Casablanca Hotel
18 months later, I approached the Plaza
Hotel for a front desk position, but
they were hesitant to hire me since my
English still needed some refining. To
demonstrate the value of my abilities, I
offered to work for free for two weeks
and my determination paid off – I got
the job. I enjoyed the hotel business
and became passionate about helping
people along the way. Over the next few
years, I held management positions at
The Pierre, Delmonico’s, Loews Summit
Hotel (my first Assistant GM position)
and then returned to The Gotham Hotel
as their General Manager at the tender
age of 28.
What inspires you?
I have developed a talent and sensitivity
to combine aesthetic values with
functionality which is necessary to
18 ILHA
create an environment that makes
others happy, not only for my hotel
guests but my staff as well.
Seeing people enjoying those
experiences gives me pleasure and
inspires me to take the next hotel
concept to an even higher level of
beauty and comfort.
All six of Library Hotel
Collection’s boutique
hotels have ranked #1-
#10 in their respective
cities on TripAdvisor for
over 10 years. Has this
success been part of your
strategy?
Yes, TripAdvisor is a valuable tool that
plays an important role in our marketing
strategy. 13 years ago I held a meeting
with our key NYC managers to evaluate
our TripAdvisor positioning. We reviewed
the results and immediately knew this
was a platform we could utilize to show
how truly exceptional our service was
from other hotels. TripAdvisor is a
powerful tool that allows us to listen to
our guests and measure our success.
We use the instant feedback of our
guests to create a culture of continuous
improvement at our hotels.
The entir