Living on the costa

The five-star hotel Don Carlos in Marbella opened its doors last Friday, March 11, with the forecast of exceeding the figures for 2019. Its director, Sandra Caballé, attends to Malaga Today to explain how the high season starts.

-How is the tourist season?

-The forecasts for this season are very positive, both at the destination level and in particular at the resort. It is behaving very well this year and as data we can say that by March we have exceeded by 55% the forecasts that we initially had for this month. So, in reserves we already have 55% more and we trust that this year we can even exceed what was 2019, although we are very cautious and we know that we must be prepared for any change that may come to us.

-What goals do you set for 2022?

My main goal has always been getting guests to enjoy, disconnect and live the magic of Don Carlosand now more than ever that your stay with us serves to gain strength and energy to return to those daily routines charged with batteries, which is what we all need today, to be able to disconnect, which costs us so much.

-How do you get it?

-I am very aware that we will achieve all this promoting the team that we have so professional which we already have, and they are the true wizards of the service. We always talk about magic and experience, and it really is the staff that achieves this. These are my main objectives, of course balanced with hard work behind sales and consolidation of these good forecasts and achieving high occupancy and high average prices.

-After changing ownership last year, what new strategic lines does the resort?

-At the moment we are going to focus on continuing to have continuous improvements and even more to achieve a more luxurious service, and right now what we are promoting a lot is this, this luxury service and position ourselves at a high level.

-Have you incorporated new services for this season?

-No, we return to resume all the services of 2019 and we are now working on a plan different events throughout the season, in addition to all the restaurants and all the offer we have. I think it is important to organize different events once a month and we are already really planning what we are going to do, something different to be able to expand this offer.

– What is the first event you have scheduled?

-On March 20 we already started with an event in our ‘Loop & pool’ to give the welcome to Spring, It will start at 4:33 p.m., and it will be a date where guests and the local public will be able to enjoy the heated pool, live music and hammocks, as well as a succulent Sunday barbecue. And like this, we will do a lot of things throughout the season.

-And what strategies does the resort to attract a more local or closer audience?

-We will move these events a lot and it is ideal not having to leave the province and being able to experience, for example, this appointment. Also the SPA, which is magnificent with the thousands of treatments that it has and that helps to disconnect; or being able to play on these tennis courts. So, we are doing things so that the local public really knows that they can enjoy this without having to stay here. Last year we already launched an initiative with a combination of all this and the truth is that it worked very well, and we hope that this year it will continue to work.

-What volume of employment does the hotel plan to create for this season?

-We always get to duplicate staff and we can have 300 employees in the season. In fact, in no time we will begin to recruit talent and shortly the different points of sale will need support for this staff that we already have. It is very important and I value the desire and energy with which these new people come more than the experience, but of course, someone with experience who comes with a good predisposition and positive energy is the perfect combination that we are looking for to stay. at Don Carlos.

-What are you going to launch an offer of 150 positions?

-It we always do it in stages, and from the end of March or beginning of April we will start to launch and recruit. It is not something that we do with the 150 at the same time, but during all this time we will manage to get those 150 employees.

-Is the hotel going to launch promotions for this season?

-No, because the year is really going very well. We are not a volume hotel, we are a quality hotel and we really don’t want to lower the price because I understand that our clients don’t want to either, and it’s important that we keep the guest profile. So both fate and resort They are behaving very well, so it is not necessary to make offers at the price level and what we will do is value the stay when they come, but not with cheap offers.

-What offer Don Carlos for this season?

-We have the three concepts of accommodation. In the hotel we have 240 rooms with different typologies, the 24 Deluxe villas of which I highlight the facilities and the personal assistant service. The Oasis is the space for adults only where we have 35 rooms, suites and some rooms with a private pool and where we have our magnificent SPA, which can be enjoyed by both guests and the local public. The spa is one of the points of which I am most proud of the Resort where we have an offer wellness luxury and very complete. At the restaurant level, two restaurants for breakfast, the ‘Loop & pool’ with a heated pool and the restaurant for dinner with a very modern concept. In addition, the quality of the tennis courts, with seven clay courts and two hard courts.