Hospitality was not my first choice of career; I finished my studies in physiotherapy and I needed to work. Hospitality needed people and I dived in. My first job was as a waiter for a hotel in the middle of Luxembourg and 2½ years later, I joined Mercure in Luxembourg as a Receptionist, where I stayed for 3 years.   

I’ve finished my studies and have returned to a cleaning role, which suits me really well at this stage. I enjoy the independence and calm it offers. 

Now I am at Mercure Luxembourg Kikuoka Golf and Spa in Canach, and have been there for 3 years and 3 months in both positions – Receptionist and Housekeeper.  

I love the idea of being in contact with different Accor hotels; my sister used to work for Accor, which is how I came into hospitality. Each day is unique, and in Accor, the job is personal, not robotic, making every day the best. Hospitality engages you so that you can make your personality felt; in Reception, if I made the person standing in front of me smile, then I made their day better. Now I am making their stay as comfortable and clean as possible.  

Working in hospitality does help you get over being shy. It also helps you create solutions to problems quickly by reading people’s body language. You accommodate them and use psychology in some cases to guide people to find a solution – calming down is often the answer to the problem. That was my experience in Reception and that is why I recommend hospitality and Accor. 

I met a couple of people doing an internship; they were just discovering the world and they were shy. I said, no one knows you are scared of the job, so pretend you are not and you will believe it; that is a good way to be yourself as you approach the world and do not hide from it.  

The Heartist® spirit is about making the person in front of me feel better, making them smile, and that was my main goal when I worked at the Reception. 

The highlight of my career has been the friendships I have built inside my team. When I was going to leave, I kept in contact with them and now that I’m back, I know I left my mark on those people and that was great.  

In Reception, the advice that helped me most of the time, was to be friendly and professional, be empathetic – read guests’ body language to understand where they are coming from, and be as solution oriented as possible to deescalate problems. And listen because guests may not have that at home, so you can be the one!