As a Hotelier

Growing up I had weird career choices, I once told my mum that I wanted to become a plumber (yap you heard right.) then I was hooked on becoming a hairdresser or a makeup artist. My mum kinda like the idea just that she thinks I have the potential to be more than just a hairdresser. In the Solomon Islands a hairdresser is not really a career choice because we are yet to develop the culture of visiting the hair saloon to get our hair done. Still I vowed to pursue a career on the side in hairdressing. 

Because of my love for beautiful and artistic houses/rooms I decided to go into interior designing but my father insisted that I pursue a career in architecture. My biggest hurdle was I don't know how to draw he tried convincing  me that they would teach me but I was sure its not the career for me. 

By the time I was in senior high school I still wasn't sure about what to do with my life. My problem was my interests are scattered all over the place, I can see myself in where ever possible and loving it. Then my dad changed jobs he got into tourism and that got me thinking. I love beautiful rooms, I like hospitality and then I knew that my career lies in the hotel industry. People always assumed that I got into hotel to be like my dad what they don't realise is Tourism and Hotels are two completely fields. And Hotel  management is yet to receive the recognition that it deserves instead of being just one segment of the Tourism industry, I personally think that despite being interrelated Hotel is Hotel, Tourism is Tourism. 

I had people asking me why Japan? The best hotel school is in Switzerland and blah blah blah blah....what people don't understand is when it comes to Hotel management you don't learn much from school. And that's the biggest mistake that a lot of universities did. They try to understand theory by concentrating more on it and  whats surprising is every body knows that Hotel is all about personality and practise. It has nothing to do with fancy degrees, maybe that's why people don't give it a lot of thought. Thinking anybody can do it: Wrong! Its easy to get a job in a hotel but staying on top of it is not easy. 

I chose Japan because they understand that very simple fact of doing more practicals than theory. When I was still in school i felt like I'm already working. I got home exhausted, the practises that we have equal gym class.  Second, Japan have one of the best services in the world (I just tone it down to " one of the best" : They are the best). Hotel management is not about learning from the best schools, its all about learning from the best service industry and I am lucky that I am learning from the masters themselves, the Japanese. 

The first time I walked into a hotel to do my part time was hilarious. I got this boots, jeans and a tank top on and that rookie look. I like to think that my hot mess look got me the job, the manager came out took one look at me and just burst out laughing. She told me she got a lot of rookies coming in looking so street but I was the worst. I had no idea what I was getting in to, my lecturers prep me for this but like I said, its nothing compared to real life. A week later my hair was shorter, gone were black polish and the jewellery. They gave me this new softer but sophisticated look. I was the only one who speaks English in that hotel but they manage to soften it up also...my OK, y'all and all that were replaced with Sir, Sure, certainly....just words that I hardly use daily. After summer I had to go back to school so I reduce my hours til its time to really move on to a bigger more glamorous hotel. 

I went to grand Hyatt hotel, one of the best and famous hotel brands. I moved from a city hotel to a five star just like that. I'm a very determined person and I crave perfection and I like to please but I still got that "stay real" personality. Because of my personality I didn't find it that challenging just tiring. The first few months I was working with the rooms department. There are a lot of different departments to a hotel, its more complicated than your average company. First, we gotta have those running the finances, human resources, the administration and all that just like any other company. Then we have the hotel: food and beverage, rooms, florists etc etc and then the out sourcing companies like the housekeeping (maids), the dry cleaners. It can get confusing and even if someone whose job is in finance that person has to have a background in hotels.
The first few weeks were hectic and hard, I tried so hard to soldier on and by the end of the first month I lost 10 kilos to overtime and stress. I got great days and then the hard ones where I ended up crying in the toilet, wipe all the tears away and exit smiling as if nothing happened. Since it was my internship I still had to attend classes, write reports, keep a log book during the course of my internship and work. I never had time for myself was the first time in my life I had more money and no time to spend it. How crazy is that?
waitressing. Theres more to it than that, I decided to step out of my  comfort zone, bar tending, and dive into a casual yet expensive Italian restaurant as a hall staff. I'm good with people-names but not food-names guess its because we don't name our traditional dishes. 
Waitressing is a stressful Job and unlike what most people think, waitressing is not just about carrying plates and depositing them at the table or taking orders. You are stuck in the middle trying to rise above the customers demands while keeping the chef posted on whats happening outside. Sometimes the chef got angry with us because of our timing and for the lack of information we present him. When there are picky guests we are in a more stressful situation trying to get the chef to succumb to the customers demands and vice-versa. 
Like I mention before waitressing requires people skills and talent. Its no longer a job you do because you missed out on college. In other countries its still the case not in Japan, most of the hoteliers are college graduates. Still its one of the industries that hold the highest record of people quitting or changing jobs. Its true when you hear people say that its easy to get promoted but its not easy to stay there long....Something might just trigger you and off you go running out the door, screaming that you quit. 
The next problem is the people you work with. Its really important to have a good level of communication with your colleagues. My first weeks was terrible, a colleague of mine had a few issues with me. Til this day I have no idea what the issue was but she just make it her project to make my life harder. She got me into trouble twice and got bullied by her. Then I just decided it had to stop so I reported her and she got transferred to another department.  The job itself is very tough and having someone who is pissed off at you for no reason just makes it harder. 
When I think about it. The best times of my life was those spent working at the Hotel. Its different everyday, I get to meet a lot of people, opportunities just presented themselves but the best thing is when you hear the guests thanking you. There was this one woman I will never forget, she wanted me to run an urgent errand for her and I did. When I went back to the room to tell her its done, she just couldn't believe it and asked me again and again....then she shed tears of happiness. Most guests are not used to be treated like a king but that's the thing I love about Japanese service. 
If you think about joining the industry think carefully, do you have the determination and people skills? Again its not a Job for everybody.