30 GM PROFILE August 2021 | HOTELMANAGEMENT.NET JERRY REYES GENERAL MANAGER WESTIN NEW ORLEANS CANAL PLACE W New Orleans, and Jerry was eager to join the Star-wood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide team. Th e W brand was nascent at the time, and Reyes wanted to learn about the boutique concept. Beyond the front offi ce, Reyes was in charge of the valets and the bellmen at the hotel. “Th at, I believe, eventually helped me prepare for the next few roles after that because of the volume of involvement that I had in almost every department,” he said. By 2005, he had moved to the W New Orleans as the hotel’s director of style, or housekeeping. After working for fi ve years at both of the city’s W hotels, Reyes joined the Loews New Orleans Hotel as director of rooms. Th e position was an opportunity to learn about a new brand and help rebuild a hotel that had not had a director of rooms since Hurricane Katrina had devastated the community. “I was equipped with the right tools to take on that opportunity,” he said of his training up to that point. By 2013, he became director of operations at the hotel, taking on responsibility for food and beverage as well. After eight years at Loews, Reyes was ready to be-come a general manager, but the position was not readily available at the hotel. Edmund Sulzman, Reyes’ former general manager at the W French Quarter, had become a regional vice president for Trust Hospitality, and he of-fered Reyes the chance to be a GM at the Hotel Modern New Orleans. “Th at gave me the reassurance to say, ‘OK, let me do this. Let me bite the bullet,’” Reyes said. LEADERSHIP BY JENA TESSE. FOX JFOX@QUESTEX.COM erry Reyes, general manager at the Westin New Orleans Canal Place, has spent years learning how to be a leader and how to fi nd creative solutions for operating hotels. Th e son of Dominican immigrants, Reyes began his hospitality career while he was studying business admin-istration at the University of New Orleans, shifting his major to hotel, restaurant and tourism after getting a taste for the industry while working as a server. Reyes’ identical twin brother, Ramon, had started working as a doorman at a Four Points property some months earlier, serving as a “window” into hospitality for Jerry. “He and I have just really—literally—grown up together in the industry,” Jerry Reyes recalled, adding that the two now host Th e Hospitality Twins podcast. Reyes took a position at the W French Quarter overseeing the front offi ce. Ramon was working at the J As a fi rst-time GM at an independent hotel, Reyes spent his fi rst month at the Hotel Modern watching the teams and learning how to support his workers. As he came to understand what they needed and what challenges they faced, he learned to think in terms of what he could do for them rather than what he wanted them to do. In his new role, he learned to think beyond the fi rst possible solution—“the way it’s always been”—and to seek out creative answers. But within a few months of his arrival, the hotel changed hands and Reyes left the property. He quickly found another GM position, at the New Orleans Mar-riott Metairie at Lakeway, and brought the independent sensibility to the branded property. “In an independent environment, you have to be creative, you have to be more aggressive in chasing business and trying to fi nd creative ways to make things happen,” he said. Reyes spent two years at the Marriott Metairie at Lakeway but was eager to get back downtown again. Th e Westin New Orleans was acquired in 2017 by Berger Co., which had owned the Loews when Reyes worked there, and he reached out to see if there was a place for him in their new asset: “Th ey knew me, I knew them, they knew my work ethic and they wanted me on the team.” After nearly four years at the Westin, Reyes is now focused on rebuilding the hotel’s culture in the wake of the pandemic. “What I’m hoping to do as we look to rebuild is to make sure that we bring folks who embrace ... an environment where we’re putting our customers fi rst—internal and external,” he said. “So, people who care about their coworkers. Th at’s what’s most important to me: people who care about their coworkers, because if they care about their coworkers they are going to care about our guests.” HM ➔ ADVICE: “Get in the door, learn and set realistic goals ■ and a timeline ... Think about the things that you should do and would do. Take on more and learn from those things.” Challenge: “As you go into a new [hotel], building trust is always a challenge ... You don’t come in the door with everyone trusting you.” Success: “Actively listening is the way that I overcame that. Every single time. Not coming in like a bulldozer and trying to make things my way or a way that I knew worked in another box—every box is different, so we have to treat it as such and respect the individuals that are there.” WESTIN NEW ORLEANS CANAL PLACE Opening year: 1984 | Number of guestrooms: 462 | Owner: Highgate Hotels | Management Company: Berger Co.
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