In this month’s Alumni Views feature, we are proud to present a Les Roches Marbella alumnus who is amongst our youngest graduates to have been promoted to General Manager, Carlos Ezquerra, BBA in Hospitality (December 2010). It’s not every day that a 26 year old from Seville who is only two years separated from college is handed the keys to a five-star hotel. But when you hear how he got there, it will come as no surprise.
Laying a foundation for success
After completing his Hotel Management Diploma and furthering it with a Bachelor in Business Administration in Hospitality Degree, Carlos wasted no time finding a managerial position in a hotel. He already had plenty of experience on his CV from in-depth internships at five-star establishments like The Randolph Hotel in Oxford, England and later at Hotel Gran Meliá Fénix in Madrid. In these hotels he acquired valuable managerial skills in sales, front office, accounting, reservations and purchasing.
When it came time to enter the job market in 2011 he already knew exactly how to approach employers, he had the skills they were looking for, and he knew the key departments he should focus on in order to put his career on the fast-track.
So, fresh out of school, in January 2011, Carlos began working as a Revenue Management Assistant at Hotel ME (Meliá) in Madrid and then moved on to a unique opportunity to organize the grand opening of the Splendom Suites Hotel, also in Madrid. From here he wanted to travel for a while so he accepted a position in Dubai to work in the sales department at Jumeirha Hotels’ central office.
Seeking challenges & opportunities
After gaining more valuable experience with Jumeirah (who own several exclusive hotels around the world, including Dubai`s legendary and symbolic Burj Al Arab) he decided he was ready to seek out a position that would really challenge his professional skills. Soon he would find himself packing his bags for the Dominican Republic to take on the role of Resident Manager at the five-star Be Live Grand Punta Cana.
Be Live Hotels, a brand of Spain’s Globalia hotel and tourism group, runs four hotels in the Dominican Republic so when the position of General Manager became available at their five-star Presidential Suites Hotel, Carlos was in the perfect position as one of their Resident Managers to offer Be Live what they needed. Sure enough, in December 2012 he was promoted to General Manager and is currently tackling the many challenges that come with managing the hotel’s daily operations as well as overseeing various expansion and refurbishment projects that are underway at this time.
When we asked Carlos how he managed to achieve all of this in such a short period of time, he had this to say, “First, I have to thank all of the people that gave me the opportunity to develop my abilities starting as far back as Les Roches Marbella, where I learned what it means to be a professional. This is followed by my experience in all facets of the hotel business, which after a few years of very hard work, gave me the opportunity to prove myself as a valid candidate. Meanwhile, my own persistence and determination saw to it that I would stay focused on my basic goal of always exceeding expectations. And of course, there is no denying that luck has played a role of its own as well.”
Advice to adhere to
Our curiosity continued to get the best of us so we asked him if he might have some advice for others following in his footsteps. He gladly replied, saying: “I am not going to advise you to study, to read books or to learn languages. These are important things too, but there are already many people who are going to repeat that to you every day. I prefer to advise you to look at the larger picture, to take chances and leave your fears behind you. The life and work of a hotel professional is already hard enough so it is important to live each day to its fullest. Don’t be afraid to travel and seek out career opportunities abroad, you’d be surprised where they will take you. If you can adhere to this then I assure you that at the end of each day you will lie in bed with a big proud smile.”
We’re already smiling and we are most definitely proud of the success of our Les Roches Marbella Alumni.
Carlos, we wish you the best of luck in your new post as GM at the Presidential Suites!
