A Lesson in Hotel Loyalty That Goes Beyond Just Points
Photo Credit: Hector Ruiz, a 27-year veteran of The Carlyle, seated in the lobby of the hotel. Carlyle
Skift Take
The personal touch never loses its appeal. Hector Ruiz, a 27-year veteran of The Carlyle, shares lessons learned from a career at the hotel and how sometimes, analog approaches yield the best results.
On Experience
Colin Nagy is a marketing strategist and writes on customer-centric experiences and innovation across the luxury sector, hotels, aviation, and beyond. You can read all of his writing here.The hospitality industry can be overly obsessed with trends, the latest shiny technology and the idea of big data.
But an iconic and instructive example of just how the industry is based on people and their effort can be seen with Hector Ruiz, who serves as hotel ambassador for The Carlyle Hotel in New York. As much as change and evolution are necessary in modern hospitality, maintaining tradition and personal service is a reminder of what should never be discarded.
Ruiz has worked at the hotel for 27 years and is recognized as the go-to contact for the hotel’s most loyal guests. He’s an elegant figure when we meet, dressed in a perfectly cut navy blue suit, presiding over the daily flurry of arrivals and to-dos in the hotel. When taking me on a walkthrough of a few guest suites and the common areas, he was constantly assessing every space with a detailed eye, attuned to the rhythms and movements the hotel with muscle memory.
Every small element was noticed down to the positioning of the L’Olivier-arranged flowers and his graciousness extended to not being the slightest bit fluster
