Passionate about hospitality

By: Alejandra García Vélez

Francisco Rosero, Executive Director of RM Daylon and until the first of January general manager of the Lugano Suites Hotel in Quito (Ecuador), is the professional of the month in this edition of HOTEL & RESTAURANT MANAGEMENT. His 32 years of experience are reason enough to be chosen and share his opinions on the reality of the industry.

Rosero's first hotel job was as a receptionist at the Hotel Colón Internacional, in the city of Quito, at the age of 17. From that experience he highlights that during his first six months of work he received training in all areas of a five-star hotel, and this was motivation to continue studying in order to become general manager.

During his years of work there are many challenges that the professional of the month has faced, "the most important is to keep the team of collaborators motivated and looking in the same direction, which is to provide a quality and excellent service," said Rosero and added that "obviously, you have to work to be up to date with the changes in the market and direct the sales team towards new market niches. In the commercial area, the most important challenge is to innovate enough to keep the company leading in the market segment in which we are located. You have to offer new services and sell them in an innovative way."

The challenges
One experience Rosero remembers was his handling of an emergency situation as a hotel manager. In September 1995, Hurricane Luis hit the island of Saint Maarten, Netherlands Antilles, with Category 5 winds, at which time Rosero was the general manager of the Atrium Resort. "On the day of the hurricane the resort was at 100% capacity, none of the 220 guests were injured and only one broken sliding window was recorded. This is because the building had been built in 1992 with the most sophisticated anti-hurricane techniques and materials. The most important challenge was to keep the facilities working to serve guests while the island closed its international airport and we did not have drinking water, electricity or communications for two weeks, "says the guest of this edition.

This situation generated great recognition, because a few weeks later he received congratulations from many guests present during the hurricane and the president of the Pelican group, Martin Vlietman, took the opportunity to appoint him general manager responsible for the reconstruction of the largest resort on the island, the Pelican Resort & Casino, and remain at the same time as general manager of the Atrium Resort.

Day by day
Rosero tries to be the first to arrive at the hotel, "A good manager arrives earlier than his executives," he says. Some of the activities you do during the day are the following:

- Review and reply to the email. "This task is usually bigger than some people think. A large percentage of important business is done, today in Ecuador, by this means."

- Supervision of sales programs. "One of my strengths is analysis, which I apply to accounting, financial and daily statistical data.  Comparing these results with our competition."

- At least three times a week you make visits to corporate accounts and customers.

- Routes. "Every day I tour the entire hotel, taking note of any areas that require cleaning or maintenance."

1. Enjoy your work and the responsibilities it has.
2. Optimize profits for the owners of the company, constantly increasing sales and keeping costs and expenses in control.
3. Maintain a high level of motivation among employees and executives.
4. Achieve excellence in service quality in all areas.
5. Keep the property in impeccable condition, doing constant preventive maintenance.

Industry
Regarding the immediate future and the possibilities of expansion of the industry in Latin America, Rosero said that "Latin America is a sleeping giant. Much remains to be done in terms of investment, quality and variety of services. For example: in 2008 Ecuador received 1 million tourists, for the first time in its history its installed capacity is much higher than this number."

He also stressed the need to create attractive destinations for investors. "Cities still have a lot of work to do to consolidate themselves as tourist destinations, since tourists do not stay in our hotels because of how beautiful they are, but because they are in attractive cities for tourism or business."

Speaking about his country, Ecuador, the professional of the month indicated that "it has a very great potential if it is properly invested in basic infrastructure to facilitate and attract private investment. This is the case of the new Decameron resort in Mompiche, Esmeraldas province and the Marriott Courtyard, Howard Johnson, Sonesta, etc. hotels that have opened, or are under construction in Guayaquil, Quito and Loja."

Education
The training and updating of the staff that works in the hotel field is of the utmost importance. This was highlighted by Rosero, who was a university professor. "I am convinced that more must be invested to improve the quality of education. In Ecuador there are many universities that offer careers in hotel management and gastronomy, so future professionals have the opportunity to choose the best option."

And he pointed out that "certification and professional updating programs are successful in all countries that have institutions that offer them. We must follow the example of countries like the U.S., where the Educational Institute of AH&LA has certified millions of professionals."