A Hotel’s Diary-The guys behind the curtains

It is with these lines that I give the official start of our blog. This is going to be a collaborative effort from several individuals who are passionate about the hospitality industry and who have something else in common… we work in the same hotel, he he.

For a little over 12 months we have worked hand in hand (fist to fist on some occasions) in the pre-opening process of an independent luxury resort in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. It has been exciting!

The opening of any business must be exciting and fun, I guess. But in hotels in particular – it’s just something else. Not only the gazillion things that need to be coordinated in order to open your doors (our critical path list has over 1,224 points – from hiring, to budgeting, to selecting the napkins – and these are just the general ones!) but most importantly the commitment to the client – that is, with those that have reservations on the first few days & weeks after opening date; this leaves very little, if any, room for mistakes.

For example, opening a retail outlet, or a bookshop for that matter, must also entail lots of stuff to coordinate; but if you postpone opening for, let’s say, two weeks… well, the owner’s checkbook may be the only one really affected and probably a few disappointed folks who were expecting the store to open, but can certainly wait a few more days. But in a hotel… well, one might imagine how frustrating it is to have a reservation done with weeks or months ahead – a well planned vacation –not being honored by a property. Yikes!

Another way to underscore the complexity of a hotel opening is how big-hospitality faces it; err… big-hospitality being the folks at Marriot, Hilton, Starwood, IHG, etc. Corporations, particularly in the U.S., have whole departments dedicated to this process: not only on the design & development side, but actual operating teams (Housekeeping, Front Desk, Accounting) that go from hotel opening to hotel opening to prepare and set-up things according to their own corporate standards, in combination with the local guys. Now, that is what I call love for the business, huh? As I say, it is known that openings are highly stressful, full of tension with long, long hours – and these guys do it for a living! Wow! Go get’em guys! He He.

So, most of what we will write here – at least in the next few weeks – relates to the opening of a resort. Now, being an independent hotel with no corporate-brand affiliation makes it a bit more difficult, since we are alone in this process, with no hospitality-SWAT teams that will zip from helicopters and lend a hand. But it also gives us lots of more space to maneuver (MOAHA HA HA!!) and be really creative. Which is most of the fun has come from.

So… getting back to subject, the idea behind our little blog is to talk about the life in a hotel – from the (overly stressful) pre-opening days, to the opening, to the day to day operations – told from the guys behind the curtains… which is yours truly and my fellow co-workers. Ergo the name, A Hotel’s Diary. This is our story of how the Casa Dorada at Médano Beach came to happen, and actually happens on a daily basis, he he.

Thus… with 10 days to go to for opening day, lots of coffee and 12 hour days, we will write a blog!!