This past semester I was fortunate to work in hospitality which is an industry that I am considering in my future career path. As an intern at Vogue Hotel, I learned a lot about myself and the business structure in Italy. From overcoming language barriers, adapting to different relationships with my coworkers, and respecting the way my supervisor runs the hotel, I thoroughly enjoyed my experience. The working culture, brain drain, and similarities and differences were all very apparent in my internship experience as well. But it put a lot of things in perspective when it comes to how advanced and structured the United States is, which is both a blessing and a curse.
Vogue Hotel is in the City Center of Arezzo, right on Via Guido Monaco. It is in partnership with Exclusive Hotels England because the CEO of the hotel is from England. The company takes pride in the 26 rooms that each have their own characteristics and are set up differently. Some rooms have it to where the bathtub is in in the room or behind the bed and not in the bathroom. The rooms are named after important people or places throughout Italy and its history. In comparison to the United States where most rooms have similar setups and are numbered because of the large number of rooms. For my job title as an intern, I primarily helped fill out the bookings, assist guests to their rooms and their cars, help clean up the breakfast, and file papers.
The language barrier was something I had to overcome to benefit from this experience at all. My supervisor speaks a little English, but is shy to use it. It was also difficult to communicate with most of the guests, but some of them spoke a little English. The rest of the staff spoke good English so they could translate when it was needed, but most the time Vincenzo and I could communicate with the little words we knew in each other’s language. When there is a verbal communication barrier, your nonverbal communication skills are more exposed. For example, Vincenzo and I formed our relationship and communicated through our body language. But It helped me gain confidence in situations when I needed to piece together the little Italian I know to make a point to my supervisor or a guest. It also pushed me out of my comfort zone because I was put awkward situations where we didn't understand each other and there would be a couple moments of silence and confusion. There also wasn't an easy way to communicate to where we could give constructive criticism whether that be him giving it to me as an worker or me giving it to the company and how it is run as someone from a different country that would be looking to stay at the hotel.
When it comes to the brain drain in Italy and how it relates to my internship experience, I have made direct observations regarding this topic. Since there are very little jobs in Italy, many young adults come into the hotel asking for a job in hopes to find anything they can get their hands on. But the hotel doesn’t have a wide variety of positions. There is no marketing team, guest services assistant, large financial team, event planner, bellman, and the list continues. The hotel has few receptionists, 2 managers, 4 ladies that work as the housekeepers, and one financial guy. The employees seem to enjoy their job but that could also be because they know they would find difficulty finding work elsewhere.
As for the working culture, their lives are revolved around work… In America, it is not written in the constitution that work is a focus point, but we make it one. From my personal experiences and observations, I think the big difference between the working culture in both nations is the motivation behind it. Americans work to get promoted, prove their social class, to have access to the more luxurious things, and to have the ability to travel. But in Italy, they work to live. To provide for their families and themselves without the idea of being “money hungry.” I think part of the reason for this, is that the country is very family oriented and not given as many job opportunities when it comes to businesses. There isn’t a diverse job selection here in Italy.
The business structure in Italy is also quite different especially in a hotel. They have all the bookings written out instead of using a computer. They reprint them when they aren't organized or look presentable. Check in and check out is a long process that takes about 4 minutes instead of the click of a button. I even mentioned to Vincenzo multiple times that he should just type everything into the computer and print it out and he demanded that they write it. So I didn't make any more suggestions. It was hard to decipher when to speak up and make suggestions because it would better the company and make it way more efficient, but I also didn't want to offend Vincenzo. They have a system and its one of the situations where if it's not broke then they don't want to fix it.
It also falls under the similarities and differences category because working in a hotel in Italy is so different than if I were to intern at a hotel in America. Vincenzo often leaves work to run to the bank, get coffee, run errands and leaves the desk unattended. We would go on random breaks and run and get a cappuccino. This isn't a common thing in America because it is a more structured schedule. Even the food that is set out in the morning for breakfast is purchased at the grocery store and I actually went to grab groceries one morning. In America, it's usually mass delivered and not purchased at a grocery store by one of the receptionist. It was also interesting to see that many people from town would stop in to say hi or would go grab a coffee with Vincenzo and that is not seen often in the hotel industry in America.
When it came to relationships in my work, I was able to form great relationships regardless of the language barrier. One of the receptionist who was there periodically when I was there, spoke good english and we got to chat about our lives and she translated things for me. My supervisor was VERY physical to the point where he was constantly grabbing my hands or my cheeks and would even grab my face and kiss my forehead or cheek. It didn't make me uncomfortable, but that would be found extremely inappropriate in the United States.The cleaning ladies both spoke some english and we all became friends and were able to chat about things. All of us joked with each other and most of the time they talked in Italian and I just laughed with them. They even made fun of me when I came to work (prior to knowing that we were supposed to wear white blouses) because I had a casual shirt on and my hair in a bun and they were like “what are you wearing!!!!” Which in America it is a style and can be dressed up or down. My boss also saw a video of me falling off a bike and thought it was hilarious. He continued to tease me about it, which I think was primarily because he didn't have many things to say that I would understand so he would just motion it. I cherish the friendships I made at work because that played a huge part in my internship experience.
In conclusion, there were some challenges including the language barrier and the different business styles that were very obvious but did not take away from my experience at all. My role was primarily to help organize the bookings and act as a receptionist, which was not difficult but also not what I had in mind when going into it. For future careers and academics, it provided me with characteristics and skills that I will be able to carry on. Such as, more confidence, the ability to adjust and accommodate, respect, communication skills, and independence. The best part of my internship was getting to interact and learn more about what makes up an Italian’s lifestyle. I formed great relationships and met many people who I saw around town and it was good to see familiar faces. I will carry this experience into my future knowing that I can step out of my comfort zone and work with those who may not have the same working culture. My most valuable takeaway from this experience, is regardless of the different cultures, languages, and beliefs, it is a learning process and there are mistakes to be made and lessons to be learned but it is mostly what you make of it and how you handle those situations. Ciao Vogue Hotel, and thank you for the experience!!