Silvia Kirkland Zese

My name is Silvia Kirkland Zese, I am a fairly seasoned hotelier from Italy with around 15 years of experience in the hospitality business, mainly in Rooms Division - including Front Office, Guest Services, Concierge, PBX, Housekeeping, Laundry and Uniform Room, Guest Relations, VIP Operations, Revenue and Reservations, and Night Audit.

I have spent the last 18 years of my life moving around Italy first, then Europe and the US due to school and job opportunities.

After graduating from University of Bologna, my first hotel job was a seasonal position in a Resort & Convention Center in Greece, which was sort of a coincidence but it directed me towards my path, the same path I am still following 14 years later.

When I returned from Greece I started the International Master in Tourism and Leisure in Trieste (Italy), graduated the following year and began my hotel career right after.

My most recent move has been from Amsterdam (Netherlands) to Washington DC, where I currently live. Following the successful opening of a boutique 5 star property in downtown DC, which unfortunately closed only 6 weeks later due to the Covid-19 pandemic, I am now unemployed, as unfortunately too many of my colleagues, waiting for our beloved industry to recover, hoping for better times to come soon for all of us, and open to the opportunity to find a new company and a new hotel that I can call home again.