The “Human Factor” at the Due Torri: an Interview with the Sales Manager

06-04-2022 | Experience

Written by: Digital Gran Tour

For more than ten years she has been the ambassador of our 5-star hotel in Verona, in her words a unique experience. Here Giorgia Gazzuola tells us how she lives her profession

Giorgia Gazzuola, Sales Manager Due Torri Hotel

Do you still remember your first day as deputy manager? In what way has this professional experience been different from previous ones?: I certainly do remember. It was February 1 2011. I’d already heard about the Due Torri and I remember my interviews with the manager before being hired. I devoted that early period mainly to learning, listening and understanding how to do my job. I wasn’t worried: after all, we were in the low season, a quiet period. It was the ideal way of starting a new profession. Coming into contact with people from all over the world with different social backgrounds, I soon discovered how open-mindedness and flexibility are fundamental. My previous experiences in the communications sector – in TV and radio, in particular – helped me to adapt to the new profession by staying tuned to the human relations channel.
What is a typical day in the life of the sales manager?: A typical day doesn’t exist. And it couldn’t be otherwise: the human factor, which permeates every aspect of jobs in hospitality, introduces an element of constant unpredictability. We are always reaching out to clients and listen to their needs. My plans may change at any given moment, to address a guest’s or a travel agency’s chance request, for example. I’m always in touch with the manager and the various operating departments. Our discussions give rise to the important reflections that underpin the elaboration of our sales strategies and results analysis. Part of my job consists of travelling and taking part in fairs and workshop: I take the Due Torri round the world. There’s no set timetable: it depends on too many factors, such as gala evenings and events organised in the hotel or the arrival here of travel agencies. We in the hospitality sector often work evenings, weekends and holidays.
How does your team interface with the hotel’s other teams? What are the challenges involved in working as a team?: The Due Torri Hotel is a positive, collaborative, very friendly environment. Our respect for our separate roles allows us to work fluidly, without friction. We communicate directly, freely and simply. This climate of good relations is enhanced by the fact many employees have been here for years, some of them for longer than me. Here there are consolidated relations between people that are not so much, or rather not only, a matter of work as of personal friendship. This is how we manage to make such a demanding clientele happy. We are expected to meet a high standard of excellence but, above all, to offer the client a personal touch. All this wouldn’t be possible if we weren’t able to act like communicating vessels. At every level.
The Due Torri often welcomes high-profile guests, sometimes during the cultural events organised in the city. Are there any anecdotes you’d like to tell us about them?: I remember one moment in particular: the atmosphere has stayed with me to this day. In 2011 the Sheikh of Dubai was in Verona for an equestrian event and stayed at the hotel. He occupied every room with his delegation and slept in the presidential Sant’Anastasia Suite, which we personalised for him. When they all got up in the middle of the night to be at the competition venue at dawn, the whole hotel came to life. Seeing all those people was a really unusual experience. Sleep is sacred in a hotel and should be preserved at all costs. But on that occasion the world turned upside down and day and night were inverted.
The Due Torri has an important and distinctive history: how do you convey this type of characteristic to guests?: We have a past that goes back centuries, packed with dramatic turns of events and records. To reach out to a wider audience, we speak about it online on the site. But, above all we prefer to let our guests experience it first-hand. To stay at the Due Torri is to enter into contact with the beauty of the place, living the palazzo and its history from a special perspective. We take people into the lounge and the reception rooms to see the paintings and the frescoes. When we have the opportunity, we show them our album of early 20th-century newspaper cuttings and original documents such as D’Annunzio’s bill and the speech Garibaldi made to the crowds from our balcony. These details always trigger interest, especially among foreign guests. Americans, in particular, are totally fascinated by history. We avoid being pedantic or didactic, and we embellish the story with memorable anecdotes and curiosities.
What are the most important lessons you have learned at the Due Torri Hotel?: I’ve developed the art of patience. Interacting with the public teaches you to listen, think before you speak, not to superimpose your own ideas of those of others, to be aware of everyone’s needs. This quality is important because it helps one to take into account the special character of each single client, hence please them even in little things. This is the authentic intangible luxury that we offer, especially to people, like our best-off clients, who already possess “everything”: we devote time to them, we listen to them, we understand who they are, and what they want. Over the last two years, what with the pandemic, we have had the chance to learn another lesson: the need to reinvent ourselves continuously. Even compared to just five years ago, means of communication, desires and client expectations have all changed. And we always have to be ready to offer something new and present our offers in different ways.