Wake up call
“For someone who is deciding what they want to do with their hospitality degree, they may well think getting high marks for cleaning a toilet is nothing to be proud of. But what I found was that at the age of 22 I was a head housekeeper opening a hotel in Cambridge. The following year I was at the five-star Sandy Lane in Barbados. I can’t believe the places I’ve stayed and the ability to travel that a career in housekeeping has given me. Since then I’ve worked with Hyatt in Dubai and Shangri-La in Singapore,” she says.
Another distinguished professional who has travelled the world is Sheila Perera FIH, now manager of the Glenmor Owners Club at Gleneagles Hotel. In a career that includes 20 years as a housekeeping training manager, she has worked in Dublin, Jamaica, Johannesburg, Sri Lanka, New York and London.