I went to university in the States and started a business management degree, which I studied for three years and while trying to find areas that would interest me, I found a hospitality management programme in tourism in Miami, Florida. The reason I started looking at that field is because since I was young my family travelled a lot – my father worked for the European Commission; we went mostly to developing countries in Africa and Asia so the travelling lifestyle interested me. 

Once I arrived at hospitality school, I started an internship at a private concièrge service in Miami, which had offices in big cities such as New York, London, Paris and Milan. That opened my eyes to the service industry and I started working in restaurants and bars.  

In the last year of school, l had my first experience in a hotel; it was a boutique property, a 50-room Hilton. From the start I loved talking to people who came from all over the world and I was giving them ideas of what to do. It was nice to deal with people when I knew how they felt when they were travelling and that they needed small ideas to help make them feel good while they were away from home.  

I credit my first front office manager who trained me and was my mentor. He was very hospitality orientated, a great people person, and loved to talking to guests and staff, and that suggested a career in hospitality to me. I spent about a year in the hotel in Miami on a student visa which expired, so returned to my home country, France.  

There I found a reception job in a Hilton. I was lucky there as well because the GM I worked for in Paris came from a 5-star property and was particularly attentive to service and guests. It was more of a business hotel and nice to learn different preparation and attention to detail; it was a 4-star hotel with 5-star service. I was comfortable speaking in English, which was an advantage, and I knew Paris quite well, so I enjoyed giving recommendations to guests.  

I continued to work at this hotel for three years and took a number of positions – reception, night duty, revenue; I saw the full scope of hotel operations. Then I had the chance to come back to reception as a shift leader, working with the team to prepare for VIPs; we were in the front line for solving problems. Some colleagues were not always comfortable dealing with guests who were frustrated with certain things but I enjoyed doing my best to find solutions for that. I enjoyed seeing guests happy with what we were able to do for them.  

Just before Covid struck, I had the opportunity to move to Luxembourg as assistant front office manager in the Doubletree Hilton. It was an interesting time with a new role and lockdown in place. I found solutions for the team, which was not easy because the hotel was closed and I had to work out how to handle operations and the team’s workload.  

When we got back into operations after lockdown, we had some revenge travel, when people started travelling regularly again. It was nice to get back to giving customer service, even though it was with many every-changing restrictions; it was good to enjoy daily conversations with guests and the team, and getting the best out of them was both challenging and rewarding. 

Then I joined Accor group in Luxembourg, where the group had close to 10 properties. It is nice to be part of Accor because we can collaborate with other hotels in the company and teams in the city on projects, and we can discuss trends in Luxembourg. The country is interesting because there is a wide variety of expats who work and live here and it is becoming ever more popular for tourism with visitors from neighbouring countries. Accor does things differently from Hilton; again, it is very client focused and it felt more natural to me – it is a French brand and my being French.  

I recommend hospitality to anyone who loves to talk and engage with people from across the world, to travel and to see new cultures where you work.  

I learned the Heartist® ethic from my mother, who is from the Philippines. There, when you welcome someone into your home, you prepare their favourite food and drink, make sure their bed is comfortable. I saw her do this through my childhood and hospitality seems to have the same mindset – you prepare to give guests an experience in the local culture and to make them feel at home.  

In Luxembourg, clients and employees are from a variety of countries and cultures, and they bring different strengths to the team. I have lived in more than 10 countries and travelled to 35 plus, and that leads to open-mindedness  

It is fulfilling being able to collaborate with people from across the world, learn about their culture in the service of our guests, and to be able to do that on a daily basis; being part of a multicultural team is really nice, because it reflects how I grew up; those are the highlights of my job.  

Most important is to be yourself and enjoy the environment you are working in. It is essential to listen and be empathetic towards anyone you talk to, to be open-minded and take on new ideas and new skills. Hospitality is one of the best industries to appreciate that worldwide experience; it gives you a broader view.