When Renae meets someone new, they tell her she has the 'best job in the world', and they're not wrong

When Renae Leith-Mannos tells people what she does for work, they usually tell her she has "the best job in the world".

As a luxury hotel consultant, Leith-Mannos gets to travel the world, staying in the most luxurious hotels a location has to offer.

And while she doesn't disagree that it's definitely up there in terms of desirable jobs, she says there's a lot of work that goes on behind the scenes that most people would never even think of.

Leith-Mannos didn't grow up with aspirations of advising the General Managers of luxury hotels though.

She studied English and politics, and jazz voice, moving into journalism when she graduated from university.

She worked at many publications and networks over the years, but it was her time at News Limited, jetting between Adelaide and Los Angeles to interview celebrities, when she fell in love with the luxury hotel business.

Soon she was putting her hand up for every opportunity to review a new hotel or restaurant, and once she landed a full-time role at Vogue Entertaining and Travel magazine, she realised, "Oh, I could actually do this as a full-time gig".

Renae Leith-Mannos works full-time as a luxury hotel consultant.

"With my theatrical, musical background, I've always looked at hotels as theater," she tells nine.com.au.

"There's a backstage, as there is in a theater. There's a performance that you have to put on as a staff member.

"There's a uniform, a costume you have to wear. So I always gravitated back to it."

A few years later, after raising young twins, Leith-Mannos found she had more freedom to travel and began noticing issues within hotels and hospitality.

It was then that she decided to start her own business, working as a luxury hotel consultant.

It began as a passion for reviewing new hotels and restaurants.

"I already had all the general manager relationships, and I started to sit down with them and say, 'Look, are you aware that this is happening in your hotel?'," she says.

The process starts off with a one-on-one between Leith-Mannos and a hotel's general manager, where she coaches them through how to speak to the media, how to speak to their staff, and they run through the improvements that can be made.

She then works closely with staff members, with the goal of creating an experience where staff are always "one step ahead".

She spends time coaching the general managers and staff in luxury locations.

"Just thinking and understanding what journey their guest is on. It's not rocket science, but a lot of these small little things are missed," she says.

"So even three seconds of eye contact, the studies show that can change a guest's blood pressure, believe it or not."

But while it may all sound glamorous, and sometimes it is, Leith-Mannos says it comes with its downsides – one of them being the inability to enjoy a fancy vacation.

"There is a misconception that my life is a permanent vacation, but in reality, I like to say when I'm in a hotel, I'm the hardest working person there because I'm not relaxing by the pool, I'm watching," she explains.