An internship in one of Turkey’s top luxury resorts is providing an outstanding learning experience to BBA student Anasztazia Marci. The hotel’s management is equally keen to learn how guests perceive its service; and it recently gained some valuable feedback from a guest who is a familiar face within the Glion student community…

From hospitality to haute couture; and from beautiful timepieces to bespoke experiences – the luxury industry is on the hunt for talented individuals who can deliver the kind of personalized service needed to delight an ever more demanding customer base.

Anasztazia Marci is a Glion Bachelor student who is currently witnessing trends in luxury service from the closest possible vantage point. For her second internship she has traveled to Turkey, to work as a guest relations cross-training intern at one of the country’s most luxurious beach resorts: the D Maris Bay.

This 5* property is located in the stunning Datça Peninsula nature reserve, which sits at the intersection of the Aegean and Mediterranean seas. Offering a boutique luxury environment, it has 196 rooms and 37 suites, plus a 310 sq. m villa with its own private pool.

Having already covered several departments during her cross training, Anasztazia had settled into the Guest Experience department when The Insider caught up with her. Within this team she is charged with fulfilling guest requests and creating unforgettable experiences.

“D Maris Bay is a high end hotel, so our guests are difficult to impress. But we benefit from having incredible, world-renowned restaurants and fantastic beach zones,” she explains. “In addition, our hotel provides excellent service – for example, guests staying at our villa are assigned a private butler who is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. If any guest has a question or request, our policy is never to say ‘no’ but to do our best to fulfill it for them.”

First-hand feedback

Putting that customer promise to the test was a challenge set for our Academic Dean, Dr Barbara Czyzewska, who agreed to provide some feedback to the hotel’s management after staying at the resort as part of a visit to Turkey arranged by Doğuş Hospitality & Retail Group, the owner of D Maris Bay.

“It was an unusual experience for me, because I generally think of myself as quite an easy guest,” says Barbara. “But here it was all about arranging certain situations, being much more demanding and harder to satisfy. This reflects the trends we see more broadly in luxury, so I was happy to provide some insights to the Doğuş Group and help its hotels keep pace with those trends.”

For Anasztazia, being on the receiving end of customer demands has been a professionally rewarding experience. “The internship challenges me on a daily basis,” she says. “It provides me with the exposure and knowledge to handle many responsibilities while swiftly managing and answering any issues or questions our guests may have. I am also responsible for the hotel’s WhatsApp handle, which is another tool we utilize for the comfort of our guests.

“This internship has involved more than simply working my shift and returning home. The hotel takes great care of us as employees – we enjoy excellent food and accommodation, a staff beach, gym, and all sorts of activities such as parties and barbecues. We have a luxury experience, which helps us to provide guests with luxury experiences!”

The internship advantage

These are some of the practical, career-enhancing benefits which make the two professional internships such essential components of our Bachelor’s degree.

As Head of Career Services & Industry Relations, Jacquie Lutz and her team oversee hundreds of internship placements every semester. She is in no doubt as to the advantages such assignments deliver.

“When our BBA students graduate and join the professional ranks they already have a year of genuine work experience, which is a huge advantage over graduates who haven’t done internships. It gives them a sense of understanding how hospitality and/or luxury businesses work; first at grass roots level through an operational role and then higher up the ladder in their second, managerial-level role.

“As an intern, you start building your network, gain confidence, and grow as a professional in what is very favorable terrain. And by this I mean a nurturing environment, where you have license to make mistakes as part of the learning experience and where you’ll enjoy our full support.”

Learning opportunities were certainly high on Anasztazia’s agenda when seeking her ideal internship placement. She notes, “I prioritized finding a global company that would give me the opportunity to gain experience in a variety of fields. As Doğuş Group operates across a wide range of industries, including but not limited to hospitality, I have many options for the future thanks to this internship.

“Another major factor was that this hotel primarily serves high-status guests, which enabled me to learn more strategies and tactics for resolving real-world situations. I can now apply Glion’s concepts with greater assurance.”

With a year of study still to come once her internship semester concludes, Anasztazia is already looking ahead to future career options, having acquired a particular appetite for innovative thinking and environmental responsibility.

“I want to learn more about the efforts that businesses are making to become more environmentally responsible and to introduce new innovations. I then aim to use as much of that information as I can in the process of developing an entirely new hospitality concept which is harmless to the environment.”

• To discover the D Maris Bay hotel, visit the website