I am Chantel, and currently an undergraduate pursuing a Bachelor's with Honours in Hospitality Business. Previously, I worked in both hotel and travel industry. I worked in Mandarin Orchard Hotel as a Guest Service Officer during my six months' internship in polytechnic where I learnt how to do check-in and check-out via the Property Management System (PMS). Before the start of university, I also worked as a Tour Consultant in Euholidays where I had to learn how to do ticketing via the Global Distribution Channel (GDS), Abacus platform.
As a student in Hospitality Business, I was exposed to an environment where people, guests or colleagues, come from all parts of the world, with different cultures and communication styles. Sometimes, I find it hard to communicate with guests and colleagues from different background as some of them may be more direct and straightforward. Additionally, there may be language barriers as most of the staff are of a different nationality, making the communication process long and tiresome. At times, I catch myself being easily impatient trying to drive a point across to get the task done.
Despite all these, people would say that my outgoing and pleasant nature makes me suitable for the Hospitality industry. Hoteliers have to step out of their comfort zone, and be proactive in approaching guests to aid them in their enquiry. Occasionally, guests may have requests that are out of the norm or even difficult to assist. Rather than responding negatively, I try to put on my best self by addressing their requests politely, helping them as much as I can.
Best Regards,
Chantel Neo
Hello Chantel!
ReplyDeleteIt is really enriching and insightful to read your thoughts about the industry and this blog post has definitely allowed me to understand you much better!
I too, worked in a travel agency and as a front office agent in hotel before. With similar internship experiences with you, I agree that it could sometimes get a little tricky when it comes to communicating with people from different parts of the world, especially when language is the main form of communication but in this case, serves as the main barrier! Hence, I believe it is inevitable to feel impatient at times. Luckily for us, the passion in serving and the smile on guest's face is what keeps us going!
With your bubbly and outgoing nature, I agree that you are a really suitable candidate for the hospitality industry and I admire your determination in responding and providing the best service for guests! A good read and inspiration for others!
Cheers
Shufang
Hello Shufang!
DeleteThank you for your support! I am really glad that I could inspire you with my post. I agree with you, seeing a smile on a guest's face after they realised that we have gone the extra mile to help them really makes our day at work.
I guess regarding language, the most we can do to help ourselves when working in environments of different cultures is to really try to understand them and why people are acting in a certain way. Through that, we can identify and diffuse any potential sources of conflict.
Once again, thank you for your post, it great to know that I have someone else that shares the same thoughts as me.
Cheers
Chantel
Dear Chantel, I am impressed by the amount of hospitality-related skills that you have learnt throughout the past few years. I have so much to learn from you! It is always good to put your best self forward despite the obstacles you face.
ReplyDeleteGood job in spelling out all the technical jargons such as the PMS ans GDS. Looking forward to more posts like this one.
Dear Jo,
DeleteThank you for your advice! I will definitely practice it in my future endeavours. Sometimes when i encounter difficulties and challenges in my work, I just keep reminding myself that diamonds are formed under pressure. This really motivates me to stay strong and keep my spirits high.
Thanks for the encouragement! Looking forward to hearing more from you soon!
Cheers
Chantel
Dear Chantel,
ReplyDeleteWhat an exciting journey you had! I totally feel your anticipation and excitement for the things ahead, especially in the hospitality industry where we get to meet people from all walks of life and how we manage and handle people through effective communication.
I would like to encourage you to be bold in your speech when communicating with people whom you just met or even strangers to you :) You'll slowly realize that it is easy to reach out to people, despite their culture background and differences.
Hope to working more with you during CPD classes!
Cheers,
Adora
Hello Adora!
DeleteThank you for the advice! I will definitely speak up more and have more confidence in myself in the future! Hopefully through this, I will be able to reach out to more people of different cultures and collaborate better with them.
I believe through this, more than just being in a team with members of diverse background and opinions, I can learn from my colleagues and grow together with everyone else.
Cheers
Chantel
Dear Chantel,
ReplyDeleteThank you for this concise and generally clear letter. It is highly informative, giving us readers a good impression of your work and study background as you tie this to your communication needs and strengths. I can see that you have lots of experience in your field, so I look forward to learning from you this term.
As for your language use, there are a few areas in the letter that need review. In addition to your overuse of capital letters, these are:
1) subject-verb disagreement
- ...there may be language barriers which makes the communication process long and tiresome. >>> ?
2) phrasing
- ...my outgoing and pleasant nature makes it suitable for the Hospitality industry.
>>>
...my outgoing and pleasant nature makes me suitable for the hospitality industry.
- ...helping them as much as it is within my means. >>> ...helping them as much as is within my means. OR
...helping them as much as I can.
I look forward to learning more about you this term.
Best wishes,
Brad
Dear Brad,
DeleteThank you for taking the time to read my post and for the valuable advice that you have given to us and in class. I really learn how to use the proper sentence structure, improve my english and communication skills.
Have already edited the post accordingly. Thank you for your advice once again and looking forward to see you in class!
Cheers,
Chantel