Stage 1: What should I study?
Like many people in my graduating class, I ended up studying DEAT (Diploma in Tourism Business and Activities), after plenty of indecision, back-and-forth and well-meaning parental advice. I was one of those who passed the university entrance exams in September. That did not matter: at last I was going to leave Jerez de la Frontera and go to Granada to “study”, sharing a flat with three friends.
I had been accepted into Special Education, and just as I could almost touch my “Granada dream”, my parents delivered a decisive line:
“Your father has just been transferred to Granada for work.”
I had nearly made it… but sometimes you have to get back up and move to Granada with your family. My mother had already guessed that “Special Education” was really a passport to the good student life rather than a deep vocational calling. She suggested a diploma in tourism business and activities. I was not especially keen either way, so I enrolled.
Stage 2: Going to class is boring
Many people may not believe it, but one of the things that most shaped the path I am about to tell you was being assigned afternoon classes.
After a lifetime of getting up early for nursery, school and high school, my whole mental routine was turned upside down overnight. I never adapted to that schedule. Combined with the freedom that comes with university, it made my first year a disaster.
Still, I did not throw in the towel. That summer, a classmate and I went to work in England. We learned all sorts of things you do not learn at university (and I do not just mean English): working under pressure, being disciplined, looking after yourself, and handling difficult situations far from home and in another language. I combined my studies with temporary jobs in pizzerias and pubs.
In my third year, the same friend who had gone to England with me had already graduated and was working at the Vincci Rummaikyya hotel in Sierra Nevada. He found me an internship there, but it lasted no more than two days: the hotel needed a bellhop and offered to replace the internship with a job. I only asked for one thing in return: on quiet days, let me learn the receptionist’s job and sign off on my internship.
That led to a night receptionist vacancy at another hotel in the chain, Hotel Vincci Granada, and they offered it to me after the Sierra Nevada season. To be honest, it was only when I decided to stop working and switch to morning classes that I finally focused on passing all the subjects I still had outstanding.
Stage 3: I have my diploma! I am unemployed!
Life has a way of surprising you. Just as I finally got focused and completed my tourism diploma, I left a steady receptionist job and found it impossible to get another one. In a way, that made sense: Granada had two tourism faculties, and finding hotel work was almost mission impossible.
The situation was so bad that I decided to keep studying. From Monday to Friday, I took a vocational course in quality systems management; on Friday evenings and Saturday mornings, I attended a double-degree master’s in hotel and leisure business management and local development.
I think divine justice gave me back all the class hours I had skipped at university in one go.
Master’s degrees and courses give you a general understanding of many aspects of how a business works. But depending on how they are taught, you will be glad you worked in a hotel before, because you can relate what you learn to real situations.
Reality was still there, though, and I could not find a job. My partner and I decided to move in with her parents in Toledo and try our luck in Madrid.
Stage 4: Getting started in revenue management
When I decided to move to Toledo, I was ready to work at anything. Then an opportunity came along to do an internship as a revenue manager assistant at the Hilton Buenavista Toledo.
Working there was eye-opening. I learned to build my first reports in Opera, discovered extranets such as Transhotel, Laterooms and Keytel, carried out my first competitor studies, and set up my first room-and-spa packages. I also learned that a channel manager such as OnQ R&I could send rates to Booking.com and Expedia, with the price changed in one place.
A few months later, after my internship ended, I found a job as a receptionist at Hotel AC Ciudad de Toledo. I think it was fate that I arrived just as the hotel was installing the TravelClick channel manager and transferring some extranet rate changes from central office to the hotel. Since I was the only person who knew “a bit” about integrations and extranets, I became responsible for changing rates in TravelClick and in the extranets that were not connected.
Stage 5: I am almost a revenue manager
I still dreamed of working in a revenue management department, and I was at a point in my life where I wanted to progress. To be honest, though, I would have accepted any job that gave me a little free time to enjoy life with my wife and son. Anyone who has worked as a shift-filling “relief” employee knows what I mean.
At last, after a year of searching, I started at Hoteles Elba as a commercial analyst / assistant revenue manager. I had the pleasure of spending two years learning what takes many people much longer to learn: contracting, visits to retail travel agencies, roadshows, channel manager configuration, extranet updates, CRM use, reporting and group contracting.
Later, I took over revenue management for the hotels in the Canary Islands (five Elba properties and one Sheraton). I experienced two different management styles: the flexibility of a mid-sized chain, and the more structured, less flexible approach at Starwood, where many pricing decisions are already defined and have to be followed.
Eventually, I was offered the position of head of revenue management for the chain. Wanting to take a step forward, I commissioned an external audit from José Navarro at Beezhotels, so he could identify our strengths and gaps. We then received training to reinforce our strengths and improve where needed. From that point on, we were able to manage, innovate and consolidate a way of working.
In November 2015, after five years at Hoteles Elba, I began a new chapter at Holiday World Resort, a complex specialising in all-inclusive guests, with a mix of traditional tour operation, online and corporate business, and strong seasonality. It was a great opportunity to improve tour operator guaranteed allotments, learn about new accounts and discover different ways of working.
In March 2019, Álvaro Reyes got in touch and I decided to start another chapter at the emblematic Hotel Alay, a historic Costa del Sol property built in 1967. It was a completely different concept, with a huge commercial challenge ahead: in January 2019, the hotel had left a hotel chain to become independent. The new ownership also changed the target guest. We moved from a family hotel to a clear “adults only” and “dog friendly” concept. That gave me another chance to learn new ways of selling and pick up new ideas.
In January 2022, I was entrusted with the hotel’s commercial management, with a focus on attracting new accounts and maintaining and developing existing ones. Above all, we wanted to improve performance in low and shoulder seasons.
And the journey continues… 💪