Fingers Crossed
Got a somewhat vague e-mail last week informing me that my personal data from the Spanish hotel chain Room Mate was being transferred to another entity. It prompted me to do a little internet sleuthing to discern what is happening with one of my favorite hotel chains.
As many readers know I am a big fan of Room Mate Hotels. They have style, personality and are competitively priced in the markets they serve. Moreover my loyalty is attributable to a certain desk clerk at the Room Mate Leo in Granada Spain.
When I arrived at the Leo a few years ago I went to present my passport and realized I'd left it in the back seat of the cab from the airport. That left me pretty anxious.
It was late and the desk clerk calmly advised me that there was only one taxi company serving the airport at night and he'd try to track it down. His advice was just "go get a good nights sleep".
What I didn't know was that he would go on to spend much of his shift tracking down the taxi from the airport.
The next morning (Valentines Day) I went down to ask about my passport and he was till on duty. He had the name of the driver from the taxi dispatcher but still hadn't connected with him. I alsed if I should just hang out there and he reminded that that I'd "traveled across the world to experience the Grenada's stunning Alhambra".
He said, "Just go and we'll get the passport sorted".
After a wonderful day soaking in some amazing architecture we returned to the hotel and I was handed my passport. That effort, so far beyond the level of service I'd ever experienced from a hotel before, left me gobsmacked. And, my attempts to tip for all that effort, were waived off with a smile in typical Spanish fashion.
So a bit more about Room Mate. All Room Mate properties feature carefully curated locations, individual regional design and extraordinary flair. All Room Mate's are themed around a fictitious alter ego or "room mate". Grenada's hotel was Room Mate Leo. My recent stay in Rotterdam was at Room Mate Bruno.
Despite operating in crowded and fiercely competitive markets, Room Mate finds ways to be better than its competitors.
The chain began in 2005 under the vibrant leadership of Spanish equestrian and three time Olympian Kike Sarasola. The success that came fast to Room Mate brought with it the debt needed to fund rapid expansion.
Then the pandemic hit.
Room Mate responded by keeping staff employed and
offering subsidized rooms at 15 properties to displaced
families and health care workers. But as the pandemic dragged on Room Mate could not offset steeply declining revenues and solvency.
In July 2022 it was acquired by the equity firm Angelo Gordon joined by the Canadian hotel management firm Westmont. Initial transition PR stresses that all 400 employees (many of which as I note are exceptional) will be retained. It indicates plans to expand outside of urban locations and possibly move toward franchised properties. It appears the US properties are no longer part of the chain.
What is unclear to me so far is if Room Mate management will continue under the charismatic leadership of Mr. Sarasola. Without his caché, energy and spirit (the "secret sauce" of Room Mate) I worry the chain will quickly become just another hotel chain. I say this as a lifetime elite in not one, but two, major international hotel chains (which is pretty rare). One of those chains changes private equity ownership every three to four years and each transition delivers painful examples of how the MBA / private equity "bean counting" mindset can dramatically erode quality in the hospitality industry.
So far, at least as of this morning, the Room-Mate website profiles Mr. Sarasola as president of Room-Mate. So with 150,000 Room Mate Instagram followers, there are a lot of us that will be watching how it all plays out.
Check out Room Mate Here: Room Mate Hotels
Room Mate fans beg Westmont, Angelo Gordon - Please do the right thing.
Roadboy's Travels © 2022
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