Ever since I was a young boy, I always had a small dream of working in a hotel. During my childhood in South Africa I used to travel a lot in my own country and around the world. The fact that fascinated me the most about my holidays, was the time spent at the different hotels. I eventually started seeing hotels as my ‘second home’ due to the fact that I was spending amazing moments in them with my family.

My Dad is a qualified chemical engineer and has been working in the construction business for the past 30 years. He now runs his own business. My elder brother is currently working in a 5-star hotel in Mauritius, Les Pavillons. I am born In Durban, South Africa. I lived for seven years in South Africa. My family eventually immigrated to the small island of Mauritius due to better job opportunities for my father. I successfully completed my high school studies in Mauritius. I attended an international private high school, Le Bocage International High School. I successfully passed my International General Certificate of Secondary Education (IGCSE) and my International Baccalaureate (IB). I obtained a Merit for my IGCSE and won the school’s geography award in the same year. Regarding my I.B I successfully gained a bilingual International Baccalaureate Diploma. I fully master English and French. Both of them are seen as my mother tongue because I speak both languages at home and I studied both of them at high school.

Regarding my studies in high school, the subjects that I preferred the most was without any doubt business management and economics. These subjects were seen as the ‘hard’ subjects but I have to admit, even taking both of them at higher level it was a real moment of pleasure going to those classes. I was very much involved in school life, participating in various activities ranging from social to cultural, sporting and academic where on numerous occasions I had to demonstrate my leadership skills, and more importantly work as a team. This combined with my dream of hotel Management led me to apply to HTMi. I also feel that my personality is suited to the hospitality industry. As a “hospitality person” I rarely say no to people. I do not hesitate to go out of my way to help people when they are in need or request some help. Seeing the smile on ones face because I helped them is a real pleasure to me, it often makes my day. As I have learned here at HTMi “quality guest service with a smile” is a great way of making people around me feel very good. At HTMi I have learned that this will be a valuable aspect of my current and future career behaviour.

I sincerely think that coming to HTMI and studying hotel management is one of the best decisions I made in my life. I really feel at home at HTMi and in the hospitality and business sector. In the upcoming years I hope to spend more amazing moments learning at HTMi, because I know that it can only be fruitful for my future in the hospitality sector.

Jean Marc Pougnet