Whom Did I Select For My Letters of Recommendation?

Whom Did I Select For My Letters of Recommendation? I am four years removed from undergraduate coursework. I find it to be very difficult to find solid recommendations for applications. I didn't want to use a current coworker for a couple reasons. 1. We are a pretty small firm. I really like my job, my boss, and my coworkers. I do not want to leave the business. Worrying others about my choice to pursue an MBA doesn't seem like a wise choice. Again, since I do not want to leave my job 2. It is my personal time used to get an advance degree, I am earning for myself. 3. I like my job. I don't want added pressure during an already stressful time. This is the place I intend to work for the next 3 – 5 years. I worked for Hilton Hotels Corporation for two and a half years after college, that time was only interrupted by a five-month stint with a LongHorn Restaurant in Ocala, Florida. The work history story goes like this:

I was hired by the Director of Sales, and worked two years with him in Gainesville, Florida. Mass Mutual of Omaha owned the physical building in Gainesville and the Management Contract for employees was with Hilton Hotel Corporation (HHC). The General Manager did such a great job; the owners were able to sell the building and assets for a very large profit only seven years after it was built. Mass Mutual sold to the highest bidder, a company called Benchmark Hospitality. Benchmark is an Asset Holding and Management Company. The Hilton Management contract was not a condition of the sale and was no longer required.* HHC wanted to retain some of its top performing employees; they offered jobs to the Director of Sales, the General Manager, the Revenue Manager, and two Catering Managers. I was left behind, as there were no additional vacancies in the Sales Team at the new property in Atlanta.

I gave my resignation notice to the cancerous coworker who was promoted from within the Sales Team in Gainesville, and took a job with LongHorn (ironically an Atlanta based restaurant in Ocala, Florida). Rare Hospitality (LongHorn Steakhouse and Capital Grill) was ironically going through a similar sale agreement and would soon after become a part of a much larger Orlando based Darden Restaurants (Red Lobster, Olive Garden).
When a position opened in Atlanta my former Director called and offered me the job. I left the Restaurant and started again at Hilton, with time bridged from my previous stint of employment. Recommendation #1:

The General Manager of the new property was unfortunately let go prior to my my career change to the Financial Industry (a testament to poor planning by HHC). She liked my work and was willing to write me a Letter of Recommendation. She rehired me without reservation as a testament to my work ethic. I thought she would be the perfect choice.
As an aside: The General Manager is very busy in her current roll at another property. It took some time for her to complete the letter. I noticed I was offered admissions to Georgia State prior to her submitting my Recommendation. I found this fact strange. It can be interpreted that the LOR's are really not too valuable to the selection of candidates for this program.

Recommendation #2:

The Revenue Manager is a good friend and someone I worked very closely with at both properties to produce the most amount of profit for the Hotels. She was willing to write a glowing review for me personally and professionally. State only required two letters. The above two were chosen for both programs. Recommendation #3:

For the additional recommendation required for Tech, I choose the head of the Sales Team at the Atlanta property. Since I took the next step in my career, he and I have become close friends. I know that I could trust him to help.
Notice, I choose all professional references. Taking business courses at the University of Florida is no easy task. All the core courses are offered once per day for 2500 students to attend, if they can't make it they can watch it during a TV replay later that day or via the Internet. There isn't much opportunity to really get to know the professors in such a way they could write glowing recommendations.
* Hotel Management: Hilton Hotels Corporation, based out of Beverly Hills, Ca, is both a Management Company and an Asset Company. They sold most of the Hotels they owned in order to gain enough liquid assets to purchase Hilton International (yes, Hilton International was a separate company from Hilton Domestic). As a condition of the sale of the properties they owned, they required the Management contract to remain with HHC. At the time of my employment at Hilton Atlanta Airport, Hilton owned only 17 properties. Every property Hilton owns is managed by HHC.

If you bought a hotel building today, you would have a couple different options. 1. You could pay to have HHC manage your property. In doing so, you are asking Hilton Management to make your property function the way Conrad Hilton intended. 2. You could try and manage the property yourself. With this option, you pay Hilton Hotels Corp to have the right to call your property a Hilton. All Hilton Franchises are required to have certain characteristics to keep the flag, you must have these core competencies in place. 3. You could pay another, third party, to manage the property. They also have to adhere to the policies of Hilton to keep the flag, but usually they are cheaper than having Hilton Hotels Corp Manage the property.

These third party companies, like Benchmark, are usually Asset holding companies, and similar to Hilton owning the building and using its own Management teams, the third Party company could purchase the building as it is sold and institute it's own management team. If you work for a third party management company, although you work at a Hilton, you are not a Hilton Employee. You are a Benchmark employee. When the management contract is sold, in theory so is your career.

Phew... the quick and dirty hotel story.