Troy van der Wal

Background

About Troy van der Wal

My name is Troy Henry van der Wal and I have been living in the Netherlands for roughly 8 years now after leaving my home country of New Zealand in 2015. My mother was born and raised in The Netherlands and because of this, from a very young age we regularly made visits to Europe, where I developed my love for the country. When I arrived in Amsterdam originally in 2015, I was fresh out of Auckland University where I had just graduated from my bachelors in commerce, majoring in international business and commercial law. I was not sure about my future in The Netherlands when I arrived and it was my idea to only stay for 1 year, so I decided to have a bit of fun and work in Hospitality for a while. This is when I found citizenM a forward thinking Dutch hotel company and where my journey of the past 8 years began. Hospitality is not something I studied for, nor had I worked in it before, but working in this progressive company really developed my love for working with people and developed the skills needed to manage the many relationships involved. I initially started my position in citizenM as an ambassador, which is the main position which encompasses all the day to day functions into 1 role including, Front desk, cocktail barman, barista and kitchen porter. We went through a lengthy 1 month training program to learn all the skills of each role. After roughly 4 years as Ambassador, I moved into the hotel and tech support call centre for 4 months where I learned to bridge the gap between hotel/tech support and the ambassadors and managers on duty and how we could best support the hotels in a more efficient and timely manor. After my short stint in the tech/hotel support, I moved back into the hotel and into an Assistant Hotel Manager (Manager on Duty) role where I have worked for the past few years. This role compromised mainly of managing the relationships between Maintenance, Housekeeping and the Ambassadors and making sure every party has everything they need in order for us to offer an exceptional experience to our guests.