Working at a hotel in thailand
After working in the ESL industry throughout my twenties and thirties, I was looking for a change of scenery, still wanting to remain in Thailand but wanting to dip my toes in something slightly different. An old work colleague of mine who had flown the nest from the teaching world had sent me a job advert for a hotel on Koh Samui. The role was a teaching position that also involved recruiting and training the staff — SOP procedures, HR work and general hotelier work were part of the job description.
I’d got through three interviews and was handed the job by the new French owner, I’d expressed that I didn’t have any hotel experience but was eager to learn, I’d been teaching English in various institutes in Chiang Mai, along with setting up my own private online teaching business — tutoring Chinese students, however, I’d become unsatisfied with the lack of social interaction with the physical world and craved something more exciting. I wanted to experience living on a Thai island, so I thought obtaining the job was my big breakthrough; however, I couldn’t have been more wrong.
Koh Samui’s image has changed significantly over the years, it’s become extremely built up with its luxury villas and world-renowned five-star resorts. It’s become boujii as hell and in my opinion not how one imagines Thailand to be. Don’t get me wrong, there are nice parts to it like the Mae Nam and Choeng Nong areas, but I found it lacking character, more a concrete jungle with some hideous, generic villas dolloped, saturating parts of the island.
I packed my bags and moved my wife and one-year-old son out of Chiang Mai to the apparent mekkar with the idea of learning a new trade and enjoying island life. I lasted four months and resigned after passing my probation. In my heart, I gave it everything; however, I found it difficult to adjust to the role and was puzzled by the lack of guidance and direction from the managers around me. I thought I’d been honest at the interview stage, stating I had no prior hotel experience, but found myself drowning in an environment which was bitchy and slightly odd. It was not how I imagined the job to be.
Initially, when I told my friends and family about the job, I’d describe the role and where I was living in the world, which was usually met by envy and admiration, I mean, it did sound bloody fantastic, I’d work at the Koh Samui branch for a few days and then move to the other branch situated on Koh Phangan, a short ferry trip away. I feel that with more support, it could have worked out. I gave it a try, but just couldn’t get to grips with all the aspects of the job.
Moreover, I guess the takeaway from the experience was that things can appear completely different to what’s being put out there, by this, I mean, I remember the job advert, an idyllic dreamy picture of the hotel, swimming pool and backdrop of Koh Phangan on the horizon, I was pulled in, this cemented the fantasy of working at a five star resort in Thailand with the high hopes of it being my career. I guess insane marketing…Lol. It taught me that behind the scenes in these amazing, picturesque resorts is a lot of stress and bullshit; being a guest at a resort is totally different from working at one.
On the other hand, I have this argument with myself that I did all the initial hard work, I started to build relationships with my colleagues, and I passed the probation period. The beginning stage in any new job is always nerve-wracking and gruelling. Did I pull the plug way too soon? With everything said and done, I believe it’s good to try new things and get outside your comfort zone. Being an ESL teacher in Thailand for years upon years can endanger one to fall foul of becoming too comfortable, which creates a lack of tweaking oneself in other areas that will propel one forward with personal development. It’s a fine line to gauge when enough is enough, so my final thoughts here are to keep pushing yourself, learn new skills to maximise your potential and make yourself desirable to employers.
Furthermore, fear has a strange way of replicating the devil on the shoulders, whispering words of pessimism, instead of focusing on the good things and being confident, it’s easy to become bogged down, thoughts of ‘I can’t do this’ become louder and louder, this is when support from work colleagues and peers is needed.
