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Interview with
Sr. Patrick Sanchez,
Managing Director of Sheraton Cancún
March the 10th, 2000
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Could you give us a brief historical background of the Starwood hotel and the Westin here in Cancun?
Starwood recently purchased both ITT Sheraton and Westin chains. The Sheraton hotel that has been in Cancun for 20 years now, was originally part of the ITT organization. Our presence in Cancun is one that we have considered very extensive and one that we are very proud of, we have seen Cancun develop and mature, and we have participated as a company in that growth process. Our Westin property is only 9 years old and opened originally as a Conrad hotel and now we are proud to fly the Westin flag on it; its our Westin-Regina hotel. Since the purchase of Sheraton and Westin, Starwood Hotels and Resort now owns and manages both of these luxury hotels here in Cancun.
Could you us a brief insight of the development of tourism here in Cancun in the last years?
All Mexico is proud of having in Cancun its most important touristic destination. We have seen Cancun grow in the last 28 years from virtually nothing; a jungle, to presently a 26 thousand hotel rooms resort city. This does not include the explosion seen in recent years on the Riviera Maya region, that has passed from having roughly 4 thousand guest rooms in 1996 to having just under 13 thousand in 1999. The state of Quintana Roo right now has approximately 45 thousand room nights available to touristic attractions.
To what extent is the Starwood philosophy present in both the Sheraton and Westin hotels, and to what extent has it changed their former working organization?
Starwood is definitely the parent company, and within that we promote each brand separately. The Westin is a luxury property addressed to a very particular clientele, we are very proud of the fact that last year we introduced worldwide the [Heavenly Bed], in fact the Westin Regina Cancun was the first Westin Hotel in Mexico to actually implement the Heavenly Bed. So our property has the Heavenly Bed and runs following all the standards that made out of Westin Hotels a world wide recognized hotel chain. The Sheraton brand is going for what we call quality, while the Westin would be guided towards innovation and being the best. Quality and excellence is what the Sheraton stands for, so in turn we promote each brand differently and to its perspective clientele, Starwood may be the parent company, but the brand integrity of both hotels is fully respected.
In terms of promotion and communication, do you apply the same strategies for both the Sheraton and the Westin-Regina?
This is why I have the best of both worlds, as managing director of both properties. From and operational perspective, which I call from behind the scenes, I can take advantage of synergies between the two, compacting operations when it comes to increase efficiency. For example, for our two properties we operate just one laundry facility, and in terms of purchasing and accounting operations as well as credit applications I do one hotel instead of two. Now from the point of view of what the customer sees, I do not believe in mixing advertising and promoting methods and strategies, nor brand names. We advertise separately the Westin to its clientele and the Sheraton to its clientele. From the customer’s perspective, if they are Westin guests, they will stay at a Westin Hotel, and the same goes for Sheraton clients.
Could you give us some statistics about both hotels in terms of number of rooms, staff and turnover?
Our Sheraton property has 471 rooms and a staff of 440 people working with us. The Westin is a 293 rooms hotel and it needs a staff of 400 people to be functional because from an operational perspective we have an arrangement with Club Regina. When it comes to turnover that is one of the luxuries that we have, I guess that with Cancun being a more mature market, there is not that much turnover within staff, that would be line staff or management staff. Turnover is one of the challenges that the Riviera Maya has right now because of the explosion of growth and the fact that the region has not been able to keep up with the infrastructure needed to sustain this growth and hotels have been obliged to look out of their perspective areas to find qualified assistance and personnel.
How would you describe your service and your quality control system?
Each of the two brands have very specific standard operating procedures, and there are quality standards that each brand has to follow. There are physical standards, as having certain items located in the guest rooms, and there are service standards, as the time required for a check-in, that we have established particularly for each brand. We have done a lot of research and in turn each hotel’s performance is measured. This measurement is not only an internal mechanism but is one where we employ an outside consultant that works for us with our guests through constant evaluations, getting our guest feedback, because automatically what gets measured gets achieved.
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To what extent is your personnel development program part of this quality measurement?
We have a continuity program, we look at each of our employees, since they are our most valuable asset, and see where we can go. The benefit of having 17 hotels in Mexico is that we have a number of growth opportunities within Starwood, and not only within Sheraton and Westin because Starwood is continuously growing; hopefully in the next two years we will be introducing two new brands to Mexico, the [UU] and the Four Points. Our development department is looking into the possibility of expanding here in Mexico, so we are always looking out for qualified help. We also realized that we have to develop from within, that is why we created through our human resources department the Starwood Cancun University, which is a training program where certain Universities assist us preparing our personnel. We are constantly increasing our staff’s skill levels to face the demands of the future.
Are you concerned about Cancun growing to fast for its infrastructure, and with this in mind, how do you see Cancun in three years?
There always has to be a balance between the demand and the supply. We have seen an important growth explosion in Cancun but we have always managed to keep the demand growing at the same level. When that balance is broken, then there is a concern. For example last year the growth rate of the number of passengers at the Cancun International Airport was 11.9%, but that airport services now not only Cancun but also the Riviera Maya with its additional 12 thousand rooms, which together grew 12.8% last year, so we can say that globally the demand was outpaced. In those terms I share the concern of the Ministry of Tourism of the State, and we have to work a lot if we want to maintain that balance I just spoke about recently.
In an ever growing touristic area it is always harder to find qualified personnel. How do you manage to keep up your personnel’s standards of quality?
Cancun itself is a city of half a million people, and we have continuously looking to develop its infrastructure. We know that there are certain areas to which we should be paying more attention, but that is part of our challenge for the future. Compounding this with the fact that the Riviera Maya does not have the needed infrastructure and that it is actually founding and taking its personnel from the Cancun area, reinforces the need we have as a state to plan for the future. For the success of the state of Quintana Roo we need to position the Mexican Caribbean in the eyes of the world as a resort destination, in order to have a tidy grow, our customer base has to grow to. Cancun has a very good percentage on US and European guests, but there are markets for which we should start real promotional activities such as Japan and other Asian countries and cities.
Where do you see the Westin and the Sheraton hotels in three years time?
It is a foregoing conclusion that Cancun has grown alot and in the future will be Mexico’s number one destination. That is a priority not only for the federal government but also for every member of the community of Cancun, and everyone has realized what the challenge will be for the next years. How we will be positioned in the future has everything to do with the basis: service, taking care of the guests, making sure that they return the sooner the better. It is very important to sell Cancun to the world more than just once; our customers have to come back with the believe that Cancun is not only a perceived value but something that can really be endlessly enjoyed every time they come. One of the reasons that made Cancun a very successful destination is the diversity of activities that can be enjoyed, from the very simple and traditional getting-tanned-at-the-beach, to the more exciting adventure and ecological tourism.
Can you tell us a little bit about your background and about what you think has been your biggest achievement as Director General of Westin and Sheraton?
I was born in Casablanca, Morocco, and grew up in a state department family. This is not the first time I live in Latin America because I came here when I was just a boy, but in fact this is my first overseas international assignment. I worked 18 years for ITT Sheraton, and last two for Starwood. One of the biggest challenges I have ever had is being the managing director of two different brands and being able to balance successfully operational efficiency, with the understanding that each one has its very unique design.
What is your final message to our readers?
Cancun and the Riviera Maya are very favorable places for finding investment opportunities today and in the future. The great number of accolades that the state has received because of its importance as a touristic destination speak for us all.
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© World INvestment NEws, 2000.
This is the electronic edition of the special country report on Mexico published in Forbes Global.
July 3rd 2000 Issue.
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MEXICO
