Job description in change: job change From HR to hotel manager with passion

Carinne Solo from the small town of Guingamp in Brittany was a human resources manager for twelve years. Then she changed jobs and opened a hotel with her parents in the old villa. Today she works a lot more than before and has less Money – but is significantly happier.

Work hard for success

At the entrance of the villa from the 17. Century welcomes us a bright pink plastic pig. Inside, things are going on unusually: a spotted cow in the garden, the metal horse of an international artist in the atrium of the glasshouse, a puppet in the dining room that looks like her own great-grandmother - and an owner, who used to be a freelancer, before she decided to do a job to do that she really enjoys.

Even her name Carinne Solo is unusual and actually a spelling mistake by her father, as she explains. The hotel that she runs with her parents in the small Breton town of Guingamp is also unusual: the villa from which Mother Discovered by chance on the way to work, the Family Buy cheap in the early 90s. With painstaking manual labor and a great deal of attention to detail, the family built it piece by piece, restored the stairs, painted the walls and sewed the curtains themselves.

Family and regional roots as a recipe for success

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“Back then we started as BedundBreakfast by renting out a room while we were still working in the other rooms, and we continued to expand it,” laughs Carinne. The guests didn't take that badly for her: Le Demeure has been a hotel for 8 years now. And many guests are regular guests who often stay for months.

The special family cohesion as well as the strong regional rootedness is the secret of success of the company: so the family always got help from the neighbors.

Stones from the street, the breakfast room as a showroom

The stones paving the driveway are from the street: when it was redone 10 years ago they were allowed to use the old stones. The glass extension was designed for free by a well-known Breton architect. The chairs in the breakfast room are from a furniture designer who used this as a showroom for potential customers uses. “I only paid for the materials,” explains Carinne.

And one of their neighbors is an expert in converting old houses: “He gave us his Deselect helped a lot,” reports the hotel manager. In Future she wants boys in the hotel People and give students the opportunity to gain experience in the development of old houses.

Political scientist, Personalerin, Hotelchefin

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The 37 year-old now studied political science in Rennes until the bachelor's degree, followed it up with a special education in human resources and worked 12 years in a big one Company in Quimperlé as Human Resources Director.

"It was a good experience, but not what I wanted to do - it just wasn't fun and it was tough having to lay off a lot of people," she says, adding, "How can you do a good job if you can't really Lust on the matter?"

A Toyota horse in the atrium

However, not all family members are always one Opinions: Some time ago, when Carinne bought a horse made from Toyota components that she had seen at the MaisonundObjet in Paris, her grandmother was less than enthusiastic.

“The horse was a major work by internationally known designer Andrew Martin and was very expensive.” Carinne reports with a laugh. “Then I transported it from London by ferry with a lot of effort. When I came home with it, my grandmother was totally pissed because I had spent so much money on a Toyota horse. She used to be a mechanic and didn't let anything come over Renault.

A decision for life

According to Carinne, her new job is one decision for life: "You choose what you do and then do it consciously," she says. However, she also has good memories of her old job as Human Resources Director:

"I found a lot of friends there who still do the job in part and got to know my son's father," reports the hotel manager and philosophizes: "Many are happy with such a job. Only I was not in the right place. Fortunately, not everyone is the same. It is important to understand what friends are doing and to respect each other despite the differences. ”

The new life: no paradise!

Nevertheless, her current life is not a paradise and it was also not easy to turn everything upside down, as she emphasizes: “I used to have a nice apartment, a car, travel abroad to great countries and could buy clothes and shoes like me wanted to.

Today I only have a small apartment here in the house, instead of a car only a bicycle and we only go on vacation for two weeks a year in which we close the hotel. Reality is simply different, ”she simply summarizes her concept of life.

Every penny flows into the hotel

Carinne puts almost every penny into her hotel, her own salary she almost doesn't have it. She gets up at 4 a.m. every morning to prepare fruit and vegetables and then works 19 hours a day, 7 days a week.

However, she doesn't want to swap: “If you like doing something, you always do more than you have to. And if you do everything yourself, it's not that expensive, ”she says. Better a small bike and stay here than live in Paris and have a lot of money. ” Another advantage is the working atmosphere: “Today I can choose the people with whom I work. So we have a lot of fun and laugh a lot, ”says Carinne.

The employees should work on their own responsibility

The hotel has three employees, each of them very different Tasks takes on: housework, patisserie, tea sales. "Everyone does a little bit of everything," says Carinne, who cares that the Employees work independently:

“Of course there is a lot to do, but you don't have to do a lot right away, it is often enough the next day if you feel like it. It's better if you decide when to do something and nobody tells you. ”

Extra education for kitchen and accounting

Carinne is cooking. For this - and for them Accounting – does she have an extraVocational Training made. “It wasn't mandatory, but I felt better about it." She would also prefer to do the bookkeeping herself: "Hiring an accountant would be too expensive and that way you keep track of things," she says.

Her creative field of activity is the kitchen. “I'm not a master chef, but you can make beautiful things if you have the knowledge. The important thing is that you eat with love.” Lots of products they have in the hotel and in the little shop sell, are homemade. Others come from regional farms, some of which are organic.

Live like the great grandmother

The health aspect is very important for Carinne. Wine, actually typically French, is in vain in the range: “I don’t drink alcohol myself – that’s why sell we don't have wine here. I only want to sell products that I can recommend,” says Carinne.

Her role model was her great grandmother Sidonie, after whom the small shop with regional and ecological products is named: Sidonie e Companie. A puppet was made from her photo and now hangs in the dining room. "I studied and learned so much and now I don't live much differently than my great-grandmother," says Carinne and smiles.

Guests should feel at home

This is exactly the philosophy according to which Corinne furnishes the house: “Guests should feel comfortable, at home as with their own grandmother - only with lots of fun things. Accordingly, the hotel is also called Le Demeure.

Like a chandelier made of silverware, the collection of watches over the stairs, or the pink plastic pig, Carinne has acquired a lot of money in Belgium, especially in this color because Pink is her favorite color.

Modern art brightens the old house

Each room is different with its own atmosphere, some of which seem a little overloaded but always charming. A ConceptAfter collecting art objects, Carinne does not have:

“Old houses are often gloomy and the art objects are meant to lighten the mood,” smiles Carinne. Every time we go to Paris or London travel and when we see new things that we really like, we buy them.”

Special service for the guests

But Carinne also makes quite practical things different: the guests can take the food also times with the room or get on request also times extras. In the dining room of their restaurant there is a play corner for children.

That is, says the hotel manager, herself a mother, for the guests, clear more relaxing: "Parents can then have a good time in the restaurant while the children just play instead of whining around the table."

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