TSBG Family – Graduates

Profile: Julia Paral Gombocz

Type of school & Final school year:

Secondary School for Tourism 2013

Dear Julia, how did you become what you are now? What were your most important

career steps?

One of my most important steps after school was my 4-month stay in Cameroon, where I learned what “being happy” means and that you can be so without the comforts of today. Of course, I must not forget my time in the Park Hyatt, one of the most beautiful hotels in Vienna. During this time as a concierge I learned a lot about people and how to respond to the needs of different nationalities. In the last three years of running our hotel, I became aware of how much I learned in the tourism schools, and how much these 5 years have shaped me.

What are your 3 most important ToDo’s?

This is difficult to say, actually I am the “girl for everything” in the house.

An important part of my job is my morning round through the house, usually with coffee for our employees as an appreciation and thanks for their daily work.

Apart from that I am like the fire brigade wherever there is a fire. Sometimes in the kitchen, sometimes in the service department, or in housekeeping, otherwise in the office to juggle with numbers.

What do you love most about your job?

The fact that every day brings something new. I love working with people and usually being able to give pleasure to them.

Setting up your own business with a company project like yours requires a lot of courage and even more commitment in good and especially in not so good times. Was it always clear to you that you wanted to go down the path to self-employment and how are you dealing with the current corona crisis, what is your focus at the moment and what are your plans for the time when the situation will relax again?

I would say it requires not only a lot of courage, but also a lot of ideology and some sort of youthful recklessness, a lot of strength from the family in the background and a partner who can keep it up with you. It was not planned from the very beginning that we would go the way to independence. But knowing that we have a solid foundation thanks to our school education, family and partnership, and by a happy coincidence we finally took this decision with full confidence.

My husband and I always try to manage the corona crisis with great confidence. You cannot change the situation but you can make the best out of it, so we are currently modernising our guest rooms. In the first closing phase we took care of our guest garden extensively, this would certainly not have been possible in this form without corona.

The Herbst is both a hotel for travellers and a meeting place for people from the immediate surroundings thanks to the restaurant – a place where social life takes place. Unfortunately, the death of the inn is a phenomenon of our time and corona makes it even worse. Which 3 points are the most important ones for you, which you as a host should not miss out on in order to be successful in the long run?

The most important point is to be a host with all our heart and to do this with pleasure, as our guests notice and appreciate this.

The second point, which was important to us from the beginning, is to be a good employer. Everyone should enjoy coming to work and feel our appreciation, because we are only successful together. Essential for a successful company is our family, on whom we can always count, and our regular guests, who have become our second family.

It is well known that the best way to learn is from the mistakes and successes of others. Do you have an example of your personal career Do’s and Don’ts for our TSBG – Family?

Stay true to yourself and your visions, don’t let others distort you and don’t let setbacks get you down. “Stand up, fix the crown and move on.”