We have crammed our lives a bit too full

Interview: Maaike Dukker-‘t Hart 

‘We got to know each other during the introduction week,’ Floortje starts her story. ‘That was in Wortel (B). We both grew up in Belgium and were joking about typically Belgian words. We hit it off straight away.’

‘Still, it took another year before we were in a steady relationship; the people around us had thought all along that there was something going on between us,’ laughs Alexander, ‘only we hadn’t realised it ourselves yet!’

‘Not until in the second year the spark flew. From then on, we were truly inseparable because we were both on the board of Xenia,’ says Floortje.

And then another three years studying together; how does that work!?

‘It worked because we went on work placement,’ says Alexander. ‘Floortje went to Four Seasons in London and I was supposed to go to the Mandarin Oriental in China, but that fell through because I was diagnosed with Pfeiffer’s disease. So my work placement abroad turned into a placement at the Antwerp Hilton. As luck would have it, Floortje’s parents live near Antwerp and, because she was going to London, a room became available. So after a year of being in a steady relationship, I ended up moving in – not with Floortje – but with her parents!’

‘Back in Breda we found a student flat together. Then we threw ourselves into student life for a while before we graduated,’ says Floortje. ‘In our fourth year, we went to The Hague; I had a graduation internship there at the Hotel Des Indes, part of Starwood.’

You kept working in the hotel industry, but Alexander, you started going into a different direction very soon. If you had to choose a study programme now, I reckon it would be Applied Data Science & AI. 

‘That could well be the case. In any event, I’d love to have students doing their graduation internship as part of that study programme here at Orange Peak!’

You are the general manager at Orange Peak Company, a data management company. How come?

‘A long story that had already started in my graduation year, actually. I worked along on Olaf Hermans’ project about Customer Relationship Management. That project didn’t allow me to acquire all the competences I needed to graduate. I then suggested that I could gain the practical competences through my job on the side, which was at a call centre. I eventually worked my way up to team leader and project manager there. I tried to resign a couple of times, but each time a new challenge came my way. And eventually, at that call centre, I met the founders of the company I now work for – they were two students from Groningen – and they were keen to have me join their company. I was making a lot of data analyses; I enjoyed it and I’m good at it.’

Why did you opt for a Hotel Management programme?

‘Both my parents work in the hotel industry and I’ve always said that I wanted to work in that industry  too. To date, apart from my work placement, I haven’t really been successful!’ (laughs) ‘I’m so lucky as to not work in a hotel, but I do get to hear all the wonderful stories from Floortje!’

Floortje, tell me your story about the hotel business. You have totally immersed yourself in it.

‘That’s right! I sometimes think I wouldn’t know how to do anything else. When the hotel industry was struggling in 2008, I went on to study Political Science. I’d almost finished my first year when the general manager of the hotel where I’d done my work placement called me to ask if I wanted to come back. I did so at once! I stayed there for eight years. It was just like with Alexander; every time I tried to resign, they offered me something else.’ 

‘And there, you also showed that you can give it your all if you organise your work differently,’ says Alexander.

‘We had no choice; otherwise, we wouldn’t have managed at home as a family,’ says Floortje. ‘A position was created for me—a nine-to-five job—and later I became HR manager, a role that can also be done during office hours. I still find it quite remarkable that I’ve developed within a single company from student to a fully-fledged professional with four children.’

‘The first three, all of them girls, went to day nurseries and the BSO (out-of-school care), but when the youngest was born, which we had waited for for some time, because otherwise we couldn’t manage it all, we started to organise things differently,’ tells Alexander.

Floortje: ‘I handed in my notice and became a full-time mother.’

A career break, I read on LinkedIn. And you, Alexander, did you start working fewer hours too?

‘The funny thing is that I’m telling this at home now. The children are having a holiday and I’m working from home, but frankly, I take them to swimming lessons every now and then, but it’s Floortje who keeps everything running here. I admire her and realise all too well that this has meant she hasn’t been able to take certain steps.’

‘I do what I enjoy doing and the time with my children is very valuable too. As I have a good network and have already proven myself, I was often asked if I wanted to take on another job.’

‘Of course,’ says Alexander, ‘they knew there was a top candidate available!’

‘I think it’s mainly because I’ve always finished everything properly. My advice as HR manager is always: don’t burn your bridges, treat everyone with respect – you never know how things might turn out. It was all sorted over a quick cup of coffee, and I went back to work. I’m now the Quality Manager and Learning and Development Manager at Marriott in The Hague; a role I’ve been able to shape entirely myself. That also helps me balance it with my family life.’ 

‘It also works because you’re very clear and set your boundaries,’ says Alexander. ‘You’re not afraid to say, “I can’t do this right now, but I’ll look at it this evening.” If you want good people, then as a company you have to adapt. You often get loyal employees in return. Ask what they need to do their job well. In my view, that’s—how do they put it at Marriott?—a Wonderful Welcome. Being able to feel at home, even at work.’

But still, there are four children sitting at the table at home.

‘The first child arrived just a year after we got married,’ says Alexander, ‘I think that was NHTV’s first ‘hotel baby’ at the time. We both come from large families, so we’re used to it.’

‘I’ll  never forget that lesson Douwe Cramer gave us,’ says Floortje, ‘a lecturer and hotel expert that we respected a lot as first-year students and who as general manager had travelled the world. He asked us to write down, as a sort of reality check, what we expected from working in the hotel business, and how we all saw things. Independently of one another, we were not even in a relationship, Alexander and I had noted down that we wanted to have four children!’

‘And do you know what’s so lovely? They’re taking after us. Because Floortje still works in the hotel industry, we stay in hotels with the kids quite often. And guess what, they’re the best mystery guests. They won’t say anything if someone isn’t doing their job properly, because we’ve taught them how to treat each other with respect, but they do notice when something special happens. Like when someone clears a table for six in one go. Or when someone steps away from that desk for a moment and talks to the children at eye level to welcome them and give them a colouring picture. That’s what hospitality is all about.’