After giving space to several people belonging to our staff , I think it is high time to tell my job experience , as i have been working for nearly twenty years at Hotel Torino.I did not start my job in tourism at Hotel Torino, so my bases have been placed in other touristic places, but, certainly, in this hotel in Jesolo i have grown up and i have been given the gift of freedom .When I arrived at the hotel, everything was different, carpet, wooden reception desk, buffets quite simple, but in line with the running times , an old-fashioned website , no a booking on line, but the times maybe did not require them. Reservations fell from the sky in a certain way, it was enough to answer the phone, write a few data and, for the most demanding customeri had to, send a fax. The crisis had not gripped us yet, the world of the reviews had not yet peeped into our reality and Internet was still for few selected people.Can I make an observation that perhaps won’t be appreciated by the web fanatics? Those years were golden years, years perhaps less precise, easier, more money and therefore less hair or stakes in everyone’s eyes.Let’s say that i was wise enough to understand that Hotel Torino had potentialities, thanks to the position, and therefore I could increase the individual clients, not so many inherited by those who had preceded me. I risked a lot at first, eliminating a good number of groups in high season, but it was a successfull idea. I do not deny i lost lost a few nights of sleep!I was certainly helped by the owner, Dario, who, always very careful, realized he had to renovate the hotel. I remember the year I started my job, he took away all the green and red carpet (Oh my God!) that covered the entire hotel, including the dining room. In this way he gave a brightness to the hotel, and i will always thank Dario for it :my claustofobria was breathing, the new marble reception desk welcomed the Customers, so modern and innovative Vs the old wooden desk, so vintage and old-fashioned. And slowly, but continuously, every winter , the owner has changed something, fromthe room furniture , the tiles and sanitaryware in the bathrooms, led lights, countertops , convection ovens, and Hotel Torino, although still some flaws, has slowle turned up.Every winter, punctual, the Hotel presents to customers with a different make-up, with different nuances. Carefully reading the reviews, and listening to the customers themselves, Dario has worked to create shower box, perhaps, in my opinion (opinion heard), the biggest flaw of the Hotel. And this is the novelty for Summer 2016, at least for some roomsDario asked me one day: ” Can you tell me why some hotels appear first when searching in internet? ”. And from that day, fromt hat the question I started my real breakthrough work. From that question I knew I had to update myself, that the world was changing,more and more mails were arriving and I started studying, trying to understand the web.New web site, online booking system, our presence in the Ota as we call them , and our massive presence with social pages, and courses. My workstation is completely changed, from behind the desk, now i work behind the counter PC, I do not look at the fax anymore, poor old abandoned fax !This allowed me to stay on the wave, to insert myself in the changing world of tourism which now is very fast and, if you’re not there on the web, you disappear from the real world. You have to be there, you have to talk about yourself, you have to make the web talk about you, you must be a 2.0 hotel and the web is the point 0 of the truth. This thrills me, but i’m aso afraid of this chance to get world at your fingertips, but the web gives us endless possibilities.As Dario’s questions made me grow, so the first negative review hurt me, it hurted like hell, because it was a little bit (to me so much ) unfair … but it made me grow, made me realize that the Customer dissatisfaction should be managed even more carefully than in the past. Even if you’re right, you should breathe 20 times, you should think 200 times your answer and you always have to try the mediation , because the web gives you so many chances, information, even though sometimes unfairly, but, of course, the pros and cons are anywhere. But all this gave me greater ability to controll and manage my emotions and to become more positive. Sometimes ,sighing, I find myself wondering what else I can do if a customer is not satisfied, but I think clarity always repay you at the very end. I try to sell the hotel for what it is I try to maintain an intermediate line, correct and of great clarity. We live in a world full of scams, of tricks, and people are afraid, but we can not afford to cheat, to play games, because we are here with 4 floors on our heads, we can not escape, we can not run away in the night packing the hotel in a buggage. I do my best to keep up Hotel Torino Brand , I want to mantain its reputation, it’s almost like an adopted son to me .Manage this crisis, lower and lower profit margins, the constant updating of our presence on the web, portals, socials , the unbridled competition, is putting me to the test evrry day very seriously, I’m putting myself in the game, and every day I realize that I still have to learn.But everything has refined the way I do Hospitality: fundamental, and must be for everyone who works here, is the smile, the management of the customer in a serene and elastic, flexible timetable, so that for the season 2016 i wrote A press release on ” the total relaxed wake up at Hotel Torino . Sometimes, rather than a dissatisfied customer, I prefere lose the Client, if I feel I cannot satisfy hisher exigencies I give up. I swear I did it several times, but if I pick up that there are claims I can not meet with , I advise clearly to try to look around, to evaluate other hotels. Then, if the customer calls me back , no offense, I’m just more relaxed, because I have given the right information.The Hotel is a show stagine 24 hours a day, ” you sell happiness ”, one of my friends told me some years ago and from that sentence i started the parties, dinner with live music, now maybe I’ll start some evening entertainment for children, as families are an important part of our tourism, and I discovered i can also be an entertainer in 15th August Parties. In winter i study, evaluate new dishes for the menu, new proposals, new stuff to be included in the buffet, the attention and care that I have ever given to celiac customers. I have learned to listen, to read trends, i have become a human radar. Everything I do in my working adventure is designed to disintermediation, to retain, to grow the Brand Hotel Torino, And I find myself reading the google analytics, read the traffic increases, read the changes in the traffic , as, for example, the access through smart phones has become thrice bigger, i find myself analyzing the need for a responsive website, i find myself to realize that the editorial calendar for social channels brings me the fruits because the social channels keep alive the Hotel and help to increase the interest in the Hotel.I speak now of a working adventure, because every day, mypricked up ears pick up something new, each day i have to reinvent me and my job, and everyday i have to put myself in the game. Now I’m thinking of an app, but I’m afraid to spend money in advance, i’m afraid it becomes a waste of money at the moment. I think, I evaluate and then speak with the owner.My dream would be a true collaboration with some hotels, both as a group of purchase, and as a way to pass each other the exceeding bookings / inquiries, but unfortunately I have to admit that the hotels are often separate , fenced gardens, with clear boundaries. And I put this dream in the drawer. I work now in this garden, hoping to blossom beautiful flowers this summer
