Interview with Lucia Tomkova, Director of Sales at Sheraton Bratislava Hotel and Grand Hotel River Park, a Luxury Collection
Bratislava is a great place for a conference.
Q: What gets you going in the morning?
A good cup of coffee and a nice breakfast. I rather get up 1 hour earlier to have enough time to start my day in the right way than to sleep and skip my breakfast.
Q: What is a personal project you are currently working on or wish you were?
I wish to spend more time helping others. I support a few organisations that help people in need/ homeless people and dogs shelter (my dog is from one of these shelters). But I have a feeling I still can do more. Another (ongoing) personal project is learning accepting people, situations and things the way there are. You can learn something from every situation or person you meet.
Q: How do you spend a normal weekend?
That`s very simple – day with my husband and our dog is the perfect day. I love when we go out to the countryside, have a nice walk, time for us, play with a dog. After the whole week when I need to focus, make decisions and multitask, it is so refreshing just to go out, no need to check the time, calendar and just enjoy yourself.
Q: What are your hobbies/what do you do for fun?
Since being a little girl, I love reading. There are periods in my life when I read one book per day. I also enjoy running in the summer. My secret passion is watching old detective series – Columbo and Hercule Poirot are my favourites. They are smart, behave nicely and always sort out the case.
Q: What do you count as your biggest non-work-related achievement?
I can’t mention only one achievement. I think balancing my professional and personal life can be one of them. I would rather say there were many things that have changed my life and made me a person I am now.
Q: How do you define friendship?
Friendship is a relationship between people when you can just be yourself, no matter what. You do not need to filter what you say, you freely express yourself, ask for help or offer it. You care about the other one, call him/her just to ask how they are, what they are doing, etc. Even when you do not see each other for a longer time, it is easy to catch-up.
Q: What is your absolute favourite place in Slovakia that you love to visit and why?
I really love my hometown Bratislava. It is a great place to live. The historical city centre with narrow streets, old buildings, museums, small cafes and restaurants. The Promenade along the Danube River gives you a seaside feeling. A lot of nature, woods, old castles, places to do sports or simply just walk and enjoy the day.
“ONE OF THE DOWNSIDES OF THE CURRENT SITUATION IS THAT YOU CANNOT MEET WITH PEOPLE FACE TO FACE”
Q: What kind of conference would you like to attend if you could choose?
Personally, I would love to attend one of Robin Sharma`s events. He is a big inspiration and one of the world’s top speakers on leadership and personal mastery. From the professional point of view, I would love to attend any of the MICE forums and trade shows that we usually join to meet my hotel friends and clients again, get some inspiration, find out what is new. One of the downsides of this situation is that you cannot meet with people face to face. And it is even more difficult when you are used to meeting with people and it is a part of your job.
Q: What is your best source of information?
Currently, I started to listen to podcasts. I think they are a good source of information and a great way to spend your time when commuting. They turn the „dead“ time in the car or on the bus into an opportunity to learn something new, to find out what is happening in the world or just have some fun. A great source of information is other people but you need to select what is relevant and important for you. Overall I think there is so much information out there and it is so important to filter them.
Q: What is the most interesting thing you’ve read or seen this week?
I have recently watched a very catchy video of Mayor of Bratislava presenting his green initiative – planting 10 000 new trees in Bratislava until 2022.
WHY BRATISLAVA FOR MEETINGS AND EVENTS?
Bratislava is a great place for a conference. It is a very compact city where you can easily move around. It has great accommodation, dining and leisure options. It is not so busy compared to other capitals. There are perfect options for conferences, very high quality of service and you receive very good value for money. Moreover, Bratislava belongs to top 5 cities in the world.
Bratislava is a very charming city, where you can easily walk and where the historical area is right next to the most modern part of the city. It is also easily accessible from all over the world – Vienna International Airport Schwechat is only 35-40 min driving and although this airport is located in Austria, it is so easy to get to Bratislava that you do not even realize it.
