With many different exciting careers, Vatel alumni make up a huge international network. Committed to their school and its values, they like hosting Vatel students for their internships.


Costas Nicolaou, a Vatel Paris 1993 alumnus, was able to obtain his MBA in International Hotel Management with the Validation of Professional Experience (VAE) procedure. With his learning path and the Vatel spirit, this Vateliennow recruits his interns from our Group’s students.


THREE HASHTAGS THAT DESCRIBE YOU:
#fair #consistent #sociable

BEST MEMORIES OF YOUR THEORETICAL COURSES AT VATEL:
The management courses where the professor kept telling us: “When you graduate from Vatel, you’ll have a managerial position at the very least!” I’ve also got fond memories of the human resources course, which allowed me to understand how important it is to use the skills of each and every person to make your company a success.

BEST MEMORIES OF YOUR PRACTICAL COURSES AT VATEL:
When I discovered that France had over 300 distinct kinds of cheese and I also discovered its many grape varieties. We had to know all of the local products and I’ve got great memories of this.

YOUR BEST INTERNSHIP MEMORY AT VATEL:
When I was attending Vatel, I did my second internship at the Mercure La Défense Paris Hotel (Accor Group), a 600-room hotel and I was the assistant to the Food & Beverage Manager.  I was meant to work with him for the six months of my internship, but after only four months, I had to take his job over alone and manage this department by myself, supported of course by the General Manager. When I finished my internship, they proposed me a job after graduation.

YOUR VALIDATION OF PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE:
There is no free lunch and as I’m a driven person, I’ve always known that I’d reach my goals by working hard. I prepared and obtained my MBA in International Hotel Management, which certified my previous experience, and I was quickly promoted as the Operations Manager of the Four Seasons Hotel in Limassol (Cyprus). At the same time I was invited to lecture in hotel training in Cyprus, as a professional working in this field.

LINKS YOU STILL HAVE WITH YOUR SCHOOL:
For the past ten years, I’ve gone back to Vatel Lyon twice per year, to recruit interns, always assisted for this by Delphine Cinquin, the School Director.

YOUR DEFINITION OF AN OPERATIONS MANAGER:
A good Operations Manager:
• knows how to anticipate what his guests want
• makes sure that the services proposed exceed customer expectations
• has to be easy to talk to, both for his guests and for his colleagues
• grows with his team, helping them with training and always being there for them.

2 MISSIONS IN YOUR CURRENT JOB:
• managing the various services in the hotel
• guest relationships

3 COURSES AT VATEL THAT REALLY INFLUENCED YOU:
• human resources
• management
• practical work in the Vatel Paris application restaurant.

THREE THINGS YOU LOVE ABOUT CYPRUS:
• how friendly the people are
• the sun
• the sea

3 VATEL ALUMNI YOU’VE NEVER LOST CONTACT WITH:
• Delphine Cinquin, Director of studies of Vatel Lyon 
• Stephane Barbazan, the Le Saint Denis Hotel and Lancastel Hotel (Apavou Group) in Saint-Denis (Reunion Island) General Director
• Karim Asmar, head of the Hotel Management department at the Saint Joseph University in Beirut (Lebanon) Business School