SAN ANTONIO – William P. Brendel, general manager of the Crockett Hotel in downtown San Antonio, released a statement Friday regarding regarding the death of a housekeeper who fell down an elevator shaft.
"The entire Crockett Hotel staff joins me in expressing our deepest sympathy to Gloria Rodriguez's family. We are a close-knit staff and all of us are in the state of shock over this tragic accident.
Gloria came to the Crockett Hotel in September 1999 and applied for her first job. When she was told she was hired as a room attendant, she smiled and continued to smile every day. Gloria enjoyed a close relationship with her housekeeping team and all the members of the Crockett Hotel staff. She was eager to learn and took care of every detail with pride.
Gloria was selected as our Exemplary Employee of the Month in December 2010. This recognition is awarded regularly to an employee who goes beyond the daily expectations of their position in service to our guests.
The comfort and safety of our guests are our primary concern, as well as for our dedicated hotel staff.
We are cooperating fully in the investigation of this tragic accident, in the hope it will help us find out how this could have happened, and how it can be prevented in the future. To our knowledge, we have never experienced any elevator related injury at the Crockett Hotel.
The elevators are inspected annually by the State of Texas. The most recent annual inspections found no areas of concern and were fully up to current state code."
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The fatal incident happened at 6 p.m. Wednesday when Rodriguez, 65, called for a service elevator on the sixth floor of the Crockett Hotel. But when the doors opened, the elevator apparently wasn't there, and the housekeeper fell to her death.
Rodriguez's family said the hotel was negligent and are considering legal action.