Westside : Getting Comfortable for a Good Cause

Uniformed employees at two Westside Doubletree hotels are getting the chance to be charitable--and feel comfortable while they’re doing it.

The hotels, one near Los Angeles International Airport and the other in Santa Monica, are allowing employees to trade uniforms for casual wear one Friday a month. However, the employees must pay $3 to participate in the so-called “casual day”--all the money collected goes to a different charity each month.

Some employees are not swayed by the chance to don casual clothes--they simply donate the money, hotel executives said.

At the Doubletree near LAX, casual day has rung in about $300 every month from some of the hotel’s 400 or so employees, said Lori Reid, employment manager. In Santa Monica, Community Relations Committee Chairwoman April Thompson said Doubletree employees raise an average monthly donation of $80.

The Doubletree chain held the first casual day after the Oklahoma bombing last spring. All Doubletree hotels participated to raise money for the families of bombing victims. Since then, the local hotels have donated money to Heal the Bay, the March of Dimes and the American Cancer Society.