It has been a great experience attending a lecture on 16th of October 2018. The presentation was about the work of the hotel managers in Slovakia and in German speaking countries. Our lecturer was Ing. Ivan Repinský, who graduated at Matej Bel University in Banská Bystrica. He was talking about his work experiences, which he gained through the times, while he was attending university. His first foreign compulsory practice was in Hotel Ruchti’s, where besides his workplace duties he had some time visiting interesting places. His next stop was an intensive summer course in Swiss School, Schwitzerland. He had the option to enrich not only with theoretical but also with practical experiences. The multigenerational hotel Elmer Elm was a big challenge for him, because of the language barriers, he had problems understanding Swiss German. Schwitzerland has amazed him so much, that he wanted to stay there after the school, so he did that way and stayed there for his first winter season. Things were not going really well for him there, so he had to come back to Slovakia searching for new job. He got a job opportunity in Hotel Sitno Vyhne as a business manager. He had to communicate with the guests in german, english or slovak languages, show the hotel to them and organise events. After three months of working in Slovakia, he went to work on border. He had an opportunity to work for Hotel Kempinski in Dresden and got a contract for 18 months including visitation of partner hotels outside Europe, for e.g. in Dubai. Nowadays he works in Austria in hotel Der Berghof as a head-manager of the restaurant.

The presentation was very inspiring and taught us not to worry working abroad.

Text: Adam Ballon, 2RCM

Photos: Valeriia Bondar, 2RCR, Ing. Ľudmila Mazúchová, PhD.