When I was young, after studying law for a year, I decided to join the army, which was very different from hospitality! After eight years, my big sister was working as a Reservations Manager in a little hotel in Valencia, where I am from. I was tired of the army – it wasn’t fun any more, and she offered to ask her General Manager if I could work with her in the reception team.

Spanish is my mother tongue and when I was four years old, my father came to Vienna and my mother decided to put us into a French school, so from that age I spoke Spanish at home and learnt French and German. I started to learn English and then I taught myself Italian, which is why my sister said, ‘You are young, and you speak lots of languages, which is good for the hotel.’

In 2009, when I had been at the hotel for about four years, there was a financial crisis and everything in Spain was broke, so I came to Vienna for a year to speak more German. I stayed with friends of my mother and my best friend from school in Vienna and I decided to try to get a job.

One week later, I received two invitations to interviews, one of which was with the MGallery Hotel Am Konzerthaus in Vienna. The General Manager was Monika Stadler and she loved French; my German was not very good because I had not spoken it for 20 years, so we did the interview half in German and half in French. After a week, she rang me to invite me to join the team, and that’s how my career with Accor began.

I started as a Receptionist and after about six months I became Assistant Front Office Manager. At the beginning of 2014, I moved to Mercure hotels as a Sales Representative, making contracts with small to medium sized businesses that didn’t have many room nights to get as much business as possible for Mercure.

Later that year I got married and in May 2015 my baby girl Luna was born. I returned to Mercure hotels in May 2016 and oversaw social media for Mercure throughout Austria. It was fun but it wasn’t my dream job because you have to love this and always have your phone with you to grab the moment; it never stops!

I then welcomed my second baby, Max, in March 2018, and took a maternity leave for two years. My first day back at work was March 17, 2020 – the start of the coronavirus crisis. I arrived at the hotel expecting a welcome committee and the night audit told me everything was closed! I was alone in the hotel; it was a really strange month, uncomfortable. We were scared about what was happening and whether we would be able to open again. After four months, we opened the property but with a lot of conditions.

I was Guest Experience Manager and was responding to reviews from guests, organising special surprises and making sparkling moments, as well as helping reception with booking concert tickets and more. Then, last year the Reservations Manager left and I took over.

I love Accor because there are so many opportunities; you can work in many countries and with mobility you have lots of experiences. We can also book special rates on holidays with the Heartist® card, and there are numerous possibilities with the learning programme and the chance to improve yourself. Also no two days are the same, there are new impressions, smiles, faces: it’s never boring.

Every day you are in contact with lots of nationalities, and you can learn about guests and their experience; it’s a great job and if you do it well, you can work for many years.

In Mercure Wien City, we are a small team because the hotel has only 123 rooms and we are like a family. Every day, I am happy to go to work and see my colleagues, it’s a lovely atmosphere.

Being a Heartist® is giving the best of yourself, being authentic. When I go to another hotel or when I call someone to make a reservation, I want to be treated the way I treat people. Everything comes from the heart, being polite, showing solidarity, and going out of your way for guests or colleagues.

My proudest moment was when I was at the Hotel am Konzerthaus and I came on duty at 2pm. The team asked me what was happening with one room because normally check-out was at 12pm and the guest was still there. He was from Spain, and I knew he had a flight at 4pm. We went to the room, and he had been sleeping and was very stressed. I helped him pack and book a taxi – and he got the flight, thank heavens! A week later I received a big hamper of Spanish products to thank me; it was lovely to be recognised and know I had done my job well.

I recommend that newcomers take all the learning they need to develop themselves. A lot of hotels give you the opportunity to do courses and some young people say they don’t need them, but it is so important become a better professional. And travel to learn about the hotel experience in other countries – to pick up anything that might inspire you to take new practices home.