Meet Marga Sanchez, a 2009 graduate of our Postgraduate in Hospitality Management program and current GM of Villamascota, a specialist resort in Madrid that caters to a different sort of client, dogs. Marga tells us that training for her current position began, in all earnest, during her postgraduate studies at Les Roches Marbella, where she learned the valuable knowledge and skills needed to effectively manage a hotel operation.
This 36 year old animal lover from Madrid began her career studying Tourism at CEU Madrid and was always interested in advancing her career in hospitality. In 2009 she decided to go for it and began her postgraduate studies in Hospitality Management at Les Roches Marbella. From here she continued to build on her experience, working in both the Ritz-Carlton Arts Barcelona and Intercontinental Madrid. This opportunity, she said, offered her “a great experience directly in the professional field”.
Later, in 2011, an unexpected opportunity arose and she found herself confronted with making the decision to continue to serve people or to turn those professional skills towards man’s best friend. She chose man’s best friend and is currently the General Manager of Villamascota Pet Resort. When we asked her if there were any distinguishable differences between her past posts and this one, she replied saying, “Villamascota is managed with the exact same inner workings of a hotel, with the only difference being that our guests are a bit more hairy”. In fact, a pet hotel is structured around the same services and operations of hotels; F&B, reception and check-in, client services, operations, and sales and marketing are all present in this specialty establishment.
Marga says that Villamascota “offers high quality services aimed at the satisfaction of our users. We employ the best professionals and offer a wide range of services to make our client’s stay at Villamascota an unforgettable experience”. The resort is situated on a 25,000 square meter plot in the countryside surrounding Madrid. Her work there entails managing the daily activities of the hotel operations and sales as well as resident pet services, courses and training activities, outdoor excursions, workshops, and the like. In short, she is busy and really enjoys her work so considers the time well spent. After all, a happy customer is a happy customer…even if he licks your face and wags his tail.
