A short course in hospitality from a hotelier from Yekaterinburg.
We continue to introduce you to those who make tourism in the regions. Profi’s hometown is in touch today.Travel — Yekaterinburg. Anastasia Gorelykh, another participant of the “Pro!” contest, believes that everyone who is going to come to work in the hospitality industry should honestly answer the question: Does he love people? It’s hard to argue with this statement — it’s not easy for social phobes in our industry…
From phys tech to tourism
Who better than the hotel director to understand what hard work hospitality is. After working for 12 years in hotels of international hotel chains, Anastasia Gorelykh became the head of the independent Onegin Hotel in her native Yekaterinburg. She also became a finalist in the second season of the Masters of Hospitality project, and then became the ambassador of the hospitality project. “Hospitality is a very special area,” she is sure, “here staff of any level need to interact with people, and in such a way that as a result of this interaction, customers have only positive impressions.”
And it all started… from the physics department. While still studying in the specialty “standardization and certification”, Anastasia began working as an administrator in the only hotel in the city at that time, part of the international hotel chain — Park Inn by Radisson Yekaterinburg. As a result, after graduating, Anastasia turned out to be not an engineer at an industrial enterprise, but a specialist in the hotel business.
It’s all Hayley’s fault.
“To be honest, my career guidance was greatly influenced by Arthur Haley’s novel “Hotel”, which I read around this time. I decided that I wanted to come to work, where positivity, beauty and smiles would be waiting for me,” Anastasia Gorelykh recalls. “And standardization and certification — my specialty — are applicable in any industry and field, and in the hospitality industry no less than in any other.”
Over 12 years of working at the Radisson Hotel Group, Anastasia has come to the conclusion that hospitality is a very special area in which dialogue and human—to—human interaction are very clearly manifested.
“This medal has a downside: behind the external beauty, benevolence, smiles of the hospitality industry employees there is a very hard and exhausting work, sometimes making you feel burnout. Our field is very energy-intensive. Therefore, you can work in it only if you really love people and do not bother communicating with them,” says Anastasia Gorelykh.
She also notes the most important advantage of the industry — its dynamism. “We are never bored. Everyone who is somehow connected with tourism and hospitality will agree with me: It’s not easy, but it’s always varied and interesting. Plus, working in the industry creates a very wide range of acquaintances and allows you to learn new things, share experiences. Recently, for example, I gathered a group of general managers of hotels and organized a training course, which will be conducted by an international coach. This program will help to improve leadership skills and optimize the system of working with staff,” says Anastasia.
The industrial capital
Anastasia remembered the past year with an unprecedented workload. She said that during the November holidays, according to Hotel Advisors statistics, Yekaterinburg was the first among Russian cities in terms of hotel occupancy, ahead of Moscow, St. Petersburg and Sochi. “The average load of accommodation facilities in the city was 92%! Honestly, we’ve never seen this before!”
Speaking about the prospects for the development of industry in the region, Anastasia notes the important role of industrial tourism. “Yekaterinburg is the industrial capital of the Urals, it is home to the largest number of industries, including those evacuated during the Great Patriotic War. And now I am very pleased to note the growing interest in such tours.
For example, the region has developed a three-day “Demidovsky route” — a trip through the mining and industrial cities of the Urals. Onegin is its official partner, that is, during a stop in Yekaterinburg, tourists traveling along this route are accommodated in our hotel. I am sure that this is a socially useful project: children get the opportunity to get acquainted with professions and occupations that they do not even think about in everyday life, and learn a huge amount of new information. And for us, hoteliers, this is an opportunity to get new guests discovering the region.”
About the competition
The “Pro!” contest is held within the framework of the “Know our PRO” project. Its purpose is to introduce those who create domestic tourism today. You can find the stories of all the participants who announced themselves before October 31 on the project, as well as on the Profi pages.Travel.
At the end of December, the organizers of the Know Our PRO project will choose three people who will receive additional prizes: the opportunity to present their project/company at the online exhibition “Know Our: Summer 2024” (2 invitations). One of the participants will receive the main prize — 5 days of rest for two at the Sochi Park Hotel from the tour operator Anex.
Photo from the author’s personal archive
English 
Russian 
German 
Polish