As a corporate accommodation provider I have the opportunity to meet people that are relocating from all over the world to Ottawa for a new job. It’s fascinating for my team to meet such interesting and culturally diverse people, hearing about how they came to relocate here, where they are from and their expectations. It’s such an enormous decision to uproot your family from the comforts of; home, friends, family and customs…Why do they do it?
On the surface you might think it’s for a larger paycheque, but if you dig a little deeper it’s often about the experience. Money isn’t the primary motivator it’s usually more about enriching their lives; through a work experience that will propel their career to new heights or it’s about a life experience for their family, an international adventure to be remembered for a lifetime.
Often at the initial stages of a relocation process we are working with the company to select the right suite in the right location for their employee. We understand that the relocated employee usually arrives at their suite prior to actually going to their job site so their first impression of how they feel about taking the job is whether they like their accommodations and how smooth their arrival was. That means the onus is on us to create a world class experience that meets the expectations of both the guest and their employee.
Our business is as much about building relationships as it is about properties, receiving the relocating guests in our suites is an honour, contributing to their experience is exciting and rewarding for our whole team and in turn enriches our lives. We respect the fact that they are often arriving from far flung places and don’t necessarily know the language, culture or climate and more often than not there is confusion on how to work our cable TV, appliances and thermostats! Imagine what a culture shock it must be, it’s not uncommon for people to arrive in the middle of the night and have to figure out how to get to work the next day. Talk about stressful! We walk them through everything from turning up the heat to setting the alarm clock, all things that seem common to us but are alternate to many. There is never a dull day in this job and almost always somebody arriving from across the other side of the planet in search of an experience of a lifetime…our job is to make it memorable for all the right reasons!
By Jennifer Cross, Managing Partner
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