Name: Monique Reber

Position: Head of Floristry

Hobbies: Dat Lüttje" Märit trolley with floristry and decorative articles at the Märit Thun, props maker at the Thunerseesspiele and hiking

My highlights in the Lake Thun region: Lake Thun Games, Stockhorn Hike, Lake Thun

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Describe to us what a typical day in the floristry department at Delta Park is like.

We start at 8:00 am. The first thing we do in the morning is a tour of the hotel, where we check that the decorations still look good everywhere, especially the vases with the fresh arrangements. We make sure that the furniture is properly aligned, the cushions are nicely fluffed and the plants still look good. We just generally create order in the house. We also do the table decorations in the à la carte restaurant and in the hotel restaurant. We change these seasonally. Our job is to make sure that everything looks neat and cosy so that the guest feels comfortable.

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What do you like most about your job?

Being creative. It's important to feel the house. At Deltapark we say: Simple, clean, masculine. We design the decoration according to these criteria. It would be out of place here, for example, to decorate everything with frills. You just have to feel what fits and what doesn't. Depending on what we have in the workshop, we can freely create decoration within this framework.

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That means you are free to design the decoration? Can you live out your creativity to the full?

Yes, as long as it's within the guidelines and fits the house, I'm free. It will also be reported if we do something that we don't like.

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What is your favourite season in terms of your work?

Christmas, that's for sure. With Christmas baubles, you can create an atmospheric glow and the cosy candlelight also makes a lot of difference.

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You also work with fresh flowers. Where do you get them?

Once a week we go to the flower exchange here in Thun or in Heimberg. They sell mainly regional products. Of course they sometimes buy Dutch flowers, for example. But as soon as the season starts here with the tulips and ranunculus, they also buy them from Switzerland. At Deltapark Vitalresort we have our own garden! The gardeners plant the plants and then we can really use our own flowers from summer to autumn. For example, we have snapdragons, dahlias and various sunflowers. There is also lavender all over the grounds. We first use the flowers from our garden and then buy what is needed.

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What are the biggest challenges as a florist working in a hotel business?

The biggest challenge is to make work pieces to the best of one's knowledge and conscience without ever having been in contact with the guest, e.g. for flower orders such as table decorations or bouquets.

It's not like in a flower shop where the customer sees the flower and can choose. The guest gets what we make for him. Of course, there are also special wishes like favourite flowers or colour requests.

We also design the complete house decoration according to our creativity and expertise.

We often get compliments for the beautiful decorations we make in the hotel.

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What advice would you give to anyone considering an apprenticeship in the floristry department of a hotel?

As far as I know, it is not possible to do a floristry apprenticeship in a hotel. It would be more like doing the floristry apprenticeship in a shop and then changing to the hotel after the apprenticeship. Otherwise, there would be no customer contact during the training.

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Your place of work is directly on Lake Thun. Do you also benefit from this location in your free time?

Yes, definitely. Just the luxury of being able to jump into the lake right after work. In summer I try to cycle to work as often as possible. It's so nice when you ride here to the hotel and see the beautiful mountains or the incredible sunrises. It's just beautiful here.

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