And so my 25+ years career begins

First stop a 660 bedroom business hotel near Viennas City Park (Stadtpark), not the most glamorous address and also not the most glamorous hotel at that time but definitely worth my first experience.

Before even starting the role of receptionist, uniform fitting had to happen and a two week intense computer system training in a meeting room in their sister hotel with other new associates. Fidelia, the name of that program, was the first program I ever interacted with and had to learn from scratch. This was not what they taught us at college and also not told us a receptionist had to do. The days were long and every single process explained seemed so complex and difficult, especially as the only receptionist experience I had was in Tenerife where we checked people in on a matrix print out by highlighting their name and checking them out by crossing their name off the list. And now there were numbers for different postings for things like spa which I didn’t even know hotels had, five different codes for five different restaurants, laundry service, car service and pay tv which was the one everyone giggled when talking about it, as guest didn’t watch the latest Hollywood blockbusters in their hotel rooms but other content I don’t really need to explain what content that was.

But all those 2 weeks in front of computer screens learning the system and about the culture of the company, I yet had to meet my first guest. And the following weeks I made up for all those missed connections with guest.

I still remember my first shift at the reception. I was with someone else at the check in counter and the other side there was someone dealing with check out. So remember the hotel had 660 bedrooms, 2 people at check in, 1 person at check out, and what I forgot to mention because of the location and the direct services to the airport from there the hotel was full every single night.

So my first day started at 7am being on training with someone and was supposed to finish at 3. But neither the training happened nor the 3 pm finish. By about 8.30 am the check out lime was reaching back to the elevator and the check in line to the bar. And there was me supposed to be trained in check in, it was more learning by doing by myself. Every guest also needed a key, which we didn’t cover in the two week training, and to make a second key it needed to have the identical amount of holes on the key. And then there were guest who said they needed an upgrade cause they always stayed in the hotel company, then there were the ones who came back after check in wanting a different room because they didn’t like the room I gave them, then there were those guest whose room wasn’t ready at 10am when check in time was 3pm and wanting to speak to the General Manager, then those who want Executive Club access, which I didn’t even know what it was, guest whose reservation was not in the computer, guest who didn’t want to give a credit card or cash for any extras as they prepaid the room already with a travel agency. And then there were guest who came with a voucher from the airport which had a number on it to check them into a room cause their flight was cancelled, the layover as I lesrned later on. And all of a sudden it was 8pm, a day without lunch or break which will be one of many in my 25+ years career, and a day of “what the hell did i sign up for”. And all I wanted was to connect with guest, hear their stories and provide them with exceptional experiences. But all it was on my first day was people shouting, being angry, demanding, unreasonable and most of all not understanding at all, especially that trainee badge next to my name did not help at all.

Oh boy, should I go study law? But I don’t give up easily, I was determined to be able to live my life and it wasn’t all too bad. I always try to see the good in the bad, so I remembered from that day how everyone in the team pulled together, motivated each other, and made me feel welcome, and some guest were super understanding and nice too. And to make it even better, the introduction to after work drinks with colleagues where we bonded and let the day pass by with a lot of Prosecco, vino and shots, and everyone had their story. Yes, I made the right decision, as I was accepted and liked. I will carry on!