Common features of our colleagues that we want to tell you more about

The lady who breathed the soul of Hotel Lomnica and contributed to the birth of its high ideals and goals, Zuzka Semanová, has accepted a new challenge after five years as the hotel's director, namely managing the growing family of brands. Hotel Lomnica, as well as Pálffy Manor, ViaJur winery and Selaví distribution company continue to fall under her managerial wings. Zuzka's influence is now even more noticeable in the other entities that make up our family of brands, but it also spreads through her successors who have formed management tandems or teams with Zuzka.

We use the word family quite often in our brand vocabulary because we often find a parallel directly in professional practice. In the same way that the roles of family members change over time and with maturity, so do the positions and roles of our colleagues. Today, many of those who started at the entry level of their professions at Hotel Lomnica have grown into managers managing their teams or have flown out into the world and participate in the birth of our new projects. When we tried to recapitulate, we found that our family has not only grown and grown, but has also raised a number of professionals. So let's introduce them.

Peter Mudrý, currently the director of Hotel Lomnica and Pálffy Manor, is a great proof of what results passion for his profession, humanity, decency and, of course, other character qualities of a leader can produce. Peter enriched our team with his experience in 2018 when he took over the complete leadership of the F&B team at Hotel Lomnica. His work quickly bore the first fruit in the form of perfect cooperation between the individual resorts. He brought new wind and ideas to the Tatra Mountains, which contributed to the fine-tuning of existing, as well as the creation of new gastronomic concepts. From the beginning, Peter passed on his experience and nurtured new leaders. One of them is Peter Marek, who shortly after graduating from a vocational high school started his professional journey in 2019 as a bartender and later bar manager at Hotel Lomnica. His commitment, creativity, eye for detail and order and great insight into the functioning of individual resorts were the ideal basis for his further development through event manager to his current position as F&B manager at the Pálffy Manor.

The first lady of our predominantly male F&B team in Hotel Lomnica is currently Miriama Vojčíková. She started at Hotel Lomnica in 2019 as a waitress, in 2020 she took on the role of restaurant manager and today she coordinates the cooperation between our catering and service operations. Miriama is not afraid of new challenges and often difficult tasks. For example, she works on fine-tuning the reservation system and often acts as a mediator. She brings harmony to the team with her presence, just like her right-hand woman and often twin sister , Kristina Compel. Kristína has been part of our team since 2018, when she started as a waitress. She has gradually taken on more complex leadership roles in our restaurant service teams and has been working as a restaurant manager since 2021.

Eternal smile, good mood and great pro-client approach are the reasons for Michal Valencik's great popularity with our guests. Who would not know him? Michal has been a part of Hotel Lomnica since its rebirth in 2016. Did you know that one of our desserts was named after him? Specifically, the Tatra Misha. 😊 Michal's friendliness, patience and calmness is also transferred to newcomers in our team, for whom he is a mentor. Michal moved from the position of waiter to supervisor last year and we are very happy that he has been pulling it off with us for almost six years now.

Morning makes the day and the smile and jokes of our breakfast chef Ľubomír Slodičák have been putting our guests in a great mood since 2017. In fact, breakfast is his domain and he personally makes sure that it is unforgettable for every guest, from 2019 from the position of breakfast supervisor.

Head chef Jaroslav Bachleda has been a permanent member of the gastronomic team of Hotel Lomnica since 2016. He knows literally every millimeter in the kitchen and every corner reflects his consistency and precision, which in places reminds of the famous series Monk. Jaro is in charge of the entire kitchen and the team at Restaurant Sissi. During his time at Hotel Lomnica, he has accumulated a wealth of experience. He has worked his way up the ranks from chef, sous chef to Head Chef.

Kacper Cwik is Jaroslav's right hand man and deputy chef. Kacper has been a prominent part of our team since 2019 when he started as a chef, not only because of his professional skills, but also because of his lovely accent and Polish charm, which enriches our team.

Tomáš Makovský has been part of the team at Restaurant Sissi since 2019 and, like many of his colleagues, he has developed his skills from the position of chef through the position of chef de partie to his current role as sous chef.

The talent of our Creative Chef Tomáš Ševčík has been gaining momentum since 2018, when he joined us as Chef De Partie. He has honed his skills and, thanks to his creativity and impeccable attention to detail, has quickly worked his way up to his current position as Creative Chef. He is currently creating and fine-tuning the tasting menus for Hotel Lomnica and its sister project Pálffy Manor in Svatá Jur, and the Franz Josef Restaurant experience team operates under his baton.

We'll close the gastronomic team with a sweet spot at the end, the pastry team.

Its head is the unmissable Jožko Brudňák. It is also worth mentioning that in his former profession as an extra-league football goalkeeper he only dreamed of deserts. But the fact that he dreamed really well, will convince you of the taste of desserts that are created under his guidance. To be more precise, however, a lot of time and work has passed between the dream and reality. He has been working at Hotel Lomnica since 2018, when he started as a chef, later as a sous chef, and since 2020 he has been working in his current position as Pastry Chef.

Karolína Faltínová is a colleague on whom Jožko can always rely in the pastry shop and bakery. They have been working together as a team since 2020. Karolína has risen from the position of pastry chef to the position of supervisor and we believe that she will go far in our team thanks to her skills.

In the beginning of this article we mentioned the news concerning the management of Hotel Lomnica, but it is necessary to mention the changes that are very closely related to them. Zuzka Kostyšáková has been added to the hotel's management team, specifically in the position of operations manager. Zuzka has been with us since 2019, when she joined us as Quality Manager and Human Resources Business Partner for Hospitality Education. She knows and has set up almost all of our processes, which was a great prerequisite for successfully fulfilling her current mission in her role as Operations Manager. Zuzka's chair was handed over to Marek Koumal, who was already part of the hotel's management when the hotel was just taking its current shape. Marek's business spirit has outgrown the threshold of Hotel Lomnica, so he currently manages the sales of all projects belonging to our family of brands from the position of cluster director of sales.

Miška Šuhajdová moved to the post of cluster MICE manager after her previous experience as event manager of Hotel Lomnica, whose task is to ensure that congress or event guests receive the same quality of service in all facilities belonging to the family of our brands.

Since the very beginning of the hotel's new era, the ever friendly and smiling Beáta Knutová has been an integral part of the team. Many of you must have met Beata at the hotel reception, where she started as a receptionist. She knows the job front and back, which makes her a great front desk supervisor at the moment.

The reception team is complemented by Adrián Harant, who started in 2020 as a porter and today his task is the satisfaction of our guests, which he takes care of from the position of Guest Relations Coordinator.

At the head of one of the most important centres, which ensures order and cleanliness on a daily basis, is Alžbetka Vaľková, who has worked her way up through all the positions in her department, from housekeeper to housekeeping manager, from 2019 to the present day.

And it's no exaggeration to say that nothing would work in the hotel without Janko Ondruš, who has been taking care of the hotel since 2016 from the position of maintenance manager as if it were his own house. They say my house, my castle, and Janko can adapt this statement to my manor, as he has recently taken over the maintenance management of Pálffy Manor in his capable hands.

We have a lot of talent in our teams and it is no different at ViaJur winery. A current example is our colleague Tomáš Tibenský, who is currently moving from the position of cellar wine handler to wine technologist. Talent, tenacity and humanity are the essential traits of all of our named colleagues and we hope to introduce you to more soon.

Text: Dominika Ištocy Litvinová Photo: Hotel Lomnica archive