Ramon Reyes, managing director of the Omni Atlanta Lodge at Centennial Park, has a doorman-to-executive journey that spans greater than twenty years of expertise within the hospitality business. Whereas he instructed LODGING just lately that he doesn’t suppose this story is exclusive to him, this path speaks to his perseverance and his ardour. Moreover, it speaks to the mobility that opens up quite a few prospects throughout the business.
Reyes, who now oversees Omni’s largest lodge by room depend, credit his persistence initially of his profession for getting his foot within the door. From there, he developed a love for the enterprise. Nonetheless, he was desperate to do extra. Reyes recalled how the overall supervisor he was working with on the time inspired him to “go for it” when he expressed his curiosity in reaching the following degree. From there, Reyes climbed the ladder by cross-training and dealing in varied departments; he was concerned in all the things from checking visitors in to often delivering room service. All of the whereas, he gained expertise and cultivated his starvation for extra tasks.
“I cross-trained and labored in the identical constructing for 10 and a half years,” Reyes recalled. “I in the end went from doorman to entrance workplace supervisor, then from supervisor to no matter/every time supervisor, after which director of entrance workplace, director of housekeeping, and in the end director of rooms, director of ops, earlier than I grew to become a common supervisor. It’s been a incredible journey and one during which I admire each side and problem I encountered as a result of it fashioned me into the chief that I’m right this moment.”
For Reyes, his winding journey hasn’t simply diversified in place; it has additionally taken him across the nation, as he has labored in Atlanta, Washington, D.C., and New Orleans. He returned to Atlanta 9 years in the past, first as the overall supervisor on the Omni Lodge at The Battery Atlanta and later as the overall supervisor on the Omni Atlanta Lodge at Centennial Park, the place he now serves as managing director. Reflecting on the trail he has taken, Reyes famous that the doorways “have been open” for him, and he now feels compelled to pay it again by serving to others develop.
“I really feel an obligation to open up the doorways for others in the identical method, and so I’m very centered on it,” he mentioned. “We had an orientation group of latest rent associates, and I mentioned, ‘If you wish to transfer up, I need you to lift your hand and say it and tell us, however most significantly, present it in your work.’ Then, I share with them what my journey was and inform them that it is a course of that you simply don’t wish to rush. This can be a course of during which you wish to proceed to soak in and be taught as a result of there’s at all times a possibility to be taught. There’s at all times a possibility to develop, and so in the event you attain a sure place and you are feeling snug, take that chance to spend money on your self, be taught extra about what you’re doing, as a result of in the end that’s going to guide to some extent the place somebody faucets you on the shoulder and says, ‘We like what you’re doing. We wish to see you do extra.’”
Reyes maintained that his journey is the story of the hospitality business itself, as it’s “deliberately centered on bringing in the correct individuals to execute service at a excessive degree.” He’s decided to proceed opening doorways for others and mentoring the following era, each of which Reyes highlighted as ways in which the Omni Atlanta Lodge at Centennial Park invests in its staff.
“We’re [bringing in the right people to execute service] and doing it at a excessive degree, however doing it deliberately when it comes to investing within the those that work inside our constructing,” he mentioned. “They’re our greatest asset. However what we prefer to suppose we do right here is take individuals who have a want, perhaps not the expertise, however the want and keenness to do issues and [we] develop them, spend money on them in order that they’ll turn into the way forward for our business in a really constructive method and assist elevate our business for a few years to return. And so, we’re deliberately centered on successful—successful in the correct method—and ensuring that we deliver others alongside that journey with us.”
