by Ana María Restrepo
Sergio has a degree in Business Administration and a master's degree in Hotel Management in the United States. During these years he has taken a number of courses related to his profession and has attended lectures at the Glion School. He was also a professor and director of the hospitality careers at the University of Belgrano in Buenos Aires and wrote for this university the program for the degree in Hotel Management that was later approved by the Ministry of National Education of Argentina.
His professional experience began in a family business, a hotel founded by his grandfather in 1946. "That company was sold and I continued my career outside of Argentina. Five years ago I arrived in Ecuador as General Manager of the Oro Verde Guayaquil Hotel. Since then I have proposed that this hotel be the best in Ecuador," says Rosarios.
Anecdote log
If he decided to write everything he has lived during his career, Rosarios is sure that he could write several books: he is full of interesting memories, some of them very funny.
"I was a Banquet Manager at the family hotel. That weekend there was a big wedding party, with the buzz and excitement that this means. A group of guests complained, probably because they couldn't sleep. They even threatened to come down in their pajamas! under the circumstances, I spoke to the hosts of the celebration. They found the perfect solution: they invited the nonconformists, who enjoyed the evening... correctly dressed for the occasion," says Sergio.
Anecdotes like these there are many. As Sergio G. Rosarios says, a hotel is like a small city that brings together the virtues and defects of the people who make up a society. That is why the administration is not simple, because there are many things at stake. The doors of the hotel never close, you work 24 hours a day, seven days a week and 365 days a year. "That's our reality. It is a continuous show , a staging because it is to form a climate, an atmosphere, a bubble within a city, especially in five-star hotels, "says Rosarios.
From Argentina to Ecuador
For Sergio G. Rosarios, moving like a fish in the water in the hospitality industry is not only a matter of heritage; it's about taste, love and passion for what you do.
His arrival in Ecuador was an opportunity he was unwilling to refuse. "I was looking for the challenge of leading something outside the country, expanding my professional career to third parties that had nothing to do with my family. The challenge was to manage a hotel that was not only an icon of the city, but of the country and the world."
If asked to summarize the hotel activity in one word, Sergio does not hesitate to qualify it as "service", because it must be focused on serving customers. And the complication lies precisely in finding a way to do it, because there are countless objectives, strategies and actions to achieve it. The important thing, he says, is not to lose the north, because a great infrastructure is useless if the service is terrible. "Everything dies there," he says.
The evolution of the hospitality industry in Ecuador in recent years has been very evident. Levels of service and professionalism have improved considerably and significant investments have been made. But while the tourism industry has generally grown, there are certain unknowns and challenges when it comes to the issue of laws and the impact that the price of oil will have on tourism, corporate travel and hotels.
But there are also other factors that influence when to invest or not in a region or country. Such is the case of Ecuador, which is currently debating the application or not of a new Constitution, which will ultimately be the general framework of operation; thus, the same legislation can make the country attractive or not for investments. According to Sergio, this is a moment of expectation in which everyone is waiting for what will happen.
"Globally, the price of oil has already had a great impact. Many things have become more expensive and many others are going to rise, especially in aviation. I think we haven't seen the biggest impact on this issue yet. In hotels everything has increased in price, as many petroleum derivatives are used. That's why we should work to be 'greener', separate waste, work with gas-fired power." And it is precisely these types of greener practices that allowed Hotel Oro Verde Guayaquil to reduce its electricity bill by $10,000 per month, thanks to concrete facts such as the renovation of pipes and air conditioning systems. "There are many challenges to making the hotel less energy-consuming and more environmentally friendly. Complex moments are coming, because although tourism will continue to grow, the price of oil will slow down this growth," says Rosarios.
Quality certification
Two years after Sergio assumed the Management of Hotel Oro Verde Guayaquil and after an arduous remodeling process, a joint work began with the hotel's collaborators to achieve important quality certifications. A hotel is not just a building with rooms, event rooms, restaurants, swimming pool, gym, among other areas; a hotel is the people who compose it. Based on this philosophy, the great challenge of the new management was to leave a culture and a methodology of how to do things, not from word of mouth or informal history, but through a systematized work plan that was the mystique of the Hotel Oro Verde Guayaquil.
After two years of working on these processes, seeking the systematization and efficiency of the Hotel, in addition to the re-education of the organization to work in this way, Oro Verde Guayaquil was certified last year with the three standards, ISO 9001: 2000, Quality Management System, ISO 14001:2004, Environmental Management System and OHSAS 18001:1999, Occupational Health and Safety Management System, as well as the Smart Voyager, sustainable tourism certification in America. "With this we become the first hotel in the world to have these four certifications simultaneously within the operation. It becomes arduous day by day, but it is the only way to be better, because they have given us a work methodology and a personal discipline, "says the General Manager of Hotel Oro Verde Guayaquil.
Pilot of Life
Despite his youth, Rosarios has achieved great achievements. Not only professionally, but also personally. He is a professional diver, practices sailing and is a commercial airplane pilot, a hobby that has accompanied him since he was little. "When I was a child I did model airplanes and I was an instructor. I also did aerobatics, among other activities."
Sergio's family is made up of his wife Romina and their eight-month-old son, Germán Felipe, named after his father, grandfather and great-grandfather and whom he defines as "his whole".
As a general rule, properly combining time for professional and family activities requires a good work team. Sergio has consolidated a staff of managers who know their obligations and responsibilities and contribute to the development of all the goals of the Hotel, since the administration of Rosarios is characterized by delegation. As a result of obtaining the certifications, there are policies, procedures and ways of measurement; every management knows what they have to do and how to do it. "The task of a manager is to see how to make their organization better within the short, medium and long term."
Industry Challenges
According to what Sergio says, you have to love the hotel industry very much, because it is one of the professions that demands more effort and hours of work. In this industry there are no schedules and their great challenge is to balance the life of the hotel with family life because sometimes the hotel absorbs so much that the family is neglected, achieving the balance of life. The other challenge is with the collaborators: to lead and not to command, is to get people to follow him for his vision and his ability to teach.
"My idea to get a good service has three pillars: definition of the position, selection of personnel and training. This is a fundamental requirement: to train human talent," adds Sergio.
Hotel Oro Verde Guayaquil is a leader in its country since its foundation on August 22, 1981, characterized by incorporating innovation and continuous improvements. "The only way to be a leader is to see how we do things better every day and do them in a way that the customer perceives."
Latin America presents a good future for the hotel industry. The region remains an exotic destination and has plenty of untapped space. But the challenge is to exploit it well, with criteria of sustainable tourism and not with destruction and predation of the environment.
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Three generations of hoteliers in a "small town"
