Kabi Zewu in a Bournemouth University Master of Science (MSc), International Hospitality and Tourism Management 2014 – 2016 student is working at the London Marriott Hotel West India Quay 

I have been working in London Marriott Hotel West India Quay since last year May. is a five star hotels located in Canary Wharf.  Because of its location, the hotel is always busy with business travellers and tourists.  I started out as Food and Beverage Inter/associate, and after my internship finished in this year Mach I was offered a part time contract for the same position in the company. During my placement, I spent most of the time in the hotel restaurant Manhattan Grill. In the morning Manhattan Grill works as a normal hotel restaurant providing buffet breakfast for in-house guest. However, for lunch and dinner it serves as an American steak house. My role as a afternoon/evening staff in the restaurant is to serve and take care of customers, make recommendations on food and drinks. The hotel management put a lot of effort in staff training. We have daily 15 mins trainings before service; sometimes we even go visiting  breweries or gin distilleries. The wine suppliers for the hotel come in to give us specific wine training whenever we start selling new wines. I have gained so much knowledge on wine, liquor, cocktails, food and wine pairing, food hygienic, food allergy, sequence of service, allergy and so much more that is food and drinks related or just other general hospitality knowledge. Apart from working in the restaurant, I had to help out in the bar or room service from time to time, therefore it gave me the opportunity to have a rounder understand of how the Food and Beverage department works in real life.

At the moment, I’m working part time in the restaurant but I’m also given the opportunity to cross train in the Sales and Marketing Department, which is the area I really want to work in when I graduate. I developed a lot personally and professionally during my placement year. I was very shy and almost had no working experience at all in this area when I first came to the company. But now I am more confident, more open and sociable. I have a better skills in time management. Over time, I’ve learned how have a good balance among my personal life, uni work and professional work. Although Food and Beverage area is not my first option to work in, I do find it as the soul of the hotel business along with the Front Office/ Room Department. I’m glad that I started off as a restaurant server, and I get to really understand and put it into actions of the concept of  hospitality is all about making customer satisfied.

Marriott is a multicultural  and international company and my hotel is a great place to work for, I really like its philosophy  toward the staff and customers. I have been given so much opportunities to grow professionally, and the trainings are all very beneficial. I believe that having the experience of working in a five star Marriott hotel in London will open many doors for me in the future for my career. I have so many colleagues that are able to move from department to department, or country to country within the company. I have made so many friends and connections in the hotel/industry, I’m sure it will be very helpful for my future career in many ways.