Eduardo Cuevas is a man of passions, these guide every decision he makes in his life and ensures that thanks to it today he can say, without fear of making mistakes, that he is happy. By: María Cecilia Hernández
He is passionate about golf, fiesta brava and hospitality. He came to this trade by chance and immediately made the decision to stay in it for a lifetime. For about 30 years he has been immersed in the universe of hospitality and ensures that there is no different work in which he can look as happy as in this one.
For his impeccable career in the hospitality industry and his passion for serving others, HOTEL MANAGEMENT has as a guest in the Professional of the Month section Eduardo Cuevas, general director of NH Mexico, who has had an extensive career in hotel establishments in his country and confesses as an expert in forming successful work teams.
Cuevas graduated from the Banking and Commercial School of Mexico City with a degree in Public Accounting. Later he completed a master's degree in Senior Business Management at the Pan American Institute of Senior Business Management and, shortly after, a diploma in Hotel Management, at the Instituto Tecnológico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey.
A manager should always think about...
Based on his academic experience and the knowledge acquired during his various studies, our guest is aware of the vital importance of education and constant training for this work.
"Definitely the issue of education occupies the first place in our plans, since it allows us to have the best work teams, committed to providing excellent service to customers. A trained staff is able to take advantage of the technological progress that we have today, and in this way, the company advances more quickly and effectively, "explains Eduardo Cuevas.
For the graduate, in addition to the permanent updating of knowledge, there are three specific objectives that must be constantly active in the plans of a hotel manager: "Maintain and create satisfied customers day by day; achieve a healthy work environment that allows the formation of excellent work teams and the professional growth of its members; and make the hotel, its business, highly profitable for partners or shareholders."
Hospitality and other addictions
Eduardo Cuevas declares himself addicted to hospitality. He remembers that when he was still inexperienced in this trade, his first manager in a hotel challenged him to be passionate telling him that "the hotel industry was a drug and that if I did not like it at the beginning I would run out of it, but that if I saw it with passion, commitment and a lot of desire to learn, I would become addicted to it. Fortunately, I'm currently a hospitality junkie."
The professional adds that he decided to stay in this career for two basic issues: "The first is that it gives you the opportunity to meet new people every day and the other aspect is the passion to serve and help people, to make them feel good inside our hotels. That's why today I don't place myself in any industry other than this one."
This profession is not the only thing that has inevitably and forever trapped the professional. "One of my hobbies is golf, it has become an essential relaxation ritual in my life; I see it as a personal challenge, because every time I play I try to achieve better results, which makes it more and more attractive. Another passion that my father instilled in me since I was a child is the fiesta brava; for me it is an art and I enjoy it to the fullest. In fact, for some time I have had two reserved places in the Plaza México and I try not to miss the most significant bullfights that take place there."
Music is one of his lagging hobbies, he loves to sing, so much so that in his youth he had a musical group. Another of his entertainments is to watch his favorite soccer team play: Chivas de Guadalajara.
Family is the foundation
He is a man with well-established family traditions and expresses a deep love for his loved ones. "I was born into a very traditional family. The memory I have of my parents is wonderful, as they always cared about giving me and my three sisters, Paty, Gaby and Mary, the best within their means. The greatest legacy they left us is education and the values that we still preserve as a philosophy of life."
That same inheritance is what Eduardo gives every day to the family he has formed with Malú, his wife; with her he has a 13-year-old daughter, María Fernanda. "My family represents the most valuable thing in my life. I seek to be an example for my daughter, to transcend in her life as an excellent father and to give everything possible to her and my wife."
How do you see the future?
In his tour of the hotel industry in Mexico, he has managed to analyze the market in deep detail, and ensures that never before has this sector felt so threatened as now because of the uncertainty generated by the stability of the world economic dynamics. However, he points out that in his 26 years of experience in the profession he has seen an accelerated growth of the industry.
"The accelerated development is evidenced in many factors: the number of hotels, innovation and the implementation of technology based on the changing needs that, both market and customers, provoke within the consensus of a global world to which we have arrived. This forces any high-level hotel chain to offer integral solutions that lead the industry to have satisfied in every way the main actors of the same: customers, collaborators and partners or investors, "explains Cuevas.
The graduate also believes that the possibilities of expansion that the hotel industry has in Latin America are many and will continue to grow, although not with the speed required by the market.
"The main threat is focused on the issues of the world economy, but fortunately we have a strength and that is precisely the innovation of hotel products and services. Today, more than ever, not being in the world of technology represents a clear disadvantage in any field, and in the hotel industry it has become a competitive advantage of the first order".
In addition to having an impeccable and nourished resume, your personal and professional challenges do not end, on the contrary, every day you find more and more goals to achieve.
"I want to remain a successful professional within the industry and be an example to my family. I wouldn't want to be inconsequential in the lives of the people I love and go unnoticed; that is why I want to consolidate an economic and moral tranquility that allows me and my family to have a life full of satisfactions. Among my plans, the hotel industry is always present, it is the career that I am passionate about", concludes the guest.
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A manager with a tour
In 1984 Eduardo Cuevas was Corporate Auditor at the Posadas Group, where he focused on the Financial departments and Evaluation of the Operation of the Operational Areas of the Hotels. Subsequently, he held positions within the chain as administrative manager and deputy executive manager, until he reached management training, where he knew in depth all the operational areas.
"After this training I had the opportunity to manage several hotels of the chain in different cities of the country such as Mexicali, Monterrey, Mexico, Mérida and Puebla," explains Cuevas.
In 1998 he joined NH Hoteles, where he currently works, and says he feels "very proud to belong to such an important chain". Since that year he has had the opportunity to be in charge of several hotels such as Hilton Garden Inn Monterrey, NH Krystal Ixtapa and NH Mexico City.
"In November 2007 I was appointed as director of city hotel operations. There I had the opportunity to coordinate the operation together with the general managers of the 14 urban hotels that until now the company had. And in March of this year (2010) I was appointed as CEO of NH Mexico, a position that carries great responsibilities and obligations but is reflected in the results of the business unit I represent, "says the professional.
