Andreas Christodoulides, assistant general manager at Le Meridien Hotel, Limassol
Education: studied at the Hotel and Catering Institute in Cyprus, then studied all aspects of hotel management at the Educational Institute of the American Hotel and Motel Association (by distance learning) in Cyprus.
Training: on the job training, and 18 months as a management-trainee with Hyatt International at the Hyatt Regency Hotel, Brussels where he got hands-on experience of the trade.
First travel job: apart from Brussels (see above), worked as assistant front-office manager at the Palm Beach Hotel in Larnaca, Cyprus.
Career path: after studying, and working as a management trainee in Brussels, Andreas returned to his native Cyprus in 1983. He worked at the Palm Beach Hotel before moving to the Sheraton Limassol in 1988 as front-office manager where he spent two years. He was then promoted to director of sales for the next three years. In 1993 he moved to Le Meridien Limassol and his current position as assistant general manager.
Advice for people wishing to develop a career in travel: “The most important thing, if you want to make a career out of travel, is to passionately love your job. Because of the long hours involved there is no real happy medium. Either you love your job and you go higher or you don’t like it, therefore you move to another profession. It’s as simple as that!”
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