My grandma was a waitress in a café in a small village and my grandpa used to take me there – he was going for a glass of wine and taking me for a soda! Even when I was seven I wanted to help, to clean the tables; and that’s how my career started.

When I entered middle school, I wanted to be a waiter, and I went to culinary college to study business and hospitality. Until 12 years ago I was working in a 5-star hotel as a Waiter and then I had a daughter. The hours were terrible – from 7am to 7pm when a congress was running, and I was considering whether I wanted to stay in hospitality. I didn’t want to work as a Waiter anymore because I wanted to spend some time with my child and family.

So I moved to the Front Office and the next stage in my career. I like Accor because the people are great. It’s similar to other brands I have experienced but Accor gives us more freedom to do our job, and they keep us well informed.

We can see from our technology our guests’ preferences and that allows us to make sure their stay is the best. I like to work with people and to talk to them. I can’t imagine working in the back office of a bank, not communicating with people the way I can at the front desk. As a Front Office Manager I do not sit in my office; most of the time I am outside, communicating with guests, observing, and helping my staff.

Working in hospitality helps people open up, especially if they are shy, because you have to communicate with people. When we resolve guests’ problems, I’m happy about that. When they are staying in the hotel – whether for one night, a full week, or longer – it is their home. Anyone who does not know what to do in life should try hospitality because when you make someone happy and satisfied, you feel that too.

Before I started in the Pullman about a year ago, I was working in a Mövenpick as a Manager’s Assistant. Two years in a row I was Employee of the Year. Being a Heartist® means to help my colleagues and to help guests – to try to give the best of myself rather than do the minimum. If someone asks for something we don’t have, the conversation does not stop there.  Even if someone is not staying at the hotel but asks you to help with a flat tyre, of course you do that.

One of the highlights of my career concerned our AC / DC technology, which allows us to see the preferences of guests who are members of Accor. I always check before guests arrive to see what they like and one guest liked trains and photography. I also like photography and there is a famous bridge near Zagreb. At night, when the train goes over the 150m bridge it lights up in many colours. I arranged for him to take a night photo of the train and the next day he told me he going to take photographs of the bridge.

About three weeks later, he came back and brought me a photo of the bridge – it was 1.2m wide and he thanked me. He returned five days after that, so I prepared the photograph and hung it in the room where he was staying. He came back downstairs laughing and crying and said it was his best ever moment in the hotel – and he had been coming here for more than 10 years. That for me is about being a Heartist®. I made him happy and he made me happy when he gave me the photograph.

There will be hard days working in hospitality when you might consider giving up but sleep on it for one night and take a rest; if you like hospitality stick with it. When I was planning not to work as a waiter and wondering whether to change my career, I stayed with hotels and I don’t regret that. Working in hospitality is tough, but it is worth it; you need to work hard to achieve your goals – it pays off because you can see the results of your efforts when guests are happy.