On my first day at the Hôtel de Banville, I walked in the automatic doors, past the grand piano, and up to the reception desk. The receptionist who was on duty at the time, Romain, asked me if he could help me. I asked for Marianne Moreau, the owner of the hotel; he said she wasn’t in. I told him I was here for an internship, and he reminded me that I would be working with Géraldine Bouchet, the sales manager for the hotel. Géraldine then came upstairs to meet me, and brought me to the basement area of the hotel where there are several administrative offices. I learned that Géraldine is in charge of making contracts with outside companies to have their employees stay at the hotel. The first two days, I helped Géraldine write letters to clients that had previously stayed at the hotel. The most rewarding part was translating the letter, which was in French, into English for British clients. I addressed all the envelopes and we sent them off to companies all over Europe.
Géraldine had made a schedule for me for the week; I would work with her for most of the week, but also experience other areas of the hotel. One day I worked in the kitchen helping with breakfast with Aicha, another day I did laundry and inventory of the rooms with Ruzica, and on my last day I was at reception with Romain and Emmanuelle.
No matter what I was doing in the hotel, whether it was introducing myself to American clients or learning how to use the industrial iron for tablecloths, I was constantly interacting with native French speakers. Even though I only worked there for a week, my immersion in the French language helped my understanding and speaking immensely. I found myself thinking more about what I was saying than conjugating verbs in my head.
I will post more descriptions of my experience at the hotel later today, as well as two interviews with employees of the hotel. Currently there are some problems with uploading videos to the blog.
Sophie. I so enjoyed reading about your internship. Seems like you were able to experience every facet of operations at the Hotel, with beginning your journey in the basement, and working your way up the ladder! (Not to worry Andrew too, began his internship in the basement) It must have been a gratifying experience to write marketing letters and send them off to client companies, both current and perspective : Who knows, you just might have enticed a new client to come stay at the hotel !! Everything sounded so interesting, except the laundry part.
ReplyDeleteI'm sure the next time you stay in a hotel you will ponder what the landscape of that operation looks like. Looking forward to viewing the videos and interviews !!! Enjoy the weekend. Great blog article.