5,622
rooms comprising 1,199 Single-A type
rooms, 3,403 Single-B rooms, 782
Single-C rooms and 227 Twin rooms.
Each room had a telephone, a 14-inch
or 16-inch color TV set, a small-sized
refrigerator, bed, wardrobe for oneperson
use, a desk and chair, an electric
lampstand, a wall clock, a
thermos, glasses and a comb. Thirteen
kinds of toiletries and other
conveniences were also supplied
along with bags and stationery.
20.5.2
Lodging Allocation
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For the allocation of the rooms, the
journalists were classified by nation
and by news media. Those working for
print media were divided according to
the specialized areas, continents,
languages and agencies. Those at
broadcasting media were grouped by
associations or major networks.
No special consideration was given to
women journalists in the course of
room allocation and each news media
allotted some of their rooms to women
on their own judgment.
From July 1988, rooms were designated
for those who had filed advance
deposits and the allocation was
finished before the village was formally
opened.
It was the right of the SLOOC to allocate
the rooms to journalists. The
SLOOC tried to accommodate the
journalists' special requests concerning
the room allocation. The rooms
were allocated on a first-come, firstserved
basis.
When a journalist asked for the
change of his or her room before paying
the accommodation fee and completing
the necessary procedures, his
or her request was fully considered
and the accommodation documents
were reissued. A total of 288 such
requests were filed.
Requests for change of rooms were
not accepted after the accommodation
procedures were completed, except in
some extraordinary cases.
20.5.3
Lodging Management
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The maintenance of the lodging facilities
was of crucial importance. A
devoted workforce was needed to
carry out the work throughout the
Games period; 521 members of the
Seoul YWCA were thus mobilized on a
short-term employment basis.
They cleaned the bedrooms, living
rooms and bathrooms, made beds,
changed linen and other lodging
materials, supplied needed items, and
conducted household safety checks.
They began their work on August 24,
one week before the official opening of
the village and continued to work until
October 5. The official working hours
were from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.
A dozen YWCA members were
assigned to clean up 48 units in each
district. Each three-person team
managed a dozen apartments.
Some 264 military support personnel
were posted for various services at
lodging facilities. It was earlier questioned
if the military personnel would
be proper for such services, but their
attitudes won high praise.
They guided the journalists into their
rooms and carried the baggages at
the time of check-in and check-out.
They also supplied potable water. They
worked on two shifts around the clock
from September 1 to October 5.
Front desks were set up at each district
management office. Thirty-eight
front desk chiefs supervised 198 front
desk personnel.
The front desk on the first floor of the
lodging district controlled entries and
exits and the operation of the elevators.
The military support personnel
were assigned to the front desks to
collect the room number cards, and
handle keys, postal services and messages.
The entrances were decorated
with a board to collect the signatures
of the journalists staying at the village.
Notices were put up on the bulletin
board at the entrance and public relations
materials were distributed. The
front desk personnel worked around
the clock on two shifts from September
1 to October 5.
Furniture and electronic appliances
were placed in each room by the suppliers,
and toiletries and other conveniences
for 20 days' use were distributed
by the district lodging
management offices.
Bed sheets were changed daily as
were the bath towels and hand towels.
Each journalist was supplied with
three cans of Coke, Diet Coke, and
other soft drinks daily in addition to
one litre of mineral water. Coffee,
cream and sugar for 30 cups were
supplied to each apartment. The total
supply of soft drinks amounted to
231,582 cans and that of mineral water
45,360 litres.
TV sets and typewriters were leased
for 119,000 won and 31,600 won each
at the lodger's request, but requests
were only filed for six TV sets and 15
typewriters.