Luis Barrios Listens And Learns When Running Catamaran Hotel and HMA
Walking along the sunny, manicured paths of the Catamaran Resort Hotel in Pacific Beach, courteously greeting guests and employees as he sees them, general manager Luis Barrios is explaining that his job sounds like running a small city.
“It has all of the ingredients,” he noted, ” water, electricity, garbage, sewage, food, transportation, a center, a place from home.
“A hotel manager has to be able to entertain the best and yet to know how to dispose of the garbage,” he says.
Minutes later, seated in his office, Barrios points to a framed version of those ideas. Written by a founder of one of the hotels he worked for, it says, “A hotel manager has to be a master of opposites. He is at once a greeter and a bouncer; in demeanor pious yet ribald; interior decorator and bartender ”
It concludes: “He must be noted as a connoisseur and competent as a plumber. Only a man of loose moral character should attempt the job.”
Barrios laughs, reading the humorous ending aloud.
About to celebrate his eighth anniversary with the Catamaran on Sept. 21, Barrios, 53, became the president of the San Diego County Hotel-Motel Association in July. It’s a position that will thrust him into the local industry’s spotlight for the next year.
The job also places him in the precarious position of balancing the issues and concerns of the county’s hoteliers and related businesses , whether it involves committing enough rooms to lure larger convention business, legislation such as hotel room taxes, or the ongoing pressures on the industry, from places such as Las Vegas and Anaheim.
Difficult Task
The role can be a challenge, says Duke Sobek, who presided over the HMA for two years.
“You represent the industry. You have to listen to small hotel owners, large hotel owners, people who do business with hotels and make a fair decision, and it’s not always the popular one,” says Sobek, general manager of the Town & Country Hotel in Mission Valley. “You have to think globally about what’s best for the industry, and it’s tough to do that sometimes.”
Barrios is up for the job, Sobek says.
“A very seasoned, experienced hotel executive who really listens to his employees and is really a human relations-oriented, employee-oriented person a good listener,” is how he describes him.
“Even-handed” is the adjective used by Rick Mansur, general manager of the Rancho Bernardo Inn and chairman of HMA.
“I’ve been impressed with the way he has built consensus,” Mansur says of Barrios’ work so far with HMA. “I think he is somebody who has really brought everybody together.”
Barrios has done a good job of opening lines of dialogue with the organizations that affect San Diego’s lodging industry, he says.
Among them is the county’s school systems , highlighting Barrios’ passion for education.
His zeal can be contagious, says Paul Corsinita, general manager of the San Diego Marriott La Jolla. Corsinita sits on the California Hotel-Motel Association’s education committee, which Barrios chairs.
“He’s passionate about it, so he shows true dedication to wanting to accomplish something that is good for the youth, good for the community, and good for everyone,” Corsinita says.
Barrios’ interest in education is far-reaching, says Lisa Reopelle, general manager of the Glorietta Bay Inn.
“He’s mentored a lot of people in our industry,” Reopelle says. “He’s an absolute gentleman and such a professional, I know a lot of people really look up to him.
“It’s just his demeanor and the way he carries himself and the way that he interacts with the people he works with and his staff,” she continued. “I think even a lot of GMs want to emulate what Luis does, because he’s such a natural people person.”
A Natural Fit
Barrios was born into the hotel business. A native of Santa Marta, Colombia, on the coast of the Caribbean, his earliest memories of the industry were watching his mother run the two seaside resorts his grandfather had built.
The family also traveled with Barrios’ father, who rose from a sales position to vice president of a pharmaceutical firm.
The exposure to other countries’ people and personalities, watching his gregarious mother’s work with guests, and years in Jesuit boarding school, the latter of which taught him a discipline he still uses today, were ideal for his future profession, Barrios recalls.
By age 14, Barrios knew he wanted to be in the hotel industry. At age 19, having studied economics at the Universidad Javeriana in Bogota, he came to the United States. He took classes at Louisiana State University and attended programs in Minnesota and Florida, studying topics such as marketing, leadership and service.
In 1969, Barrios entered Hilton Corp.’s management training program at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York.
From there, he took on a variety of roles in a variety of locales. He was director of sales at the Virgin Isle Hilton in St. Thomas. He then became food and beverage controller at the Statler Hilton in Boston.
Barrios then worked for the New York Sheraton as assistant food and beverage controller, then for the Shoreham Hotel in Washington, D.C., as food and beverage director.
In 1980, Barrios was hired by the Omni Hotels, moving up in the management ranks through cities such as Chicago; Providence, R.I.; Lexington, Mass.; Charlottesville, Va.; and Riverside.
“A lot of learning, a lot of adjusting, constant improving,” is how Barrios describes the time.
“I think that’s why I developed that desire to train people,” he says. “I knew that the more you’re exposed to people, to different facets of the industry, the better you become.”
He honed his ability to be flexible and to adjust to people, he says.
Back In San Diego
In 1989, Barrios was transferred to the Omni Hotel in Downtown San Diego, and remained there until 1992, when the hotel was sold.
He became manager of an Omni Hotel in Minneapolis, but when the general manager position opened at the 313-room Catamaran, he returned to San Diego for it.
He continues to relish the things that draw tourists here, especially the weather. “It allows me to spend time on my bicycle,” Barrios says, pointing out one of his main interests.
Now established, Barrios has relaxed a lot since his early days in the industry, he says. He’s able to enjoy the results of his work, including seeing the success of people he’s helped.
“It’s a wonderful payoff to know that training people has paid off for many of them,” says Barrios, who maintains an open-door policy for his 320 employees, personally interviewing them and being deeply involved in the orientation process, he says.
It brings Barrios back to his favorite topic , education for youth and employees.
“They are the future of our business, the future of our country. We should dedicate some time to assist with their education,” Barrios says.
He walks over to a bookshelf that itself illustrates his interest in improvement.
The management books on the shelf have been used in a reading program for Barrios and his managers. They are currently reading “Patton on Leadership.”
It’s an example of the action-oriented approach that Barrios takes, Reopelle says.
“He goes outside of the box,” she says. “He’s not just saying ‘Here’s how to run a hotel,’ he’s giving people tools for life and for managing in general.”
She mentioned other programs, including one in which Barrios exercises with his staff. “He’s very involved with his entire team,” she says.
And then Reopelle adds another facet to Barrios’ gentlemanly image.
“He has a wicked sense of humor he truly does,” she says.
