A VIP Resort Inside a Luxury All-Inclusive? Here’s Why

Glenn: [00:00:00] Hey, everybody. It’s your hospitality friend Glenn here for No Vacancy. And I’ve got with me today the exciting, the wonderful doctor s yeah, I’m trying out a new nickname today. How you doing?

Suzanne: [00:00:12] Well, I feel like when we were in Memphis, you added Duck Master into the very long title. And I was like, that was one really slick and two like, wow, that just got really long.

Glenn: [00:00:23] Yeah. So doctor producer duck Master Suzanne Bagnera is back with us today. I’m excited. Suzanne. First of all, because we’re going to be talking about all inclusive, which to me has really been rapidly changing and maturing. And we’ve got a real big symbol of that, which is right behind me right now. But first, I want to thank our friends over at Actabl. After all, Actabl, they give you the power to profit. You know what? You’re out there. You’re stressed. You want to do more with less. Actabl helps you achieve that goal. All right, so I’m excited because our guest today is one of the founders of AM resorts. And that’s one of the to me, one of the companies that I really grew up understanding is an all inclusive company and seeing how what the possibility of what that market could be. And now one of those founders is added a at it again. I don’t know why these people don’t retire. I guess I would never.

Suzanne: [00:01:17] Listen when when you have hotels in your blood, Glenn, I know you don’t run that way because you haven’t gotten accepted into that category.

Glenn: [00:01:25] That’s a good point.

Suzanne: [00:01:26] You can’t give it up. And so this is a story I’m really excited to hear how it has unfolded.

Glenn: [00:01:32] I know, so as a guy who aspires to stay in hotels we’ve got someone who aspires to create an amazing experience over Javier Coll President Mullen Hospitality Management. And as we’re recording this, they are, I think, a breath away from opening the all new J.W. Marriott Costa Resort and Spa, an all inclusive resort that in Costa Rica. And you’re spending time with us today. Your priorities are wack, man. And welcome. Great to see you.

Javier: [00:02:02] Thank you so much. I just want to clarify something. I did try to retire, actually, but two months, two months into retirement, I was so bored that I had to come back.

Glenn: [00:02:13] That’s the thing about, I think, driven people. And today I want to talk a little bit about you as well as your, you know, the journey as well as the amazing category. And it’s true people who are out to create and build, they don’t just stop and sit on the sidelines. And I kid myself that like, I just want to hang out in a lounge chair. I think I’d go crazy too. So tell me a little bit about when you’re like, I got to get back in the game and this is how I’m going to do it.

Javier: [00:02:44] Well yeah, I mean, what really excites me is the chance to build again, right? We started in 2001. But you know, there’s a lot of things that you learn on the way and a lot of things that you would do better or differently. And, and to have this opportunity again to do that. I mean, that’s what really, you know, gets me excited. I mean, it’s about to, to choose the it’s about choosing the right products, the right projects. Staying close to the properties and taking responsibility for performance. Those are things that at the beginning, when we started the company, probably we didn’t fully understand. Eventually we did. And that’s and that was our modus operandi for, for the whole for the company. But now we’re doing that from the scratch, from doing that from the start. And, and we embed that into our standards and everything we do. So, so yeah, I mean, I’m really proud of my previous chapter for sure. But this is a, this is an opportunity to apply that experience in a, in focus and focus in our business. Now with Jeff, which is our CEO he has tons of experience in distribution, which is a key part of this business.

Glenn: [00:04:13] Yes. And I do want to say there’s just because they’re just opening this one property, they do have additional properties in their portfolio, including a three secrets properties as well. Suzanne.

Suzanne: [00:04:25] Well, I was going to say you mentioned the right product in the right place. So what made you feel that the all inclusive concept was going to be the right product?

Javier: [00:04:36] You mean for this particular hotel or in general? Well, for this particular hotel.

Glenn: [00:04:42] Yeah.

Javier: [00:04:43] For this particular hotel. I mean, it’s this hotel previously was the dreams last Monday which is it was, it was a hotel that we run that we built. And one thing that is interesting. Is the location. This is north of Pappagallo. And it’s a little bit isolated from the bulk of the rest of the hotels in the area, which makes this more attractive for many people. So the fact that is isolated, it has a private beach. It is surrounded by a natural park. It makes this hotel perfect for all inclusive. So the thing about all-inclusive is that, you know, you, if you can build everything you need inside the hotel, all the experiences, everything, then you have the perfect product for that. And this hotel is built for that. And that’s, that’s the main reason why we decided to keep it as all inclusive. The other reason was I don’t think there was a in Costa Rica, a hotel an all inclusive hotel at that level. And we thought, okay, this is the perfect opportunity for us to introduce probably the best hotel, the best all inclusive hotel in Costa Rica.

Glenn: [00:06:07] So why does all inclusive work? Do you think better for you than, I guess a pay as you go a la carte kind of model or whatever you would call that?

Javier: [00:06:21] I mean, for us, it’s always the same reason. I mean, all inclusive offers a frictionless experience, right? Many people thinks that all inclusive is about just adding food and beverage to the price. And, and definitely does not. That’s not what it is. So that’s, that’s we have a lot of experience in terms of managing the customer and the experience of the customer. The good thing about Prepaying for those things is that now you can focus on service, but you don’t have to. You don’t have to focus on us. Well, you know, your friends or whatever. Whatever else do you, you have in your, your hotel now you have, you have you can make every interaction more formal. You don’t have to make that. I mean, it’s about to stay fit or, and make the stay easy and personal. And that’s why all inclusive is, is a, is, is a great option for us. I mean, the, the inclusive payment model should make the experience more convenient, not lower the expectations for.

Speaker 3: [00:07:34] And that’s exactly.

Glenn: [00:07:35] What that’s exactly. Let me jump in there because as a customer, that’s the kind of thing I want. I’m not looking for a bargain. I’m looking for peace of mind and good value for my money. And that’s where all of I think this comes in. I don’t want to be sitting at the pool on my vacation and going, oh, do I want to buy a drink now? And if my wife wants one, how much is that going to be? It’s not about the money, it’s just about the. Now I got to flag somebody down. I got to pull out my wallet and I gotta pay for it. And that takes me out of all that hard work I did trying to get in this relaxed state. And now all of a sudden I’m being reminded of reality. I want to just be able to go from moment to moment experience to experience without having to worry about feeling like an ATM.

Javier: [00:08:23] 100, 100%. And this is the message that we’ve been trying to convey for 20 years. Yeah. Since we started with our first secrets, you know, back in 2002. The goal is not to ask the guests to accept a different standard, right? Because they’re staying all inclusive. So I want them to feel that they have chosen an excellent luxury resort that happens to make the experience just simpler or simpler to enjoy. That’s that’s, that’s the most important part of it. It. I mean, once once you do that, once you understand, it doesn’t matter if it’s all inclusive or not inclusive. This is the difference is as I said, frictionless experience. I mean, you don’t have to worry about all those things that you just mentioned. Your, your, your wallet especially when, if you are going with kids, I mean, they, they just go around the resort. They don’t need to come back to you to ask for another $10, $15, whatever it is to buy a lemonade. Now.

Glenn: [00:09:29] I know I spent a lot of, I spent a lot of years having to do that. So so. Okay so you’ve taken a property and then you’ve got to reinvent the property. Yes. It was all inclusive beforehand, but now you’re looking at a higher level, more discriminating, theoretically type of an audience. So how do you pick apart what you already have and then kind of transform all of those different components to meet that higher level price point that you’re going for. Well.

Javier: [00:10:01] Think. Think about it. As we’re working together with Mario, right? In this particular project. When we built this hotel or we’re I mean, we redid this hotel, right? The hotel already had all the components of a luxury hotel. We just we just spent a lot of money in terms of interior designing and things like that. But the main components and that’s what that’s, again, that’s what we’re trying to explain for 20 years the whole inclusive hotels, if they have anything different from a luxury hotel, is that they have more options and they have more options because we run these hotels at a pretty high occupancy rates. And that means that if you want to have a good experience, good luxury experience you want to have more, more options and more choices. And that’s what we offer. Like if a normal hotel may have maybe two restaurants and another outlet food and beverage, now we have six restaurants and three more outlets. And that means that wherever you go, you don’t have to wait. There’s no lines. You can enjoy a different experience every day if you stay there. Et cetera. Et cetera. So so that’s, that’s mainly the only difference. Besides that, it’s just a luxury resort with great facilities, with any facility that you that you would find in any luxury resort. That’s, that’s, that’s, that’s what it is. So, so it was pretty, pretty easy to, to turn the previous dream into J.W. Marriott. But again, I mean, of course, we spend a lot of money making sure that everything was completely new, refreshed and, and superb interior design, which, which is what any other J.W. Marriott would offer.

Glenn: [00:12:09] Yeah, absolutely. Suzanne.

Suzanne: [00:12:11] Well, you mentioned now not having to deal with the friction of payment and decisions. And then it gives your staff this opportunity to focus on service. So in that mind shift, I think the training experience has to be a little bit different for your associates to be able to make sure that they can deliver upon that. So what is that experience like to get your team ready to be able to successfully deliver upon that all inclusive, service focused experience?

Javier: [00:12:43] There’s two components here because we manage this hotel, right? So we have J.W. Marriott as a brand with J.W. Marriott standards, and then we have more M.h.m. Mullin Hospitality Management managing the hotel with our own standards. Yeah, right. So we are combining we’re combining both. So we have two sets of training actually. Wow. First. First we train our people with our standards. I mean, I want to I want our people to understand the standard, to have the tools to deliver it and feel that they can raise a problem before it comes up or becomes a guest complaint. So you cannot ask for personal service while making every small decision impossible. So leadership should make expectations clear, which is what we the main focus of our training. And then give room to take responsibility empowerment. That’s important. Now you combine that with the second set of training, which is Marriott training. And they train them into, you know what? You know, what is the standards of J.W. Marriott, etc.. So that’s that’s the way we’ve been doing it. It’s been working really well. And both are complimentary actually. So, so that’s, that’s, that’s the process now, right now the still the merit training, the way to do things, the way the way Marriott does things is still going on. And it will, and we will have a team from Marriott for a couple of weeks after, after the opening. So, so yeah, that’s, that’s how you build the right service culture for this hotel. Right.

Glenn: [00:14:40] All right. So I think that that’s awesome. But now it seems like all the major brands are really getting involved in this particular category, which is making you have to be a little bit more clever, really think things through and you’re combining the all inclusive trend with another big trend we’re seeing out there. And Suzanne, I’m talking about the the hotels within hotels. You know, we were talking to our friend Daniel Hostetler, for example, at Boca Raton Club. Vegas has been doing this for years. You folks are doing this as well, apparently with Griffin Club. So how are you thinking about this hotel within a hotel? I mean, you already got pretty high level hotel, but then, you know, got something over here. It’s a little bit different. How are you differentiating it? How’s your whole philosophy with creating that hotel within a hotel work as well?

Javier: [00:15:25] Well, there’s a physical aspect and there’s an operational aspect, right? There’s always I mean, like everything in this life, there’s always someone that is willing to spend a little bit more money to have a little bit of more elevated experience in anything you do in life, right? You go to, you go to a football game. And, you know, some people, they’d rather be right there in front of the place. And some people, you know, they don’t mind to go to to a different level of the stadium. Same thing with concerts, same thing with everything. So so this is.

Suzanne: [00:15:58] Glenn, just so you.

Suzanne: [00:15:59] Know, Glenn needs the example.

Suzanne: [00:16:01] And a concert.

Speaker 5: [00:16:01] Base. He does not a football game.

Suzanne: [00:16:04] So he needs the front row seat for the concert to feel the music.

Glenn: [00:16:08] I also I, and I also have VIP needs at a back of house, back of the stadium budget. So that’s, you know, okay. But your point is absolutely right Javier. So we don’t mean to just disconnect you from your thought, but it’s true. People really want that. They want that special thing. So why not? Right. So now that you understand the why not? How do you actually implement and create, going back to your two different philosophies that you have to think about?

Javier: [00:16:39] Yeah. You have first of all, the physical aspect, which is how can you make that experience more elevated, which is private or separated check in. Right. They have their own Checking a lounge. They have their own area in the pool area. The standards. Within within the, the hotel in terms of everything through design. Everything that you use within the, the room shampoos everything is a little bit more elevated, elevated. And that’s one thing that is related to both physical and also operational in operations. We offer several options that you may not have access to the hotel. We have a pool exclusive for these, for these customers. You want to be a little bit more

Glenn: [00:17:41] Discreet.

Javier: [00:17:42] Ready? You know, so so yeah, I mean, both they both are important. I mean, the physical aspect and the operational aspect to make that experience more more material for sure.

Glenn: [00:17:56] And that’s definitely the the way to do it, I should say. For you hoteliers out there that might have this opportunity. It’s also a great way to increase those rates out there. Our, our friend Doug Brown, he’s president over at Peabody Hotel. They recently started the Pembroke Club. It’s so successful and they’re getting such a great premium. They’re thinking of expanding it already, which is pretty amazing. Javier. So it really opens you up to a different type of market that you might not have attracted before by having that elevated product that the elevated services and amenities. So where does all of this kind of go from here? How are you thinking about maybe like the, you know, place, rooted wellness kind of programming and stuff like that?

Javier: [00:18:44] Is that’s a difficult that’s a difficult question to answer because.

Speaker 6: [00:18:49] If you’re like me, just make something up.

Glenn: [00:18:51] No one will know the difference.

Javier: [00:18:54] No, no. But these hotels, they have definitely all the ingredients that you need to have a superb experience. I mean, you mentioned wellness. Yeah. The wellness is. I mean, there’s so much that you can do with wellness, right? Technology there’s so many products that you can offer so many services that you can offer in wellness. But you have to find some kind of a balance, right? Because at the end of the day you’re going to a resort to enjoy the many things the resort has. You’re not, you’re not just focused on the experience of the wellness experience. So you have to have some kind of a balance of how can how can enjoy this resort and all the amenities and all, all the things that is offer me Without you know, with this time frame that I have, whatever, five days, six days, whatever it is. So, so we think about that too, but we make sure that we’re not too focused on one thing that makes the resort. Okay, this is the resort for that, right? If you have the best wellness facilities and the best equipment and everything, now you are directing or focusing your, your hotel into, into a niche, if you will, a niche of customers. That’s not what we’re looking for. We’re looking for, for an overall great experience. And, and our when we design these hotels, including the, the spa and the wellness services, we think about that. We want to make sure that we are not the most specialized in one particular thing, but we are trying to be the best well-rounded experience.

Glenn: [00:20:54] Well, Javier, we’re thinking when it comes to wellness is kind of getting at what you’re saying. It’s more the idea of relational wellness. It’s getting people away from that technology and isolation and being brought together once again. Right. So for me, it’s not just all inclusive with all the amenities, it’s all inclusive with your company and you get to actually be with them and connect again as human beings. So that’s kind of how I see the, the wellness tool, not the we have this new, this new treatment. If you just sniff this thing, you’re going to lose ten years. That’s not, you know, and I mean, get younger, not just not like that ten years, you know.

Javier: [00:21:32] It makes total sense.

Suzanne: [00:21:34] So Javier, and this might be difficult because it’s kind of like calling out your favorite child, but out of the variety of amenities in this new property, what is your favorite?

Javier: [00:21:49] You are making me choosing between.

Suzanne: [00:21:53] I asked the tough questions.

Javier: [00:21:55] Definitely. I’m really, really excited about the love. For sure. I mean, that’s that’s that is something that in the past we had something similar to that, but not, not at this level. So it’s, it’s, it’s something that really excites me. And I’m not sure if if you went already online and you, you saw the things that the Griffin club may offer, but but I think you should try. You should come and try because that’s the best. That’s the best way to appreciate it.

Suzanne: [00:22:35] And I are available.

Speaker 6: [00:22:37] Yeah.

Glenn: [00:22:39] Listen, I am always willing to have a VIP experience. Like I said, you know, I’m not shy about about that.

Javier: [00:22:47] Let me know.

Glenn: [00:22:48] Yeah. For real. Javier. I’ve been trying to get to Costa Rica for well over 15 years now, and I just can’t seem to get my my act together to do that. Maybe one of these days. What’s next for you folks over at over at Mullen? What’s the what’s the strategy? Are you looking to operate and develop properties or are you third party management? What’s your, what’s your strategy going forward?

Javier: [00:23:13] Well we do both. We we are operating a hotel for independent brands. Or we are creating hotels with us independent, but we also are managing for for, for third party brands, right? That’s what we do very different from what we used to do in every source that we own. And we create and we own our own brand. So now we work for someone else, which is a different model.

Glenn: [00:23:43] Yeah.

Javier: [00:23:44] But not necessarily not necessarily a different way to, to operate. Right. I don’t I don’t really see other brands versus independent operators. I mean, it’s you have to provide the best operating experience regardless. Right.

Glenn: [00:24:01] And the level we’re talking about, Javier, the higher level, I absolutely agree with you. In fact, for our younger people out there typically there are certain brands you must use, like their management company as, as well. So it’s very, it’s very well thought out at that particular level.

Javier: [00:24:20] You have to find the right combination for the property. I mean, sometimes I have these owners that come to me, they come to me. Listen, this is the project. This is the brand that I’m thinking. Can you can you manage it? Well, sometimes I tell them no. Sure. I mean, that’s I think you chose the right brand and that’s, that’s for this hotel, for this destination. But sometimes I tell them, you know, I don’t think this brand is the right one or, even. I don’t think you should go with the brand. Right. Because this hotel may be so unique that you probably don’t need a brand. You want to, you know, we can create a name by itself. So so it really depends on every project. And we really think about it. It’s not we’re not in like an automatic mode of sure. Brand. Operator let’s go on it, blah, blah. No, we, we really get deep into everything. And to make the, the right proposal to the owner and, you know, every case is different. So sometimes the owners, they, you know, they may want a global brand for whatever reason. And sometimes they don’t know. So we try to navigate that, we try to make the best proposal for that particular project and that particular property. And that’s the way. That’s the way we do it. I mean, I think I think it’s the right way actually. I mean, we’re not I’ve been in different, you know, in different companies. We’ve done things in different ways. And at the end of the day you have to do what is best for the owner. That’s, that’s, that’s our, that’s our priority. And that, that’s how we want to differentiate our company from the other one.

Glenn: [00:26:12] Yeah. For sure. And Javier, you’re in a niche of the business where all of that is so important. And for for folks that are still learning, there’s that other half of the business where it’s really more of a real estate investment for select service hotel, and it becomes more about what brands available and how many reservations they can deliver. But when we’re talking a high level, when we’re talking about experiences, when we’re talking about high end customer service, that’s really where someone like you and working with these different brands is, is pretty essential. Suzanne, anything else that you want to add before.

Suzanne: [00:26:46] I, I think that the unique experiences that you bring by elevating that level of service, keeping it, including inclusionary and making it frictionless, is what is right for an amazing vacation. So I’m wishing you all a great amount of success in the fact that you don’t have a lot of competition right in the area, and you’re setting yourselves apart from from what that is in Costa Rica.

Javier: [00:27:09] Well, thank you so much. Thank you. Great.

Glenn: [00:27:12] Thank you. Really appreciate you being here, Javier. And Hey, listen, I think I’m going to go get myself a presidential suite room over at that Griffin Club over there.

Suzanne: [00:27:22] Hey, let’s, you know, go for it.

Glenn: [00:27:25] Yeah, if I can figure out how to find it, I’m. You know, they’ll probably block me from entering the country, but, you know, what are you going to do, Suzanne? Assuming I am able to to get there one day, how do you see the overall all inclusive environment is set against the the rest of the hotel business?

Speaker 7: [00:27:42] I like the fact. I mean, when you look at properties.

Suzanne: [00:27:45] That, you know, there’s so many. When the water park started to go cashless and you had a band like, you know, that’s a very kind of similar mentality that you’re able to make it a frictionless experience. But when you can include it and then not even have to use that band and be able to engage in that, you know, that is the component of your vacation of I don’t have to value, what is this one piece or not? I, I know what it is and just to be able to enjoy. I love hearing that they’ve got, you know, six different restaurant opportunities where you can do a different restaurant every night.

Glenn: [00:28:19] Like I love it. I just want to have a clear head and treat myself and indulge and not feel guilty about it. Hey, in your life, there’s plenty of ways to not feel guilty. And one of those is by watching, listening, and following us here on No vacancy. Clear that guilt away. Educate, empower, and hopefully entertain yourself over there. Thank you so much for tuning in. Remember everybody, you’ve got one life, so blaze on and.

Speaker 7: [00:28:43] Follow your passion.

Glenn: [00:28:45] See you later. Right back here on no.