During our five years at the hotel, we had two general managers who were responsible for running the day-to-day operations. They were complete opposites of each other, but each was exactly what we needed at the time.
A.J.
Mark and I first met AJ before we bought the hotel. We had taken a trip as “secret shoppers” to check out the hotel as part of our due diligence. AJ was the manager, and he was the only employee who knew why we were visiting. At the time, he was friendly and showed us around the hotel, but I had an uneasy feeling about him.
When we bought the hotel, we hired AJ and all of the previous employees. There was NO way that we were not going to rehire them. They were the only ones who knew what the heck they were doing! Mark and I had absolutely no idea.
Initially, I was worried about AJ’s loyalty because he had worked for Gomer a long time and because of my uneasy feeling toward him. I couldn’t really put my finger on why I felt this way, but I did.
On the first day that Mark was at the hotel, a guest had told him to “get rid of your manager”. Some locals we had just met also felt the need to warn us to “keep an eye on AJ”, without citing anything specific. These unsolicited warnings, combined with my own unease, made me suspicious of AJ at the beginning and I wasn’t sure I could trust him.
I was wrong.
From Day 1, AJ was our right-hand man. He knew English, knew the hotel’s innerworkings, he knew our town and the people in town. He knew people to hire, people to buy supplies from, people at the bank. He knew the mayor. He knew how to help us get a bank account, how to renew permits, how to stay in compliance with Costa Rica’s complex labor laws, how to get Costa Rican phones and how to help us buy a car.
All of that, I’m sure, sounds ‘simple’, and we could have figured it out - eventually, but we didn’t have the luxury of time. We couldn’t miss a day of ordering food or setting up a bank account so we could get employees and vendors paid or getting a local phone number for us and for the hotel. We needed to ramp up ASAP!
He was like a magic-fairy. We’d just say, “AJ, we need to ______.” and he’d get it done. Sometimes, I felt like I shouldn’t ask him HOW he got it done. He was that kind of manager. But at that time, we knew nothing about running a hotel in Costa Rica. AJ had been doing it for years and was the perfect manager for us.
As the manager of the staff, AJ was a leader. I’d say in the beginning his management style was very machismo. He is a big person – huge by Costa Rican standards – with a booming voice and strong personality. He led with a firm attitude and expected respect for his position. He also knew all the staff members well, and I think they mostly enjoyed working for him. Over time, his style became a little more collaborative.
AJ knew how to solve a problem. If there was a maintenance issue or employee issue, AJ knew how to fix it. If there was guest issue, AJ could fix or rectify that also. He viewed the guest experience like a soccer game. When we successfully nailed a part of the guest experience; he thought of it as a goal scored by the home team. If a guest had a problem, it was a goal for the visitors.
AJ stayed with us until early 2021. During the months of the Covid shutdown (more on that to come!), AJ and his family had started a meat supply business. When we reopened after Covid, we all felt that AJ couldn’t give sufficient time and attention to the hotel while growing his family business, so we mutually parted ways. AJ had always been very ambitious, and he continues to be successful today running the meat supply business, a butcher shop and restaurant.
All I know is that we couldn’t have accomplished what we did in those first years and throughout our remodel without him.
Gracias, AJ! Pura vida!
Steven
Sometimes people come into our lives in the most unexpected ways.
Steven was one of those people.
In late 2019, our reservation calendar was filling up (finally!!) and we decided we needed to hire another concierge. We had placed ads on local Facebook pages and on the community’s job ‘bulletin board’.
One afternoon in September, we had no guests (ok, we weren’t quite full yet) so we sent the afternoon staff home early, and I now had some time to sit and read by the pool. Because we sent everyone home, I was in charge of answering the phone.
While I was sitting by the pool, the reservation phone rang, and I answered. On the other end was a young man speaking in Spanish (very quickly!). I asked him to slow down. (gee it’s so much harder understanding a foreign language over the phone!!)
I heard words I understood: trabajo (work), curriculum (resume)…I answered back in my (still) limited Spanish. He then asked me if I spoke English. (duh, what was his first clue?!) I said, sí, and he then switched to English. (Oh, thank God!)
He told me he had seen our job posting, and he wanted to apply. He was very polite with a very friendly tone of voice (a good concierge attribute!). He asked me who he ‘had the pleasure of speaking with’. I told him I was the dueña (owner). He was so excited to be talking with me he said. I suggested he call back tomorrow and speak with AJ to schedule an interview. He thanked me and said goodbye.
I could immediately tell that Steven was someone special, and I knew we would hire him.
Steven started working at the hotel mid-October 2019 when he was only 21. He fit in right away and was eager to learn. Steven was a hard worker, very respectful and got along with everyone. Steven loved working with guests, showing them around, listening to their stories. People resonated with Steven, and he really connected with them. He was an excellent concierge.
When AJ left in early 2021, we promoted Steven to manager. He had learned so much from AJ and us in his short time. Although it may sound strange to promote a 23-year-old to general manager, we were 100% confident that he was perfect for the job.
By that time, we had solved most of the problems Gomer had left us, so we didn’t need a “fixer”. Instead, we needed someone who had the soft skills to perfect the customer experience. Steven was that guy.
As a manager, Steven worked even harder than he had before. Steven is a people pleaser, and he was obsessed with making sure every guest was beyond happy. When we told Steven our goal was to become the #1 hotel in Costa Rica, that became his mission. He was organized, diligent and to a fault, overly committed to his job. We’d often have to tell Steven to go home! The work would still be there in the morning.
I wanted Steven to learn work/life balance. He would ride his motorcycle to work from his home over an hour away and then back home after work, often in the dark and when it was raining. As a mother, I was worried about Steven getting home safely.
Unlike AJ, Steven wasn’t from our local town, so he didn’t have an established network. But he wasn’t afraid to call people and ask for what we needed. Over time, he became very well respected by our vendors and the other members of the team despite being the youngest among them. We were so lucky to have him.
Gracias, Steven! Pura vida!
AJ and Steven were each exactly what we needed at the time – each contributed a unique set of skills to the improvement of the hotel. With their help, we achieved our goal of becoming the #1 ranked small hotel in Costa Rica.
And we couldn’t have done it without them.
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As usual, another great read, dear Marlo! Finding staff to support your vision is a challenge to say the least and it sounds like you were very blessed to find perfect souls to help you! One love and Pura Vida 🩵✌️
What a great story Marlo. It IS amazing how these two people came into your lives at the perfect time for each. What luck. People who work for you are so very important, and that you can trust them. At Casa Maya since we didn't move in for literally years after it finished, we had a series of full-time caretakers. Some were good, some, well, not so much. They ran the show when we were gone and took care of the tourists. A husband and wife team, had a separate cottage built for them. There are stories to be told there of course. One thing I wanted to mention, when you said AJ took care of all that stuff (the complex plans for licenses, or whatever) and you could have learned it-- oh, so good you had him. What may seem simple north of the border can become a shambles down south. I'll go into our own issues later in the book. Anyway, very glad you had the good luck.But you guys must have been doing something right, to gain their respect. Pura vida!