I was about 18 when I decided to work in hospitality. I found out about a great school in the Netherlands with business education and gave it a go; I really loved it. After four years at business school, I got an internship with Accor and stayed here.

There were a lot of internships available at the time but I wanted something very specific so I waited for six months; it was worth it. I was Accor’s learning and development coordinator for the Netherlands, organising all the training for Accor in the Netherlands and Benelux. It was quite demanding for an internship and there were only two people in the department, me and the manager.

I wanted to do something more creative, so I moved to the loyalty department and then the company restructured, and that’s how I got the role I have now as loyalty activation manager. I support hotels but I am never in direct contact with the members. I am there to give the hotels all the tools in order to deliver the loyalty programme in the best possible way.

I expand the programme and think up new ideas for rewards, especially in the last two years during lockdown because a lot of people were on furlough and I got to learn new things that would not otherwise be in my job description. I thought about the experiences we could offer customers to make them redeem more points and decided what partnerships would be interesting.

I really like that you can see the difference you have made. Working in the hospitality industry is a benefit because you are surrounded by very social team members, often people that have worked with guests before.

When I was small I wanted to become a wedding planner and I am still interested in organising events. In Accor you can say, ‘I am interested in events; can I change my job responsibility so that have more of this?’ I don’t think it’s a coincidence that I am now also responsible for some member events.

A lot of people expect a perfect job; I don’t think that exists. You can find out what you don’t like, take what you like about a job to the next step and try to get rid of the things you don’t like – be clear about this. For example, I don’t really like working systematically and I really like events, so in my new job it was a prerequisite that these two things matched, and I have got that, which is great.

It depends on your manager; I am really lucky with mine, and the company listens. Be open and honest and if you indicate what you want, they will try and find a job opening for you, especially if they see you want to work hard.

In the Netherlands and the UK there are a lot of hospitality jobs and not enough people. You have to make sacrifices in the beginning. If you don’t find the ultimate job fit but you see potential in a company, always go for the company over the job because if there are growth opportunities it can go so many ways.