Hospitality was my first choice of career, to the chagrin of my parents who had stable, well paid office jobs working for Siemens and Deutsche Bank. But my godmother was working in hospitality; I loved her stories and I accompanied her at work, so I had the opportunity to look into it before I had to make a choice – and I knew I wanted to do that.  

In the 9th grade, we had a presentation by the general manager of Fuerther Hotel Mercure Nuernberg West, which was close to where I lived, and the main point of his presentation was that you need a certain kind of love and drive to serve people, to be there for them and see them for who they are.  

I had an interesting first conversation with him because at the time, I spoke German with a harsh regional dialect, but I was told my accent was lovely and people would like it because they would know where I was from. I got the job and was an apprentice for 2½ years; I never regretted it.  

You have to love working in hospitality because either like it or you don’t; you discover that quickly. Of all the people I started my apprenticeship with, 18 years later, I’m the only one still in hospitality.  

For another six months, I worked a morning shift and went to school in the afternoon or evening to do my SAT but then I had to say goodbye because working in a hotel and at school for A levels was too much.  

After I passed my exams, I left for New Zealand, working on the North Island. It was a remote area, and we had a lot of tourists because from the Tongariro Alpine Crossing was just a 30-minute drive away. They were a different from the business travellers in Germany; tourists have time to talk, and it was a change of pace.  

After nine months, I went back to Germany and studied international business management in Freiburg and worked in Vienna; I spent 10 weeks at the University and 14 at work. I spent four years in Switzerland. For me one of the main drivers in hospitality was to see the world and meet a wide variety of people. It’s loving to serve and Accor takes that approach to guests and its staff.  

I wanted to go back to New Zealand but the bar for the visa is high, so I came back to Accor in 2021 and while I was in Vienna applied for a job as an executive administrative assistant in two hotels and that’s where I am now. It includes HR, maintenance, organising team events and working on eco labels such as Green Key certification, the new EU Ecolabel and Österreichisches Umweltzeichen. I wear many hats and I don’t know in the morning what I am doing in the afternoon.  

We try to connect hearts – the Heartist® culture is to talk the talk and walk the walk. There is a huge community wherever you go and if you have questions, there is always someone who can answer or can point you in the right direction. And you can see the world because Accor is present on all continents.  

I recommend hospitality; it is a love-hate relationship. You have to try it because you see people in a different light and I don’t think there is another profession that lets you see people like that. I had one client in my first hotel and to this day, his breakfast order was hot milk, honey with chocolate powder on the side; he didn’t trust us to make hot chocolate for him and he never had to ask for it because we all knew.  

Heartist® is being there, being attentive, approachable for guests and colleagues, and understanding people.  

One of my highlights and proudest moment was in New Zealand. We used to prepare guests for the one-day hike; they could rent hiking boots and take the shuttle service. A lovely young Norwegian lady was hesitant about whether to do it; she didn’t have any hiking gear, and I told her about the drop-off service. Eventually, she did it and she came back so happy, and I was glad for her that she did it, enjoyed it and was proud of herself. I had tried to make it easy for her. 

The second time was in Switzerland when a mountain biker arrived at the hotel drenched in mud from head to foot. I suggested she hosed down the bike, hung everything in the heating room to dry and then we could deal with the rest. When you talk to people you can identify a need they may not have seen immediately.  

Try hospitality and never stop asking questions because you are never too experienced to know everything; to do that and you will learn something every day.