“Self-care is customer-care”
Linda Westendorp
Linda Westendorp (The Netherlands, 1973) has been living in Granada, South-Spain, since 2012. She landed there after many international adventures, as she ran into the wide world directly after completing her Tourism studies. Linda has lived and worked in more than ten countries in and outside Europe.
© Amaury Miller
What she did before
Linda has gained experience in practically all disciplines of the tourism industry. She has worked at campsites in France and Italy, at ski schools and hotels in Austria, but also as a travel agency manager and cabin attendant at KLM.
As a tour guide for Thomas Cook on the Thai peninsula of Phuket, she experienced one of the greatest natural disasters in history up close: the 2004 tsunami. About this life changing catastrophe, she wrote the compelling story ‘Weg van het water’ (‘Away from the water’), which was published as a book in December 2021 in The Netherlands.
What she does now
After a long career in the tourism industry, Linda re-trained as a yoga teacher and coach in 2013. For eight years, she ran her own yoga studio. Since 2022, Linda combines the best of both worlds: she works in tourism for a company that organises educational journeys and in addition she coaches people to deal with stress and anxiety. For this she uses her knowledge and experience as yoga and meditation teacher, as well as her studies in ACT (Acceptance & Commitment Therapy), Coaching for Anxiety and Non-Violent Communication.
On request, she provides group training sessions and guest presentations on dealing with stress and (excessive) work pressure and how to prevent it, using her book as a basis. She focuses on companies and schools in tourism and aviation.
Self-care is customer-care
Linda’s vision is one of a world in which employees in the dynamic work field of tourism, know how to remain balanced, regardless of the branches´ many stressors, and experience optimal work happiness.
Linda believes that every (oncoming) employee in the tourism branch is entitled to honest information beforehand and knowledge of practical tools that contribute to a strong foundation of inner balance and well-being. With this strong foundation, an appropriate service can be provided for, so that not only the guest, but also the tourism employee will experience joy and relaxation.
NBD Biblion (Dutch-language Library Service)
This book brings the tsunami into a completely different perspective for me: someone who did her utmost best with her team to save people ánd at the same time had to deal with the bluntness and selfishness of certain tourists. Unbelievable.
Antoinette
Nan
Ingrid
Get in touch with Linda
Linda loves people and is always open for conversation.