«My name is Umberto and the company I work for is to all intents and purposes a franchise of the Ibis branch. It is called the Ibis Hotel Kriens. It is one of three Ibis hotels within the city of Lucerne. My company is within the host industry. We receive guests for overnight stays. I expect to learn a lot about internal administrative processes that make a company run, especially within the host business. 

I work in shifts within the host industry, meaning I don’t have a “typical day” at work. I either work the early shift, or the late shift. The first thing we do at work is count the cash register. After that, the person that was before you in shift will give you important general information regarding the day you’re about to experience. If I’m working the early shift, I’ll have some administrative work to do such as print the expected arrivals, assign the hotel rooms according to the guests’ wishes and so on. After this my main task will be to clean the whole service room and the used inventory, while also checking out people simultaneously. It can become very stressful since I have to clean and also ensure that no guest leaves without paying. After 12, when all the people have checked out, I will sort out the registration forms and cancel all the reservations we’ve made. In the end I will just have to count the cash register again to ensure that there are exactly 2000 francs in the cash register and give the general information to the next people coming for their shift. 

I have learned how to communicate appropriately with different departments in the hotel, how to perform check-ins and checkouts and also how to clean correctly. I’ve also learned how to conclude bills, and how to talk with clients in a positive manner.»