I’m doing the Erasmus programme for young entrepreneurs in a hotel and cultural centre in Matera, Italy, from 29/02/2024 to 26/07/2024 (6 months).
The hotel is unique in that it is located in the old historic centre known as the “Sassi”, a UNESCO heritage site. This part of the city is incredibly beautiful, and I never tire of visiting it again and again. The surrounding natural park is home to caves and rock churches, making each walk unique.
The structure where I’m doing the programme is a SRL company that brings together two hotels and organises cultural events (concerts, theatre), workshops (cookery workshops, etc.) and makes its premises available for various other activities (coworking, events, etc.). This multiplicity of activities is one of the main reasons why I chose this structure: it was important for me to understand how to organise several activities with different types of customers. As a complete stranger to the hotel business, another aspect that interested me was to understand how the maintenance of the establishment was managed while continuing to welcome customers (whether in terms of renovations, enlarging spaces, etc.). I also wanted to understand how to guarantee a quality stay while respecting environmental requirements.
I began this experience by getting to know the hotel team (management, reception and catering). In order to ensure my integration and to better understand the company and the rhythm of this type of structure, I was able to take part in some of its activities during events.
I’d describe this early experience as enriching, motivating, and enabling me to discuss a range of subjects (environment, culture, tourism) and to get a different perspective in general on running a business. As I’m just starting out in this field (as a young graduate with no real experience of the business world, only through work experience), I’m gathering as much information as possible.
The project is taking place in a country where I’ve never studied the language, which may have been a hindrance at first. I’m overcoming this by using English, but it can be frustrating at times.
Since my arrival, the main task I’ve been given in exchange for my hospitality is to help the hotel with its application for European Ecolabel certification, in particular by acting as a link between the external company in charge of the application and the hotel. I particularly liked this job because it gave me an insight into various aspects of the structure, including the more technical aspects. Once again, as a complete stranger to the hotel business, it has enabled me to understand certain constraints that the hotel can face, for example how to change polluting habits into more virtuous actions while offering the same quality of service and remaining competitive.
Helping to certify the hotel makes me realise that it’s much more advantageous to develop your business having already set certain criteria to respect, as far as possible, rather than having to change once the habits are in place. So, it’s an aspect that I keep in mind when designing my project.
The other one-off assignments I’ve been involved in are providing support at events (co-hosting). For the moment I haven’t done much co-hosting as the high season hasn’t started yet.
However, I’ve already learnt some very interesting lessons: the hotel makes a point of making its events accessible. My business plan concerned the creation of a space that would welcome the public (on a one-off basis and on a permanent basis via accommodation) as well as workspaces: I hadn’t planned to take this aspect into account. This doesn’t affect my project, but I need to think about how I can combine safety, accessibility, and activities in a workspace.
I’ve also learnt from the start of this Erasmus exchange that when you improve accessibility for all, you improve many criteria such as sustainability and safety. In fact, it requires you to change your point of view on how the building is used.
I’m very happy with this start to my experience, which is giving me the opportunity to live in a magnificent region and to open new doors for myself.
