Nele
Grauenhorst
Hotel Manager (ATLANTIC Hotel Airport)
"Even as a child I already wanted to work in the hotel industry. With my family I spent several vacations in a hotel in the Dolomites and was allowed to take a look behind the scenes. I pretended to work at the front desk there. I always said to my parents: "When I grow up, I want to work at reception in a nice hotel." The combination of a lot of guest contact and administrative work is very attractive to me.
I fulfilled this wish and started my apprenticeship as a specialist for hotel business in Bremen in 1993.
In 1996, after successfully completing my apprenticeship, I went to England for six months to improve my language skills.
I started as a receptionist at the ATLANTIC Hotel Airport in May 1997 and initially only wanted to stay for a year before moving on and getting to know different places. When I started, the idea suddenly disappeared and so one year turned into five years, then ten and now it's 27 years.
In 1999, I was promoted to Deputy Front Office Manager and realized that I was appreciated and trusted to do things. That's how I developed.
10 years later, I took over as Front Office Manager. I am motivated by the fact that nothing stands still within the ATLANTIC Hotels Group. When I started, we were the second hotel, now there are 20! Many managers and colleagues have also been with us for many years.
In addition to my work at the front desk, I was involved in exciting projects such as the hotel takeovers in Wilhelmshaven and Travemünde, a hotel software conversion and the development of a quality management program for the entire hotel group.
In 2015, I was asked whether I would also like to take over the management of LOGIS quality management at ATLANTIC Hotels. I really enjoyed this task and I learned a lot of new things and gained a lot of experience.
In 2016, after a change of hotel management, I was offered the position of Assistant to the Hotel Manager. I simply knew the hotel very, very well. The hotel manager and I had found each other. It was a great collaboration with a strong relationship of trust, in which I was always able to develop further.
At first, the new role was unfamiliar to me and the contact with guests, which I greatly valued, was no longer as much there as before. Instead, 'my focus' was more on the employees and their concerns now. It also became even more administrative.
In 2022, the hotel group unexpectedly added a new hotel and the previous General Manager became responsible for two hotels. As a result, I was promoted to Deputy Hotel Director. I realized that what I was doing was appreciated and that I was trusted with a lot– I was happy to take on the challenge.
A year later, I reached the top at the ATLANTIC Hotel Airport and am now managing this great hotel as Director.
I would never be where I am now if there wasn't such a great team working with me in this hotel.
Over the years, I have been challenged and encouraged and a lot of trust has been placed in me. I still occasionally fill in at the front desk and enjoy every guest contact. Guests who arrive and leave happy are the best!
My motto has always been: "Try and do it." Challenges are meant to be accepted and faced. Clearly things will go wrong from time to time. That's part of it, just like things you don't like doing.
Everyone can achieve what they want! The important thing is to be open to new things and to be able to admit mistakes. They make you strong and you learn from your mistakes. They help you move forward.
It is also important to see the people behind everything and to recognize what each individual person and the teams together achieve. That is super important! A hotel only works together. The higher I got in the positions, the more I realized how all the cogs (have to) mesh together.
I have absolutely no regrets about the unplanned +26 years and am looking forward to the many years to come until I retire."
// Published: August 1, 2024 //
