Through the service entrance.

I entered this profession through the service entrance, and there is no better school. I learned hospitality at Sofitel, a world where you quickly discover that clients rarely ask for what they truly want. They ask for a table, they want the evening to unfold perfectly. They ask for a car, they want never to think about it.

I spent years serving people accustomed to hearing “yes.” Then I decided to build something of my own, here in Luxembourg, a country where, in the course of a single day, you might meet a chief executive, a banker, or a family who has just arrived and knows no one. They are all my clients.

What do I do differently? I answer the phone. In the evening, on Sundays, at the airport. And when I can’t deliver, I say no. It’s rarer and ultimately worth more than a promise only half kept.

— Karlen