Mexican beach becomes a stage

WILD GEESE: Marc Rodriguez  General manager, Esperanza Cabo, MexicoSeeing the role of hotelier as a vocation has resulted in one man landing the top job at a five-star Cabo resort

‘RIGHT NOW, I’m looking out the window and I can see a whale,” says Dubliner Marc Rodriguez of the view from his office.

As general manager of the boutique five-star Esperanza hotel in Cabo, Mexico, a post he has held since December, he has fulfilled a life’s ambition.

“I had my heart set on being a luxury five-star hotelier and to make it with an international company,” says Rodriguez. However, having graduated from the then Galway Regional Technical College with a degree in hotel and catering management in 1991, five-star luxury in Ireland was in short supply. The son of an Irish mother and Mexican father, Rodriguez grew up in Dublin, where an interest in the hotel industry was sparked by chance.

When aged 16 his “high school sweetheart” – now his wife – applied for a summer job at Dunworley Cottage restaurant, Rodriguez tagged along to Cork for the interview. While waiting for her to finish, Rodriguez got busy washing the dishes and cleaning the floor. The upshot was they were both hired.

After his degree, Disney was hiring for its Euro Disney venture. Rodriguez was hired and spent the first year in Florida on the company’s management training programme. The next five years in Paris saw him rotate through every part of hotel life, from valet parking to dealing with VIPs.

“What Disney taught me was the value of a smile and of treating your people right,” he says. “It also taught me that you are on stage every day. When you go through the door from the back of the house to the front of the house, you are on stage, and you have to give your best performance.”

Rodriguez’s next move was to the Four Seasons in London, near Hyde Park.“The Four Seasons is kind of the nirvana for service,” he notes. “That’s where I learned about refinement and elegance, and that every single detail makes a huge difference to a guest’s experience.”

His nine-year stint with the high-end hotel chain also saw him sent to new properties, including the Georges V in Paris, to “boot camp” staff on the company’s service philosophy.

One such project was the opening of the Four Seasons in Ballsbridge in 2000, where he remained for three years. Had Ireland changed in his absence?

“There had been a major transformation,” he recalls. “People were no longer driving hand-me-down cars . . . the conversation was about their foreign vacations and not just their house, but how many properties they had.”

Irish people’s expectations of hotels had changed too, he says.

“Their expectations were higher than in the past in terms of quality, presentation and amenities,” he says. “Some of our clients were more well travelled than in the past and they were looking for quality in everything.”

After the Four Seasons he took a role in Madrid, becoming the number two at the Ritz Hotel. Commissioned by the king of Spain, designed by Cesar Ritz and opened in 1910, it was one of only three Ritz hotels remaining, besides Paris and London. Rodriguez stayed for five years.

From there the hotel’s owners posted him to his father’s native Mexico, where he worked in two hotels before being hired by Auberge Resorts as general manager of the Esperanza last year.

He feels the cultures of Mexico and Ireland are very similar.“The people are so genuine and friendly and family values are very strong. It reminds me of Ireland in the 1970s. You cared for your neighbours, they had the keys to your house and they fed you when your folks were out – Mexicans do that, they take care of you and they give family their all.”

Rodriguez says he was “totally blown away” by the location of the Esperanza. Overlooking the Sea of Cortez near Cabo San Lucas, the property encompasses a 57-room resort, more than 90 villas, five swimming pools, two private beaches, five restaurants, bars and a spa.

“Everywhere you look there are sea views,” he says.

Guests are predominantly North American but some come from Europe, and right now he has Dublin guests present.

Did the top end of the hotel market feel the bite of recession? “The affluent traveller who had made money in the stock market, they lost pretty large sums quickly, and luxury was the first thing to go,” he says of the 2009 crash in the US.

But customer confidence is growing every day, he says.

“We’ve seen tremendous growth since last year. Clients are more careful about how they spend their money. They want to make sure it is worth their money, and that the memories and experience tally with that. They want to make sure it’s worth the splurge.”

He describes being a hotelier as “a vocation, not a job”, and credits his wife and family for supporting him through multiple moves. He also thinks growing up in a recessionary Ireland helped steel him for the course. “It was tough and it helped us to be tough. It was a bit more of a struggle, and that can help in one way to drive people,” he says.

“And there are some amazing hoteliers from Ireland,” he says. “I think because we are so hospitable and have such a sense of humour, we will make it anywhere.”