Saloua Merzguioui

I found my way to the hotel industry in 2016 after spending 8-9 years in the medical field, where I worked in hospital settings including medical surgery floors, cardiovascular departments, and step-down ICU. What led me to hospitality was an easygoing lifestyle and finding my peace by communicating in a professional environment, using my natural skills like hospitality, communication, and helping people. All of those natural skills fit pretty well with my opportunity in communicating with guests, and it didn't take long to plan the steps. I spent a couple of months in some departments, and my seniors, my bosses, my managers found me successful and offered me higher positions in my field. The challenges were not really a huge concern to me because they were taken care of naturally according to my ability. Today, I'm in charge of diverse responsibilities that include but are not limited to operations work, managing front desk and office work, reservations, handling challenging room situations, and serving as guest relations manager in charge of group reservations. I'm pretty good at languages - I speak French and Arabic, which are very common in New York City, and I'd say 60% of our guests are from Europe, so I'm really familiar with the mentality of those guests. I'm responsible for what's going on in the scene and behind the scene, and one of my biggest accomplishments is resolving major issues and managing the stay of guests to ensure they don't leave the property with the wrong review about the hotel, especially when there's disappointment.