I am front office manager for two hotels; I started to work for two hotels in August 2021. I was front office manager for ibis and now room division manager for ibis and Novotel, so I have to manage housekeeping, too – everything to do with the rooms, I brief the housekeeping manager and watch over that.

For me to be Heartist is to be yourself; to show your feelings and think with your heart rather than your head – we listen to colleagues and support them. I had Heartist training and then I trained the hotel team because I love passing on the Heartist message; my line manager chose me to do this. It was difficult for me because I have strong emotions and I feel the emotions of others – I love this, I want to cry with them, I want to be happy with them, everything; I wear my heart on my sleeve.

My first advice to people new to the hospitality industry is not to be afraid of who you are. Be human with customers and that will go down well with them. Don’t be a stereotypical receptionist but be yourself; we are a family and the hotel should be like home. It is not like 10 years ago, now we want human characteristics – guests must feel at home in hotel.

To someone outside the industry, consider hospitality, it is changing. You can be yourself and be truthful and enthusiastic. It does not matter what job you had before, you can learn something new in hotels and that is easier than for people who come to the job via tourism school, where they have learned procedures but these are changing, it is more important to be able to communicate with customers. And in hospitality it is easy to learn while you are working.