Interview Elena Drozd

How have the last two years been for you?

'After I had a nice career internationally, I deliberately came back to Kyiv with the plan to settle down. As a general manager in a boutique hotel in a hipster and creative area, I was having a good time. While I was on holiday in Sri Lanka, Russia invaded Ukraine from Belarus making the situation in Kyiv very threatening. It was "in the air" but nobody expected it. 2021 was excellent, Covid was behind us and because there were few restrictions in Ukraine, we welcomed many European guests. We heard reports in the news about threats of war but thought that with dialogue and pressure from abroad a solution would come. The situation was also different from back then with the Krym occupation because there was no fighting then. All flights were cancelled, and it was no longer possible to travel back so I was stuck in Doha. A terrible time in which I was managing the hotel in Kyiv from abroad, I was responsible for guests still staying at the hotel and staff who went missing. Fortunately, some employees had not followed the news, so they came to the hotel. With the help of these brave colleagues, I was able to take care of everything from my laptop. What do you do in such a situation? No one had any experience with this. Transport by car was the only means of transportation, but roads were closed and there were long traffic jams to western Ukraine. My parents live in western Ukraine and had made their office available. Every day they had 40-50 transit passengers, many families with small children. A staggering 6 million people have now left the country'.

'The hotel was closed after a while, we kept in touch with the staff to check they were safe and provided psychological support. It was important to be there for each other. Some staff were going into the army and others staying behind or others were fleeing the country. One of the worst moments of the war for me was to stop paying out the salaries, because the money in the bank account had ran out. Certainly, colleagues in the operation who had no savings were hit hard by this. They live from salary to salary and cannot fall back on savings.'

'We were all faced with horrible stories. For example, the story of my former French teacher, living in a small town next to Kyiv, who had to choose between abandoning her dog or cat on the street because she just could not feed them. She chose to let her cat go and save her dog. I am still supporting her financially today to further in exchange of some French lessons to improve my knowledge.

'I ended up in Germany with the help of a friend, from where I gave assistance to several refugees to find jobs. After staying in several different places I was able to stay in Hamburg. I am very grateful for this.'

'It was a rollercoaster of emotions, where some days you can't do anything, but because of the situation and feelings of guilt you develop a huge drive. The guilt comes from the fact that you are not in Ukraine fighting along your compatriots. Many people abroad feel this, this is the survival instinct. It’s important to find your mission in life again, when you have lost what you have built and no foundation to lean on. My car is still in the same place in Kyiv where I left it for my holiday.’

‘My mission is to continue my career as a hotelier, and I received a lot of support from people in the industry. This helped life return to some normality and gave me structure and distraction.'

'Every refugee has their own story and background. Every refugee initially wants to return home. Just because they are in Europe does not make a dream come true. When I got the contract as a General Manager for Hotel Indigo in Brussels, I cried for half a day, not because I wasn't happy about it, but because I realized I wasn't going back home. What I want to say is that we are deeply touched by all the reactions and actions of Europeans, people stood at the train station to take strangers home and include them in their family situations. I could cry about this kind of kindness in people; this is the positive thing that comes out of this: you see people in a different way. The response was just amazing!!!'

'This job was a story of 3 handshakes, through WhatsApp I was introduced through a friend and from there it went fast, and they wanted me as GM. I’m grateful for this opportunity and the risk they took because at the time I still didn’t have the right papers to work in Belgium. My team of 15 nationalities were very welcoming. It doesn't matter where you are from, we are all professionals.'

What is your most memorable or special moment with a guest, who stayed with you?

During the time I worked as Director of Sales in a boutique hotel in Kyiv, we often hosted football teams. We once had the Spanish football team in house that won the championship. The Prince of Brunei and his assistant were in the hotel during this time and the assistant had the smallest room in the hotel which I would not normally put VIPS in. I met this assistant in the elevator and when I asked, 'how is the stay', she was so enthusiastic and said, 'my room window is in the alley behind the hotel above the bus with Spanish players and so I can take the best pictures'. Never fill in the answer, before you have asked the question.