Life and work at Ritz Carlton

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Hello everyone!

As I told you in my last blog, I worked in laundry for two weeks and have now been working as supervisor for a couple of weeks as well.

First off, I have to admit that my time in the laundry was far more interesting than I had originally expected it to be. Fearing that I would have to iron shirts all day long, I was rather skeptical about starting my work in this department, but it turned out to be a very nice experience. I learned how the laundry is opened in the morning, what the routine is like (meaning when you wash which uniforms, when and how you take care of the guest laundry, when it is time to launder the manager’s shirts and so on) and how to close the laundry in the evening time. Laima, Regina and Santiago, the hotel’s full-time laundry attendants, patiently showed me how to handle everything in this section of the housekeeping department and I also got the chance to learn many of the employees’ names, as I was always there to hand out their uniforms. Therefore the laundry is actually a great place to socialize, which is something I bet you did not know either. So all in all it was a very enjoyable time, in which I also improved my own ironing skills!

After my time in the laundry, I then moved on to getting trained as a supervisor. As a supervisor in housekeeping you make sure that all the clean rooms have been properly cleaned, that there is no dust left, that all the amenities and appliances that are supposed to be in the room (which is something that also differentiates between different categories) are actually there and that everything in the technological department is working as well in order to prepare the room for our guests and to ensure that there are hopefully no complaints or problems, which could cause dissatisfaction or more work for us later on.

I was trained for about a week, so I felt prepared when I was let loose on the rooms myself, although I do have to admit that it feels quite daunting to have the sole responsibility for the rooms, which you have to inspect. This is the reason why I am very specific about all the small details, which is only a problem in the sense that I am quite slow at inspecting. The speed at which you have to check the rooms on a busy day was particularly challenging at the beginning and still is to be completely honest, but I am seeing improvements, as I have established a routine by now which makes it easier to work a bit faster. In the end, it always depends on the state of the rooms, whether you are fast enough or not. But especially if you have a long list of arrivals and there is a large amount of things missing in the rooms, it can be quite exhausting to run up and down the staircases every few minutes to get the things that are missing. So if you decide to come to this hotel in the next few weeks and you see someone looking slightly panicked and nervous running up and down the stairs, that must be me. At least there have been no issues so far, so I am hoping that is stays this way.

I hope you got a little insight into my life as a supervisor here and I will keep you updated on any changes! My last two weeks of housekeeping are coming now, after which I will then move to the front office, which is something I am also really looking forward to. So at the latest I will have some news for you in three weeks’ time!

With this I wish everyone a lovely week!

Lea

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There’s something you expect from a luxury resort

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Normally, there’s something you expect from a luxury resort; beautiful pools, crystal
clear lagoons, white sandy beaches, a choice of fine dining and exquisite detail… Isn’t
that right?

Well everyone, how would you feel living and working in one of the world’s most
beautiful and luxurious tropical island resort? How would you like being in the lap of
luxury when you’re thousands of miles away from anywhere else? Have you thought
about it?

I’ve decided to take my first internship in the best hotel in the Maldives, One &Only Reethi Rah. An all-villa resort located in the North Male Atoll, just one hour by yacht
from the airport. For those of you who have never heard about One &Only, it is a luxury
brand which owns 7 exclusive resorts among the most beautiful destinations in the world such as Mexico, Bahamas, Maldives, Mauritius, Dubai and South Africa.

When I was in the plane, on the way to the Maldives, I was quite nervous about what was waiting for me in my new working environment, as well as curious to discover more
about it since I had been offered the job. I arrived in Male, December 19th early in the
morning, where the beautiful sun and an absolutely pleasant  28°C temperature gave me a warm welcome.

After being pick up by the hotel representative and boarded the guests’ yacht for the
hotel, I still couldn’t believe I was not there on holiday, but to work, for the next 6
months of my life. Upon arrival at the resort, together with the guests, we were welcomed by some of the executive managers. Then I met Gianni, the F&B assistant director, who made me feel at home from the very beginning. After a short tour I was shown to my room to get some rest.

The following day, after a very short orientation and some paperwork, I was introduced
to the One &Only principles, and the concept of blowing away the customers. Throughout my working experience I personally learned that a One &Only experience is
made of moments, which may relate to a time, a place, or a person. Some of these
moments make your day, others may change your life, some you’ll forget…while
others… you will remember and treasure forever.

I hope I gave you a nice and accurate idea of where I’ve been working for the last 6
months. I truly hope I can give you a good impression of my actual work experience in
my future posts.

Have a wonderful week!

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On my way to Glion…

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Friday:
I left my house Friday afternoon after a nice lunch, as soon as I put all my suitcases in the car. It was a sunny day and I had around 3 hours of driving ahead to arrive in Montreux. Later that afternoon, I checked in at the Swiss Majestic Hotel in Montreux, which is a lovely hotel with a beautiful view of Lake Geneva, a very friendly staff, great service, and excellent food. There were less than 20 hours left to check in and to be officially at Glion Institute of Higher Education.

Saturday:
The following day, I woke up early in the morning. When I opened the windows, with some disappointment, I saw the gray and rainy sky all over the lake. The weather, however, did not put a damper on my excitement.

After breakfast, I was in the car on my way to school. I wanted to arrive there early, to be able to have plenty of time to check into the room, which would be my home for the following 6 months, and to get a chance to meet some people.

As hospitality students, we all know the importance of first impressions; since there is no second chance to make a good one. The first impression Glion gave me upon arrival has been great; friendly and genteel students, professors, and all the people involved in the long check-in process were absolutely fantastic. After the check-in, I finally was able to see my room.

My room is located in the Hotel des Alpes one of the residences in the Glion village; it appears to have been recently renovated in a simple, elegant and modern style. My room has a balcony and a stunning view over Lake Geneva and the French Alps.

View from my room

 

Montreux from the "Club"

Later that afternoon, I took the tour of the campus. The first person I met was Céline, a very friendly girl from Belgium. We decide to go to the ‘Club’ for a drink and after a while we met some people there. Afterwards, we decide to go that evening for some drinks at Paradise Bar, down in the Grande Rue in Montreux. We were a group of 15-20 people, from at least 12 different nationalities. Incredible isn’t it? Something like that can only happen in Glion!

Monday and Tuesday were induction days, and Wednesday I officially began with the courses. During those days I also started meeting my new classmates from class E32.
This weekend we will welcome the new students joining the school for their first semester at Glion Institute of Higher Education. We estimate we will reach maximum student occupancy. Next week we have a program for them called ‘Integration day’, where third semester students, are going to organize different activities around the campus.

For all those students travelling to Switzerland in the next coming days I wish you all a very pleasant journey and I’ll be seeing you on campus very soon.

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Greetings from Ireland

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Dia duit from Ireland!

I hope everyone who was so lucky as to have a summer vacation or holiday, had a great and relaxing one!

Personally, I only had five days at home (not to complain, as five days are by far better than no time at all) before I embarked on the plane and then on to the next step of my journey to Ireland.

Sitting in the plane, I wondered about what awaited me in the green country and which challenges I would encounter in this new environment, which I had been looking forward to seeing ever since I signed my contract a few months back.

Upon arrival at the airport in Dublin, I already met two of my very friendly, soon-to-be colleagues and housemates and we made our way to Bray, one of the larger towns in Ireland, where we were to be picked up by the guest service manager of the hotel.

After a warm welcome, we were dropped off at our home. More precisely, we were deposited in one of the four intern houses, where we had some time to settle in. As it turned out, one of the girls I had already met at the airport, Ornella, was in fact my new roommate; a surprise that I was very happy about, as she is an immensely kind person. I guess I am always really lucky with my roommates! Altogether there are seven people living in the house, which honestly does take some getting used to, but is a good and interesting experience, once you get adjusted to things. If you are in need of some solitude once in a while though, you can just take a stroll along the beautiful Irish Sea, which is definitely one of the advantages of living here.

The next day we discovered our place of work for the next six months: the absolutely gorgeous and idyllic Ritz Carlton Powerscourt near the charming village of Enniskerry.

After a short orientation and “meet and greet” with all of the other interns, we followed a more thorough orientation, where everyone was introduced to the Ritz Carlton principles and the different staff members. Then, we were immediately introduced to our departments.

I found out that I would start in housekeeping and move on to front office roughly three months later. I was also very excited to find out that even within the housekeeping department I would get the opportunity to work in different areas, starting in public ones and then moving on to working as housekeeping coordinator.

The first week consisted of a cross training and introduction to all the different housekeeping fields, such as the afore mentioned public areas, the housemen and the room attendants, which was quite varied and a good way of getting a quick overview of everything. I was also amazed by the kindness of everyone working in this department, as I was treated in a very friendly manner and welcomed into the team openly and immediately.

The second week then consisted of a cross training in front office, once again just to get a first impression of things, after which I then moved back to working in public areas in housekeeping, as well as learning to work as a room attendant, which I honestly have to admit really is an extremely exhausting and challenging job. My next stop will now be the laundry, after which I will then be trained as a supervisor, so I definitely can´t complain about monotony.

I hope you got a good first impression about my internship and I will keep you posted on my experiences here.

I also want to wish all new students, which will be starting their life in Glion very soon, the best of luck and a great start!

Lea

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Welcome !

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Hi everyone!

Let me introduce myself; my name is Alex and I will be joining Glion for the Bachelor of Hospitality Management program, at the end of July. The program starts in less than three weeks; to be honest I haven’t even realized it yet.

As an E-Ambassador for the coming year, I will keep you updated on my experiences at Glion Institute of Higher Education. I will do the best I can to keep you interested and informed about life at Glion.

Read my complete bio !

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Craft Based Learning – Part 2 Kitchen

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Hello Everyone,

Here I am to share my second part of craft-based learning experiences with you.

The second week was unexpectedly my favorite one so far. As those of you who might read my blog frequently already know, I was quite uncertain of what to expect from working in the kitchen. I had the clichéd image of yelling chefs in the back of my head, but it turned out to be a very fun experience and I am actually rather sad that I will not be able to go back to kitchen tomorrow morning. I got to work in the three sections of a kitchen: the hot, the cold and the pastry sections. Honestly, I enjoyed working in all three of them, especially the hot area, because the working atmosphere was very enjoyable. Most of the chefs are very helpful and not at all terrifying, even making jokes most of the time or imitating birds by suddenly starting to chirp, while you are cutting tomatoes.

Although one does not really cook that much in the traditional sense of following recipes, as of course this is also not the point of our week in kitchen, you still prepare a lot of food by cutting, grilling, arranging and so on. You get a good overview of how the masses of food are prepared every day and which is the most logical procedure for doing this.

When your work in kitchen is done, you then go on to setting up the food in the school’s two outlets and start serving the other students upon their arrival. This is very interesting, especially in the hot section, as you are forced to work in a very fast manner and it is also a unique feeling, when you are ‘feeding’ so many people. After this work everything has to be properly cleaned and then the same process is repeated for the dinner period. Another aspect of the work, which is quite interesting, is that every night two student chefs are selected, who have to manage all of the processes in the most efficient way possible. This gives a good impression of how important it is to give clear instructions, keep your own team motivated and keep a good eye on everything. In the danger of repeating myself, I still have to say that it was a very fun experience!!

So all in all I can say that I have already learned a lot about these two sectors and realized the importance of speed, efficient time management in general, team work, motivation, taking logical steps when working, while also having understood that there is no need to be scared of the CBL, as it truly is a very amusing part of the studies and can also bring you closer to your team mates.

Now the last week of work lies ahead of me, as I will be working in service at our two restaurants, which are located directly on the main campus. This might be a little boring to be honest, because a lot of the students have already finished their semester and have left the university, but it is obviously still important to keep the service going for those who are left. At the end of the week, some of us will then be going to Bulle to work during the graduation ceremony. This is something I look forward to a lot, as it will again be a different environment, which we get to look at.

After this, I will finally be able to go home, which I am looking forward to so much. I am really starting to miss my family and friends. At the same time, I cannot believe that this semester is already coming to an end and that I will not see my friends here for such a long time, but I tend to ignore this fact for now and just keep the positive outlook of my one week of vacation, which is coming up soon.

I wish you a wonderful week!

Lea

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Craft Based Learning – Part 1 Service

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Hello everyone and once again I hope that you have had a nice past two weeks!
Personally, my own past two weeks have been very interesting and a lot different than the weeks before. I got an inside look into working in service, as well as in the kitchen area, which overall was a lot of fun.

During the first week, my colleagues and I worked at the Hotel des Alpes, which is Glion’s “a la carte” restaurant. We learned how the operations at the restaurant are run by taking a look at the cleaning processes, the menu explanation and the overall service, which is offered to the customers.

Craft Based Learning - My service team

Having never worked as a waitress before, I found  this was all very interesting, as well as being a little nerve wracking, because there are a lot of details which go into the work in such a restaurant. You have to memorize a very specific chronology, while at the same time helping out your colleagues as much as possible and keeping up a positive attitude and positive relationship with your customer. Even this can be a bit stressful now and then, especially when you are coordinating multiple tables at the same time, running from the kitchen while trying not to let all of the plates drop and still looking elegant while doing so. Luckily, I had very friendly and supportive customers, which made everything a lot easier.

At the end of the week, you have a little exam, in which you have to set up an a la carte, as well as a banquet set up, which is also very focused on details, but obviously again essential to know, when you are in the hospitality field. The exam itself is generally nothing to be afraid of if you are not as clumsy as me and therefore not able to unfold a table cloth in the correct manner and subsequently start to panic and fall back into unfolding the cloth in the same way you do it at home. This might not seem crucial for outside onlookers, but every little step is important for the smooth operation of the service. All in all it was a great way to get a first idea of the organization behind a restaurant, once again realizing how important it is to have a well-coordinated and motivated team.

News about my CBL will be continued next week….

Lea

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Part Two: the end of Classes

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Throughout the last three months I feel that I have gained a very good first insight into the workings and the structure of this industry.

In our “Introduction to Hospitality Management” course we learned about the structure of the industry, about different segments, about different companies and about multiple managerial principles, along with many other factors of the sector.

A big part of this course is made up of group presentations, where you have to practice your team work abilities and do very thorough research in order to be able to present the company you are given in the most detailed way possible.

One of my other favorite courses this semester was ‘Rooms Division’, which makes me look forward to my internship even more, as I will actually see many of the things which we learned about put to practice. This course is divided into housekeeping and front office operations, where you again learn about the operating procedures and structure of the two departments. The aspect which makes this course particularly interesting are the many examples you are given that are both drawn from the very nice teacher’s own experience, as well as from more general scenarios. Furthermore, the subject also includes quite a few calculations, such as ones used for calculating room availability for example. Do not worry if you are not the world’s greatest mathematician, you will able to get learning support at the university if you should feel that you need it.

My next favorite subject was Spanish, where I had a very lovely teacher who taught us a lot in only a few weeks’ time. As languages and communication in general are again key to being successful in this industry, it is always very useful to learn as many languages as possible. However, as I explained in one of my previous blogs, you might have to take some English courses before you will be able to progress to a foreign language course. I have heard this is actually quite helpful, as a high level of academic English is needed on the Bulle campus later on and in general many essays need to be written.

Getting back to Spanish, I have to say that I enjoyed our courses very much and that I was very proud, when I recently actually understood some spoken Spanish in a movie, which I was watching. This might seem insignificant to some, but it was a nice little achievement for me, because I really think that Spanish is a wonderful language.

Another course I really appreciated in retrospect was IT (Information Technology). Now, I am actually able to create a nice Power Point Presentation, use Excel (which was something I was quite nervous about at the beginning of the course), and have found things about Word which I did not know existed. Skills in these areas really do facilitate work on academic projects in general and even though people might try to scare you off at first by telling you that IT is a very difficult subject, generally it seemed to be alright for those who always worked and studied and attended the “SI sessions” on a regular basis. These are optional sessions given by Semester 3 students in order to give additional tutoring in the difficult subjects of accounting and math. The last subject, as I have also mentioned in a previous blog, was PDAS (Personal Development in Academic Skills), in which you learn how to reflect and get to know yourself a bit better.

After having finished all of the coursework in these subjects, a huge weight was lifted from everyone’s shoulders and this weekend seemed like a little mini holiday. My friends and I got to appreciate the beautiful scenery of the area, by visiting a nearby town and by going swimming. Another activity, which I can really recommend to those of you, who are joining Glion during summer time, is to go paddle boating or canoeing on the lake, as it is absolutely beautiful and very relaxing after all of the work, which you have to do for the university.

Getting back to academic life, I do have to make it clear that I am not actually done with the first semester yet, but our schedule is structured in a way that we have finished all of the academic courses, which means that the huge amounts of exams, projects and other assignments are actually done. Yes, done!  This fact led me to do a little happy dance last Friday. Now, we will go into our so called CBL, our ‘craft based learning’. During this course we will have one week of introduction, where, as far as I know it, we will be introduced to certain hygiene principles, as well as serving techniques etc., which is then followed by three weeks of work overall.

One week of CBL is done in the kitchen. A second week is done at the “Hôtel des Alpes” which is an a la carte restaurant that belongs to the university.  The third week, we will work at the ‘Bellevue’ and the ‘Café Viennois’, which are the two other restaurants that you can find on the main campus. I will keep you informed about these courses every week, as I go along. Overall, I can say that I am excited to be leaving the books closed and concentrating on gaining some practical experience. Nevertheless, I am also quite nervous about this course, because I have no experience. I am a terrible cook and overall a little clumsy, but please keep this to yourself, will you? However, being a positive person I strongly believe that I will be able to improve in these areas (which still need a lot of improvement) simply by paying attention and doing the best I can. But as I mentioned before, I will keep you updated on my progress and hope that this will help you to get a better idea of what the course is about.

So to conclude I would again like to tell you that so far my journey here has been amazing and I look forward to keeping you posted on my experiences.

With this I wish everyone a wonderful week!!!

Lea

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Part One: the End of Classes

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Hello everyone and I hope you all had a nice week!

I cannot believe that three quarters of the first semester are already over, as it seems, despite everything that has happened in these past months, that it was just yesterday that I was composing my first student blog thinking and dreaming about Glion and the time to come. Time is really passing rapidly and my feelings about this are actually quite diverse and mixed.

On the one hand I am eternally grateful that I have actually found an industry and a place I really love and am very passionate about, as well as being indescribably happy about having met such wonderful people here, having subjects that really interest me and living in such a great place in general.

On the other hand, I feel a bit sad that the first semester is coming to an end. Now, I will not be able to see my new friends for six months at least and I will probably not even see some of them for a year, as the programs vary and have different structures. I know that this must not seem as bad to someone looking at it ‘from afar’, but I just feel that I am really leaving my second family behind, a family I have gotten unexpectedly and immensely close to over the past months. So if you are still worried about finding friendly and warm people here, if you are joining Glion soon, I can guarantee you that you will find many of them on campus, so do not fear. If you are nice and open to people, it will definitely be easy to make contacts and I can guarantee you that you will not be by yourself for long.

Another thing I am very anxious and nervous about, as well as obviously tremendously excited about, is my impending internship. We just received another briefing from the Internship Department on Friday, which again informed us about the appropriate ‘codes of conduct’, which we should follow at the hotel, as well as giving us information about certain procedures, which need to be fulfilled before, during and after our internship. Listening to all of this just made it even clearer, how soon we will actually be embarking on this new journey. This is momentarily a bit daunting, if I am completely honest.

Do not get me wrong though, I really want to go on my internship and gain as much experience as possible, but as I do not have any prior experience of working in a hotel, I am still a little scared. It seems as though we have all just settled in at Glion and are now sent off into the world again, which all in all is a good aspect of the program. Working in the hospitality industry, I am sure it is helpful to learn to become flexible and adaptable to change very quickly. This is, after all, a major characteristic, which you need to have for a job in this field. So again I do believe that the internship is going to give us a good first insight into the industry and overall I really love that we have the opportunity to do it, despite of being a bit emotional at the moment.

And now since I have drifted a bit off my original subject, I would like to tell you something about the end of our classes, and what I think about this in the next blog post.

To be continued…

Lea

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Festival of Cultures

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As all of you know, some of the most important attributes and characteristics you need to possess, when emerging into the world of hospitality are to be open-minded, tolerant and respectful, as well as having a certain multicultural sensitivity.

All of these traits are promoted on a daily basis due to being surrounded by such a wide array of nationalities and cultures, and everyone who is a student at Glion surely already possesses at least the basis for these characteristics.

To encourage multicultural perspectives, Glion hosts the Cultural fair, in which a large proportion of the cultures present on campus are represented by the students in decorated stands.

Because of this fair, we have the opportunity to learn about the beauty of the different countries, their customs and traditions. We can generally be fascinated by the everyday life in countries, which might have been barely or even completely unknown to us. This is one of the wonderful things about this university and this field of work in general: the ability to broaden one’s own horizon to a level which surpasses the one you might achieve in another field. With this I obviously do not want to claim that hospitality is the only field where multiculturalism is encouraged, but it is certainly one of the central aspects of the industry. If you are not interested in the stunning range of cultures this planet has to offer, you should probably reconsider choosing hospitality as a career.

To get back to the actual Cultural Fair, I can say that it was a very fun, yet stressful, event.  The Inclusion and Diversity Committee also prepared a stand, called “Europe meets Africa”, in which we presented South Africa and Portugal as two representatives of the two continents. These were two of the countries which were not represented in the rest of the fair.

For those of you who have been following my blog, it is probably quite evident that myself and my roommate and friend Liping, were in charge of the South Africa part of the stand. We spent hours preparing brochures with information about the country, a language lesson, a quiz, South African fruits for everyone to try and many pictures and decorations presenting the absolute beauty of the country and presented it to students and other members of the university on the day of the Cultural Fair.

The things which we had in our stand mostly represent the overall concept of this event. You inform people about your country by presenting food, music, customs and decorations to everyone, who is interested. If you need an additional incentive in participating, a prize can be won as well; however, we have not yet been informed about the winning group.  While it is always nice to win, this is not the central point of the day. Personally, I think the competition for our group might have been a little too tough due to the beauty of the other stands, but then again you can always hope for the best.

Many of Glion’s students grabbed the opportunity to represent their home, which most of them understandably seem to be very proud of, on this day and did it in a great manner. The gym and the club were filled with colorful stands which represented the manifold student body, which this university entails.

So to sum up, I can say that it was a great experience and it is something you can definitely look forward to when joining Glion and something that is also an essential part on the road to discovery of  the oh so important and unique “Glion spirit”.

Lea

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