by Dr. Iain
Corness
The
guest services manager at the Thai Garden Resort is a deceptively young
looking blue eyed German woman, Janine Tillmanns. Janine has already
managed to pack more into her life than most people do in their lifetimes!
She is a remarkable self-motivated person who thrives on travel and
challenges.
She was born in Germany in a city close to Cologne. Her
father was an industrial chemist and her mother, in those days, stayed at
home to look after Janine and her younger brother. However, a brief look
at her mother’s background begins to give one an inkling into Janine’s
adventurous nature - her mother worked on a cruise liner before she met
Janine’s father and settled down.
Janine went to the local school, but where you and I
were forced into the books until we were old enough to enter university,
Janine’s education was much more flexible, and much more rounding of
one’s character. Mother in particular, was encouraging Janine to go on
exchange studentships.
By the time she was 14 years of age, she was staying
with a family in Paris, learning French the best way - total immersion
learning. The following year she was learning English as an exchange
student in the UK. This way of living and education then took her to
Tacoma in the US, where she was enrolled in an exchange study high school
programme. “I went to the prom and even got my drivers license in
America. When I returned to Germany I was already allowed to drive,”
said Janine, obviously proud of her achievements by the time she was 17
years old.
I asked her how difficult was it, to fit into strange
families, talking a ‘foreign’ tongue? The experience certainly did not
faze this young woman in any way. She had her mother’s support, but she
herself had already worked out that all that was needed was an open mind.
“You have to have an interest in their culture and want to try out how
other people live, but you should not lose your own identity. This way it
broadens your mind, as well as allowing you to experience different foods,
schooling, and another language.”
Her first idea of a career was to be a veterinary
surgeon, but by the time she finished her secondary schooling (and
organizing her own high school’s prom) she knew that business and
tourism would suit her personality and character much better.
To follow this career, she went to the European
Business School in Cologne, a decision that would see her travelling in
Europe even more, learning more languages and completing a university
degree course, complete with a (completed) thesis!
This German education facility was associated with the
University of Hertfordshire in the UK, and her Bachelor of Arts degree,
majoring in Business and Tourism was issued from there. However, this was
not four years of academic drudge. During that time she also worked as a
travel and tourism assistant for the first two years, gaining her diploma
through the Cologne International Travel and Tourism Centre, as well as
working as an interpreter at the Cologne International Trade Fair.
During this time, she also went to the University of
Seville, on a four month scholarship to learn more Spanish, having already
successfully completed basic and advanced training in that language at the
Escuela de Idimos in Nerja, Spain.
If that were not enough, she also picked up a diploma
from the London Chamber of Commerce in business studies, as well as
receiving a bilingual secretary’s diploma in Cologne and the IATA/UFTA
diploma from Frankfurt.
Her university thesis was a survey of customer
satisfaction that she took of the guests of a small hotel chain in
Germany, focussing on an evaluation of the hotel’s systems. Completion
of the thesis made her realize that the hotel industry was her future. As
time came close to her graduation she was impatient to get started. “I
was just looking for an interesting opportunity to practice all the things
I had learned.”
That opportunity came quicker than she imagined. A
friend who had been to Thailand many times knew that the Thai Garden
Resort was looking for a guest services manager. 30 minutes on the phone
between Germany and the Thai Garden Resort’s GM, Rene Pisters, was all
that was needed. Janine made the decision and two weeks later she was in
Pattaya. “I always think twice about any decision,” said this
determined young woman, “but when I’ve made the decision, I act on
it.” She also had some good pragmatic reasons too. “I thought, let’s
try it. If it doesn’t work I have a return ticket!”
Since her arrival here almost 18 months ago, her scope
in the guest services arena has enlarged to encompass working in
reservations, operations, MC for functions and now deputizing for the GM
in his absence. “It’s good to learn in a small company, so you get to
experience many different aspects, and Rene watches over and guides me,”
she said, acknowledging the respect she has for her GM.
So where does she see her career going from here?
“This may change,” she admitted, “but I want to combine travelling
to different countries, with my work. I want to experience marketing and
operations. Perhaps a five star property in Dubai, Hong Kong or Singapore?
But there’s no real time limit. You never know what happens,” she said
laughing.
I asked directly if she was an ambitious woman, which
she admitted, adding that she was very motivated too. “I like a
challenge and I always find a way to deal with it. I believe in positive
thinking, so I was not scared coming to Thailand.”
Her hobbies are as one would expect from an active
young woman. Tennis and travel rank high, as does dining out with friends,
dancing, the movies and reading novels.
She comes across as a remarkably well balanced tourism
professional, and one that would be an asset to any hospitality business.
Believe it!
