The Marquette Hotel Meets The Bachelorette

How do you keep a secret if The Bachelorette TV show is in town filming? I’ve often wondered how I can be unaware of celebrities spending time in the city where I live. So, I asked Kathryn (Kat) Laulainen, Director of Sales, at the Marquette hotel.

The pre-arrival crew for The Bachelorette arrived in the beginning of August to set up. One week later the cast arrived and stayed the month, utilizing the entire hotel for filming three episodes.

Kat told me, “Communications is key in keeping it confidential. At time of booking and fourteen days prior to entertainer’s arrival, each department meets and receives a notice of confidentiality. No information is allowed to be disclosed by hotel staff and for this group, everything was kept in the strictest of confidence up until after the first show was aired. Our Convention Services Manager oversees the group’s details from discreet arrival/departure, special requests, and even organizing hotel keys for the group, so they do not have to go to the front desk.”

This made me wonder about groupies of famous entertainers. “Some groupies hang out trying to find the entertainer. We don’t allow them to come into the Marquette Hotel” Kat said. “If the groupies do find out an entertainer is staying at the hotel, the hotel communicates this to the entertainer. Often times the entertainer will use a different entrance into the hotel.” She told me again that communication is key, from booking, to arrival, through departure.