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avier Garro Arza, Presidente de Latam Sercotel Hotels.
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Sercotel Club Cayo Guillermo, Playa. / Beach.

SERCOTEL LANDED IN CUBA WITH TWO PROPERTIES IN CAYO GUILLERMO AND CAYO SANTA MARIA AS PART OF AN EXPANSION STRATEGY AIMED AT FLEXING ITS MUSCLES IN LATIN AMERICA

In a scenario marked by hotel management agreements that bear watching, the Excelencias magazine sat down with Javier Garro Arza, President of Latam Sercotel Hotels, to broach the company’s expansion plans in Cuba for 2016.

Why did you handpick Cuba as the first destination outside Spain, Andorra and Portugal for Sercotel’s international expansion?
It was Cuba because of the opportunities that came up in the field of sun-and-beach tourism. We started negotiations with Cuban national hotel chains and placed tenders for some hotels. We were initially entrusted to run two properties on the island nation.

You’ve said you’d considered Cuba as a potential expansion market even before relations between the island nation and the U.S. resumed. What prevented you from taking that step before?
Sercotel has moved out of Spain when it thought it was ready to do so and without skating on thin ice. Perhaps we would have moved out of Spain before, but the crisis that hit Spain from 2008 to 2013 was really hard.

In addition to the keys off Ciego de Avila’s north coast, have you seen expansion possibilities in other Cuban destinations, such as Varadero, Cayo Largo or Jardines del Rey?
Right now, in addition to having a management agreement with Gaviota for the five-star 660-room hotel under construction in Cayo Santa Maria -the Sercotel Experience Cayo Santa Maria-, we’re running the three-star Sercotel Cayo Guillermo for Gran Caribe. What’s more, we’ve been granted two more properties, both on the north coast and pending the signing of the contract, plus a very interesting tender process for a hotel in Havana. Sercotel is eager to showcase its professionalism and good job in Cuba, and if we’re allowed to do so, we’d like to stay on the island for the longest time.

Have you considered to enhance your commercial representation in Havana? Have you toyed with the possibility of opening offices in other Cuban travel destinations?
As we speak, we already have at a corporate level a marketing director for Cuba based in Madrid and two marketing executives in Havana. As we move on to operate in new destinations, we’ll be enhancing our marketing team.

Are the Sercotel hotels prepared to cater to the international tourists who visit Cuba, a segment made up mostly of Canadian, German, British, Spanish and now American travelers?
Of course. Sercotel has 22 years of experience and has franchised 178 properties, 32 of them under management deals and all of them labeled between 3-star and 5-star hotels.

What gastronomic offers are you considering for the restaurants at the hotels in Cayo Santa Maria and Cayo Guillermo?
Our catering will be mostly Cuban and Mediterranean: simple, thorough and fresh, with highlights for the products and their presentation, always working hard to deliver the greatest variety possible, bringing delight with good shellfish, delicious seafood and vegetables from the finest Cuban orchards, white meats, soups and creams, or tasty root vegetables in an endless assortment of ways.
Variety, taste and color at the smorgasbords, creativity in the specialized restaurants and the small snack bars or outlets scattered all around the hotels will be the name of the game. We just don’t feed patrons; we want guests to revel in food as they discover what Cuba is all about.

It’s fairly interesting that the other Latin American destination you’ve chosen for your international expansion plans is Colombia. Why Colombia rather than just another Caribbean island close to Cuba, an island with similar potentials, such as the Dominican Republic, for instance?
Right now we’re operating in Colombia with 21 franchised hotels and two of them under management agreements; one under a management deal in Panama City, and a franchised property in Ecuador’s Quito. The Dominican Republic is one of our top priorities, and so is the Riviera Maya. But we must bear in mind that Sercotel has only been in this continent for two and a half years.

After Cuba and Colombia, what other Latin American countries will follow on the list of Sercotel’s investments?
As I’ve said earlier, we’ve got operations in Cuba, Colombia, Ecuador, Panama, Mexico and the Dominican Republic. One of the other Caribbean islands will be our next target market.

Since 2013, Sercotel started to manage and support other small hotel chains, such as Hotels and GSA Hotels. Will you remain committed to this effort, helping these small chains if they decided to expand their borders outside Spain or Europe?
Of course we will, but that will be their call. Sercotel has been absorbing some small hotel chains of white brand management, providing them with franchises and giving them support in terms of management. We’ll continue to do that, but we won’t be dictating their expansion policies.