Why Excellent Hospitality Professionals Are Priceless: Meet Alejandro Rocha

When someone takes the guest experience from one to five stars, you know you have an extraordinary person on your team. 

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Better yet, if you can transition your guests from angry to delighted to full-on super fans - in the events, entertainment, and hospitality sectors, this is the equivalent of magic. 

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Meet Alejandro Rocha, an angel in human form and hospitality professional extraordinaire who was our go-to for all dietary needs for the duration of a recent work trip at Dreams Resort in Tulum, Mexico. 

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Before we met this incredible man, let me take you back to our journey & arrival at the resort and the sequence of events that ensued so you can fully grasp the priceless miracle-making of this extraordinary person. 

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On Wednesday, Nikola & I woke up at 3:30 am to arrive at Toronto Pearson Airport in plenty of time to pass through security for an international flight. Nikola and I do NOT eat at the airport nor on the plane because (a) there are rarely actual vegan options that are passable for us and (b) stomach bubbles on the plane are legitimately annoying, so we just fast / opt out of eating for these reasons. Additionally, there are numerous benefits to fasting so this tends to be the very best option for us.

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After a 4 1/2 hour flight followed by a long commute from Cancun airport to the conference resort, we were sufficiently ready to eat when we arrived at the hotel front desk (1:00 PM local time, but it was really 2:00 PM Toronto time). 

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The friendly front desk clerk exclaimed, “Welcome home” upon check-in with genuine enthusiasm, and proceeded to explain all of the different restaurants where we can go to eat lunch while we wait to check into our room at 3:00 PM. The only option that looked hopeful for vegan options was the World Cafe buffet. (We explained serval times to this lovely soul that we are vegan but the staff was not sufficiently trained to understand the definition / or what we meant by “vegan food”). Side note: This is absolutely NOT the fault of the staff - they don’t know what they don’t know, and there is a clear training opportunity here because this misunderstanding was quite common and repeated throughout our experience on the site.

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So off we went to the World Cafe, and when we arrived at the doors, we found out it was closed and then were told it would not reopen until 6:00 PM. Not exactly the “welcome home” feeling we were expecting, but we were hopeful we could find something on such an extensive property. Surely there would be something! 

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Next, we tried looking at the menus of all the other possible restaurant options (that were open in this timeframe) and when we asked the staff at each of the locations if they could make something, ANYTHING vegan, we were met with blank stares/deer in headlights. Again, not their fault, even a little bit. They were all genuinely trying to help but didn’t understand the “how.” (On an important side note - making vegan food is actually relatively straightforward and not complicated at all! Give us some steamed rice or baked potatoes or veggies or beans, and we are genuinely a-okay!) Again, because of the translation challenges and apparent lack of training, we do not fault the staff - as we could see how hard they work coupled with their disappointment when they couldn’t give us what we needed.

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Finally, we found the Co Co Cafe, where we could get a few morsels of mushroom wraps (which we were told were vegan but there was a mystery sauce on the pita that we are pretty sure was mayonnaise, so… because of our acute annoyance & starvation we ate the one and only “vegan” option on an expansive facility) 

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With markedly less optimism, we decided to try again, so we walked over to a beautiful restaurant near the ocean. Stunning views!! There was a waiter at the Seaside Grill who tried his absolute best to get us something and bless him, he brought us grilled veggies (soaked in oil and made on the same grill as the fish ), So we got “fish veggies” - yikes!

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Finally, at 6:00 pm, we tried our luck again at the World Cafe buffet (two times a charm?)

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The staff at the time did not have the faintest idea about what ingredients were in anything. Something that could simply be remedied by labels (it would cause so much less stress for them and for us, jointly!) Surely other people need food labeled for dietary purposes (not just the problematic vegans from Toronto!?) 

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Dinner was essentially non-existent, and so we threw in the towel on the whole expectation around eating for dinner and went to bed hungry - hoping / more like praying - that breakfast would be better. Nikola asked proactively for plain oatmeal made with water in the morning, and we were assured this could be done. Fingers crossed!

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Mercifully, when we arrived at the buffet the following day we were greeted by Alex.

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His approach was kind, and understanding, and you could see that he genuinely wanted to help us have a great experience. Initially, Nik was brought oatmeal that looked more like oats floating in water - not remotely appetizing. 

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Alex saw how frustrated Nik was becoming and asked if he could take back the oatmeal to have it made exactly the way Nikola would like it. When Alex returned, the dish was cooked perfectly (and I could finally breathe a sigh of relief because Nikola needs to eat properly before his keynotes for optimal performance!) As a seasoned events & production professional, I have yet to see a starving performer do a great job on stage. Feeling nourished is just a prerequisite to doing a great job. Event Professionals reading this - YES or YES?! 

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Alex kept checking in on us, and as our blood sugar started to normalize, our anger diminished, and we were in full on fan-mode.

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You see, Alex offered to personally prearrange all of our meals for the duration of the stay and be the conduit between us and the chefs so that our needs could be met and there was nothing lost in assumptions nor translations.

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Alex had full comprehension of the following:

·      Veganism / Vegetarianism (and the difference!)

·      Kosher & Halal 

·      Gluten-free 

·      The importance of understanding customer allergies before the meal!

·      English (to fully & comprehensively translate our needs to the kitchen team). *Please note this comment is not intended to exclude other excellent staff hires who do not yet have a command of English. Instead, this is a wonderful opportunity for the hotel to provide training/ language lessons for the team. If they are in hospitality for a career, this would be a massive help to them for their lives and careers in the tourism industry.)

Not only did we now feel like VIPs, but we had the care & expert touch of someone who was invested in our successful stay. It was like it was his mission to make us happy. WOW!

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Alex has a heart of pure gold and took the time to hear us when we talked about why we eat the way we do. He was also kind and sympathetic to my stomach problems and tried to make suggestions & recommendations that could work for me.

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This entire experience helped me reflect on something my dear friend & fellow Event Prof Dionne Bishop talked about on a recent panel at The Event, which is this: Good hospitality professionals solve problems you don’t even know you have! She used the example of standing on a loose cord on an event site so clients didn’t trip and kill themselves entering the function. Hello, lawsuits! The client never sees this incident nor fully grasps the impact of how many issues this simple proactive act PREVENTS because of the high level of professionalism and care. Then I started thinking of Alex and the domino effect of his desire to go above and beyond for the people in his restaurants. What a catastrophe it would have been had he not been there! On the flip side, because of his actions, think of all of the guest experiences that could be elevated in the future if his philosophy & methodologies are taught & duplicated. The positive impact would be nothing short of exponential! 

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To the executive team at Dreams Resort, Tulum, especially General Manager Marco Soria > Please elevate Alex (both pay grade and position) to teach and train all the food & beverage staff moving forward for the entire property. He is a priceless member of your overall infrastructure & team because he embodies the spirit of excellence in 5-star white glove service. He is calm, fast, and always tuned in to the needs of his patrons. Indeed, he single handily made our experience go from zero to hero. We will be giving you five stars because of Alex, and we recommend that you do absolutely everything in your power to keep & amplify this wonderful person on your team. 

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We look forward to our next Dreams experience to experience the ripple effects of Alex’s transformational work across your organization.

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As an event professional who has traveled around the world for conferences, meetings, conventions, shows, etc trust me when I say - do NOT let this man slip through your fingers and do everything in your power to keep him around because your business will be better for it.

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 Article Author Julie Danylov is a Certified Special Events Professional, former President of ILEA Toronto (the International Live Events Association), and current active MPI Toronto (Meetings Professionals International) member. Julie has run events companies for the last 16 years, including: Cirque Revolution Events Inc; Singularity Media Inc, & DeAngelis Entertainment Inc.