Love You More

Prologue

Enough is enough.

Enough of insults, enough of patronising behaviour, of key performance indicators and average room rates; enough of guest satisfaction surveys and answering reviews on TripAdvisor like your life depended on it; enough of pretending you care about that guest who could not decipher that the kettle needs water to work and that, unless otherwise stated, all that is in the minibar is indeed free of charge; enough of having conversations where 60% of the lingo is in acronyms like FOM, GM, F&B, S&M, RM, FC, PMS, POS, EBITDA, NP, ARR, GSS and enough of hiding those rolling eyes every time a guest asks you where the nearest tube station is; enough of biting your tongue when all you really want to answer is "Have you Googled it?".

So here we are. Ready to hand over that resignation letter I have been preparing for the last 2 months. The same letter that says that although I am truly grateful for the experience and opportunities presented to me, I am afraid this is goodbye as I must spread my wings or something like that.

I have worked in hotels for the last 10 years. It has been my life and I really mean my life. Funny enough, I actually studied for this, Hospitality Management. It all started with the dream of climbing the hotel ladder and train other people around the world on whatever I was doing at the time. I actually thought that working in hotels would allow me to travel the world. Most people I interviewed in my 10 years thought the same too. I never had the guts to burst their bubble during the interview and hit them with a bit of reality. There is very little travel involved. If you work in hotels and you do it because that's your career, you either achieve the level of working very little and getting paid a lot and perhaps travelling a bit for work or you end up like me, underpaid, overworked, depressed and looking at the last decade and wondering where did I take the time to live my life. 

I sure didn't and that has been bothering me these for a few months.

As the years rolled over and I started acknowledging that the dream of travelling the world for work was not gonna materialise I diverted to a more feasible option which was running my own B&B or small hotel by the sea and make a living out of it. Nothing fancy, just a boutique hotel with an amazing restaurant and a product that would allow people to enjoy it as a home away from home, maybe host some weddings, live the dream.

Ten years later and I am nowhere near achieving any of those dreams and I started to realise that hotels are not for everyone and I should probably have gone with something that would require me to work with less people. People are fascinating to me but sometimes I wonder the name of the rock they have been living under. The kettle guest is one of them.

And like him there are plenty more. As the years went by I started having less and less patience for such idiotic requests and that's why I have decided to press pause on my hospitality career and see what's out there for me.

My shift is over and here I am strolling to the General Manager's (GMs) office to deliver the missive. Sophia knows why I am here. She knows me too well and I don't wike it. It makes me feel not in control but we've been working together for 4 years and she must have felt this was coming. It has happened before. I needed a mental break from hotels so I worked at a furniture shop for 6 months. As soon as she called me back to open a brand new hotel with her I replied: "You had me at hello". I had missed the buzz and I do enjoy working with her. We compliment each other work wise.

"So..." - she says - "We are at it again?"

"Unfortunately, yes. I need a break. A serious break. A longer break." I tell her.

"Is everything alright? " She asks.

"Yes, nothing major. Just really need a break before I reply what I shouldn't to a guest or colleague. You know how it is."