My interview was at Hotel Caballero which is located in Playa de Arenal (the German area of Palma!). It is about a twenty minute bus ride from Plaza de España, so about the same distance it would have taken to get to the other hotel if I would have worked there. The bus route passes the airport and the aquarium. There was a lot of construction going on when Silvia, Angie (Another girl in my group that is working at the same hotel!), and I got off at our bus stop. Some hotels close here for the winter months and don't reopen until close to the end of February or beginning of March. This gives them time to work on repairing or improving any parts of the hotel if need be.
We walked into the hotel and there was a very modern feel to it. Much different from the uptight luxury feel that Hotel Nixe Palace gave. Like I said, there was a lot of construction/tidying up of the hotel. Hotel Caballero opens tomorrow (February 20th). We waited for a couple of minutes until Guillermo, our interviewer and I believe one of the higher ups in the hotel, came out and introduced himself. He then led us to the bar room to conduct our interview. Tony, the head receptionist, joined us as well. Angie went first with her interview. Then came mine. The atmosphere of the interview was so different in comparison to my first one. Today, there was laughter and it was so much more informal and laid back. That was definitely not the case with my first interview. Guillermo spoke in English for me even though I am definitely getting better at understanding spoken Spanish. I'm not quite at the point where I can put complex sentences together, but I will get there! He asked me if I had ever worked in a hotel before. I said no, but I had some experience with my HTM 181 hotel lab back at Purdue. So I said I was very familiar with how a front desk is run. He said I would mainly be working with Tony and that it was good that I spoke German because they have almost all German tourists come to stay at this hotel. He asked me if I had any questions and I said none that had already been asked. Angie was on top of asking what the dress code was (For her super casual because she will be working in the back office and for me I was given a uniform. The lady when I went to go collect a uniform kept saying that I was so tiny. They didn't have a vest or pants that would fit me. But I just said that I can wear my black dress pants that I brought along. Guillermo said not to worry about the vest for my first day.) and they had already said during the interview that we didn't need to worry about bringing food or coffee because it will be provided for the employees at the hotel.
So at the end of each of our interviews, contracts were signed and we both officially became employees for Hotel Caballero. After all i's were dotted and t's were crossed, we were given a short tour of the hotel. It is gorgeous and will look even more so in the spring and summer when it really starts to get warm and busy. The hotel has a bar room with seating, a room where breakfast, lunch, and dinner is served, an outdoor and indoor pool, a mini golf course, a tennis court, a masseuse, and two saunas. Hopefully when I start work on Tuesday (I am so excited and can't wait!), I will get a tour of some of the different types of rooms that are offered so I will know what rooms I will be booking and giving out to guests.
I will be working 12 hours a week up until June and July. Then my work load increases to 30 hours per week. (I need to get all of my 320 hours in for my Purdue internship requirement!) I will be working two days a week (Tuesday and Friday) for six hours each starting next week (February 24th). I'm really looking forward to beginning my internship and learning more about the process of how a hotel is run and all of the challenges that come with it. That dear readers is my exciting news for the day. So from my side of the world, Hasta luego! (See ya later!)