I started in hospitality by chance and then I fell in love with it. Originally, I studied economics in Portugal but I had to abandon that because of the 2011 economic crisis, when I left for France to work in farming.

After a few years I decided to return to Portugal to be closer to my family. When I returned to Portugal I had the opportunity to work in housekeeping where I stayed for a few months, until I changed to waiter at the invitation of the Maître d’hotel. Here I got a taste for this profession and contact with the public.

To be closer to my wife, I decided to move to Lisbon. And it was at that time that I started my career at Accor. I started as a receptionist at an ibis. But I always kept “one foot” in F&B.

When the opportunity and the invitation to become F&B leader at ibis where I worked appeared, I didn’t hesitate and I took the opportunity to grow and do something I really enjoyed. In 2021 I had the opportunity to take over the F&B at ibis Styles Lisboa Centro Liberdade. With a very different concept from a typical ibis, it has been a challenging and rewarding experience.

Accor is a big group and that gives us lots of opportunities and allows us to grow. I started with almost no experience as a receptionist or in F&B and with determination and hard work I grew into an F&B Manager. I can travel the world with my job because when I talk to our customers, who are from different countries, that allows me to experience many cultures without leaving my job.

I can recommend hospitality to anyone because you can start small and think big, you can be a housekeeper and aspire to be a team leader or even a General Manager. I met one woman who started in London as a Housekeeper and is now General Manager of a Mercure; and I started in housekeeping and am now an F&B leader.

And even if you don’t aspire to a career in hospitality, I think it is a good thing to do for at least a few years because it allows you to improve as a person. When I started as a receptionist I was very shy but contact with the public allowed me to grow into someone who now enjoys talking with people – and in a language that is not my own, English; and mostly, I learnt that on the job.

Heartist® means I can be myself – it is more than a job, it is an experience for us and our guests. Because ibis is not a formal hotel we can give our customers more than a service, we give them an experience; we do not receive guests in our hotel, we receive friends and make them feel they are staying at a friend’s house.

The highlight of my career was becoming F&B Manager. I started with no expectations, I needed a job, but in my role as a Housekeeper, I could grow to become F&B Manager.

I urge newcomers to hospitality to do things with passion because sooner or later you will reach heights you would never have imagined.