Q & A with Javier Blanco, Director General of Hotels Be Live, Globalia Group

Q & A with Javier Blanco
Director General of Hotels Be Live, Globalia Group
 
By Jose Carlos de Santiago

We’re entering a period of brand strengthening with our mind’s eye set on further improving the service,” said Mr. Blanco during a little break from the FITCuba 2011 sessions, an event he labeled as “interesting and original.” The CEO of Hotels Be Live is a young executive who belongs to one of the world’s major hotel chains.

How long have you been in the company?
I’ve been in the company since 2006. I started working with the president’s heritage investments, with hotel purchases and reforms. It all happened together with the purchase of the hotels in the Dominican Republic, where he started implementing reforms and making new additions to the hotel chain. At that time I was in charge of all acquisitions.

You’re one of Spain’s youngest men involved in the management of hotel chains, aren’t you?
Yes, you’re right, and this has kind of served me as a college career by the hand of the finest professionals anyone can ask for, and that’s our president.

You’re now leading this new hotel concept from the Globalia Group called Hotels Be Live. How does this concept differentiate from the former one?
I believe we’re basically entering a period of brand strengthening with our mind’s eye set on further improving the service. We’ve tried to expand way too fast with hotels and we’re now working on the overhaul of the entire hotel concept.

How many guestrooms do you own?
We have 3,500 rooms in the Dominican Republic, 2,000 in Cuba and we have cut down to 750 in Mexico, plus the 2,000 rooms we have in Spain. In Mexico we run a property in the Riviera Maya and another one in Cancun.

Are you planning on opening lodgings in other Central American destinations?
As I said before, we’re involved in a period of consolidation, though we’re clearly not ruling out the expansion issue. There are some destinations that seems quite interesting to me and in which we should be, but we’ll try putting products there little by little. I’d especially like to expand in Cartagena de Indias and Brazil.

Will you open a new hotel in Cuba, in one of its destinations?
It’s in our best interest to hold on to what we have and probably add a few more products. We’re even considering to investing in the country. We’ve had talks and some products are under consideration for further growth.

Over 40 percent of the chain’s business is sold by its own agencies and tour operators in Spain. How is the remaining 60 percent broken down?
Perhaps it’s a little bit less, mostly in the Caribbean, because seasons are very important. We’re now depending on the Canadian market, which is one of the markets that have fared better in the face of the ongoing crisis in the U.S. Furthermore, we’re putting good growth numbers in all markets across Latin America. We run several clubs in the Italian market, and then we have the French, the Germans, which account for a smaller share of the market.

Is this the first travel fair in Cuba you have ever attended?
Yes, this is my first time. This year we’ve traveled to several countries and we’ve held talks with the property owners just to spell out the new structure and the new corporate concept. We’re relying on a highly professional staff. As a matter of fact, we’re pouring resources into the commercial and operation staffs, and we’ve got some good professionals in those divisions. I guess we’re doing what we’re doing with a pretty good team and were all together going to get the job done.

Is this a fair concept different to those you’ve seen in other places? How do you like this?
It’s very interesting. You live what the country is actually like. You’re not in a convention hall moving from one booth to another. Here you hold meetings in and out of the fairgrounds; you make visits and hold a series of activities that make this fair a very interesting and original tradeshow.