San Jose’s ‘royal shmoozer’ puts out the welcome mat

When notable personages come to San Jose, they often stay at the Fairmont Hotel, where Lina Broydo is on hand to welcome them. As director of public relations, Broydo has arranged for then-President Bill Clinton to have a saxophone in his room, comedian Bill Cosby to get his favorite snack of chocolate-chip cookies and children's entertainer Fred Rogers to receive a chocolate replica of his famous sweater.

Broydo establishes connections -- with her guests and with the local community -- as an ambassador for the Fairmont. Recently she was crowned "Royal Shmoozer" 2003 by popular vote at a Silicon Valley Chamber of Commerce event.

It's easy to see why Broydo is so popular. The queen of shmooze bubbles with enthusiasm and always has something positive to say. "You're a writer," she says to this reporter. "This is a great talent, the command of the English language you have in this land of immigrants."

She is extremely chatty and laughs easily. "Yes, you can tell I'm not from New Jersey," she giggles, when asked about her Russian accent. She also speaks Hebrew and Polish and says she uses all her languages every week speaking with international business travelers at the Fairmont. She pushes drinks and snacks on people -- "How can I help it? I'm a Jewish mother!"

Broydo has been likened to Zsa Zsa Gabor, and besides the accent, she's got a sense of glitz -- the crown brooch pinned to her jacket, awarded to her as shmooze royalty, sparkles along with a bracelet of pink crystals wound several times around her wrist. Walking into her small office, you feel like you're inside an issue of People magazine -- every inch of wall space is covered with snapshots of her with celebrity guests. President George W. Bush and the First Lady pose with her more formally, but plenty of other photos have her in a big hug with someone like Jay Leno or Mikhail Baryshnikov. Muhammad Ali and Luciano Pavarotti are caught kissing her on the cheek.

Of course, in the tech-central city of San Jose, the Fairmont is much more likely to host a drove of disk-drive manufacturers than celebrities. With more than 800 rooms and nearly an acre-and-a-half of conference space, the Fairmont does lend considerable gravitas and a sense of prosperity to the city's revitalized downtown. An observer could also be forgiven for thinking the hotel rather bland and corporate. Broydo, who has been with the Fairmont since it opened in 1987, provides some razzle-dazzle -- developing and publicizing special treats and events.

For instance, to kick off the hotel's high tea service, Broydo brought in a London pastry chef from a tony Hyde Park establishment patronized by Britain's Queen Mum, to create the delicacies. People queued up in long lines to have scones on flowered china.

When Broydo talks about the 12 children she arranged to have come into the hotel kitchen, competing to make the best pizza, she lights up with the transparently joyful smile of a child herself. In fact this happens whenever she discusses people enjoying one of her events

Due to her efforts, you can learn about microprocessors in the Tech Museum across the street and have old-fashioned high tea in the hotel lobby.

Sometimes she uses the hotel's celebrity connections to benefit local charities. When Dustin Hoffman and John Travolta were filming in town, she asked them to donate autographed director's chairs, which were auctioned off for $4,000 at a benefit for the American Cancer Society. There's frequently a nice synergy to Broydo's job -- getting the hotel free publicity, while doing good for the larger community.

"Lina is the keeper of the soul of the hotel," says Cyril Isnard, the Fairmont's general manager and Broydo's boss. "We are part of the weave of the city, you can't just sell your wares and close your doors. A hotel gets its reputation from the city where it is located. You have to have a social conscience."

Broydo, who was born in Lithuania and moved to Israel when she was of high-school age, says her mother, the head nurse in an oncology clinic in Tel Aviv, was the big shmoozer of the family. "She wouldn't just take care of families, she would look after them. She always had a warm hug and a sandwich."

When the Fairmont adopted a San Jose shelter for battered women and children, Broydo orchestrated an outreach event, drawing on her connections among the city's movers and shakers, and with the press. The hotel set up a banner and a table at its entrance, and people driving by got heart-shaped cookies and coffee in return for their donations.

"The local radio station covered it, the mayor of San Jose came by -- it was a big to-do and gave us high visibility," says Kathleen Krenek, executive director of Next Door Solutions to Domestic Violence. Krenek says Broydo has provided her with valuable insight on networking with the business community. "Lina is such an incredibly skilled person, but she doesn't only utilize her skills and intelligence to further her own life, she uses it to help others."

For Broydo, it's important to do more than just promote the Fairmont. "When I have grandchildren, and they ask me, 'What did you do?' I want to be able to say that I did more than just [help] people to sleep."