#036 - Hospitality Meets Jose Ruiz - The Luxury Lifestyle HR Heavy Hitter

Humans are such a massive part of the Hospitality Industry and looking after all those humans is no mean feat. Today we talk to a real heavy hitter in that space, Jose Ruiz, Director of Human Resources for The London Edition & W Leicester Square.Jose is an effortless story teller with some awesome comedy moments from an illustrious career so far, he also doesn't take himself too seriously which you'll learn within 2 minutes of this chat.We talk accents, HR in luxury, Opening a hotel in a skyscraper, tables with a view, networking, brand difference, luxury, coaching, leadership v management, generational evolution, do not disturb, fights between guests, luggage and of course Jose's exceptional journey.A huge thank you to Jose for sharing such superb insight.Enjoy!Conversation TranscriptionSUMMARY KEYWORDSpeople, hospitality, hotel, luggage, brands, guest, marques de, hotels, industry, london, stories, opened, apple, jose, moment, coaching, thought, restaurant, life, marriottSPEAKERSJose Ruiz, Phil StreetPhil Street 00:01Welcome to hospitality meets with me Phil street where we take a light hearted look into the stories and individuals that make up the wonderful world of hospitality. Today's guest is Jose he was director of HR for the London edition and the W Leicester Square. Coming up on today's show, Jose and Phil deal in some mild peril Oh, danger danger...Jose Ruiz 00:23Indeed, danger danger...Phil Street 00:25Phil recalls a shocking event from early in his career. I opened the door to one of them kicking the other one up the backside. And Jose argues with himself over an inanimate objectJose Ruiz 00:37Well, I left my house... with the luggage? Yeah, of course with the luggage. What do you think I'm stupid,Phil Street 00:42All that and so much more as Jose talks us through His story and journey to date, as well as some amazing content on coaching and leadership. In addition, Jose was a natural storyteller and shares some fantastic comedy moments from his career so far, a massive thank you to him for that. Don't forget, we launch a brand new episode each week telling the amazing and always amusing stories from hospitality. So make sure you hit that subscribe button and give us a like and share it across your networks. Let's share these stories as far as we can. Enjoy. Hello, and welcome to the next edition of hospitality meats with me Phil Street. Today we move into the world of humans, specifically HR and I'm joined by someone who's worked in some of London's most iconic hotels, as well as a brief foray out of the industry in another marquee brand which has now culminated in him taking on a multi property role as director of HR at the London edition and the W in Leicester Square. So welcome to the show Jose RuizJose Ruiz 01:41hi Phil How you doing?Phil Street 01:43I'm very well how are you doing? I am very well too, very well. Just wondering whether anyone is going to understand us today. You with your Scottish accent? Me with my Spanish one. (Laughs) That's a good point. Yeah, well, let's see what happens. Yeah, absolutely. Great. Well, let's just kick it straight off. Could you take us all the way back to the beginning of your career and how did you get into this industry?Jose Ruiz 02:09Yep, well this This goes back a fair while so I would wake up in the morning jump on my horse and you know just just ride to the nearest No just kidding. I I just knew that I wanted to work in hospitality pretty much all my career, I studied back home in Spain Hotel Management. And then at some point I had to do my military service which at the time it was compulsory but I had seven months in between University and and the world of military service. Okay, so I just decided to come to the UK. I have a family member living here so we'll see see, I thought you know what, I'm going to London for seven months. get myself a job as a waiter learn English. And that's what I did come here for seven months work at the London Metropole hotel now it's called the Hilton London Metropole hotel.Phil Street 03:06Yeah, Beast.Jose Ruiz 03:08Yes, they just keep adding an extra word on it. Yeah. So yeah, I did that for for seven months then went back to Spain spent one year in the military. And then after that if Italy but I decided to come back to London because I had an amazing time. And and yeah, went back to the Metropole kept working there as a as a waiter then became a restaurant supervisor. Then I decided to move to front office within the metro, I became a receptionist. Then from then I went to work for a private member's club, this loan club, what I was the front office manager was not so nice manager than the front office manager. Then I left and I did a very very short stint, that was a bit weird, at Pret a Manger and then from then, I went to I wanted to pop my first role in HR which was proved not a serious thing. Then I got a lot of notes along the way until ultimately I managed to get a role at the montcalm Hotel.Phil Street 04:10Okay with Jonathan Ewin who gave me the opportunity to to join us a duty manager on the understanding that he will train me as an HR manager because their existing HR manager was leaving three to six months later. And he said, Listen, come as a data manager and I will get Arlene to train you. If by the time she leaves, you are ready, I'll give you the job. So I did that for four months or five months and then she left. She thought that I was ready. And I became the HR manager at the Montcalm hotel. And then from then on, just went to two different brands. I went to park Plaza Plaza Victoria, I was the HR manager. Then I went to riverbank Park Plaza as HR manager. Then I became the Learning and Development Manager for Park Plaza UK. And then I went back into single property at the river bank again. And then from then I moved to Maybourne where I was the HR manager and subsequent HR director for the Berkeley hotel. Yeah. Then after the Berkeley, I went to... where did I go after the Berkeley? I went to Shangri La. I was gonna fill that in for you then but eh...Jose Ruiz 05:22Yeah. And that was an interesting experience. And then, after opening the hotel in the Shard, I, I spoke to well, Apple called me, I think that they found my profile on LinkedIn. And they asked me if I will be interested in joining them, which I did stay with him for a year and a half, and then got a got a, again, missing hospitality. And to be honest, I was not particularly enjoying my time at Apple. So I decided to go back to hotels to work with a GM that I've worked with twice before, Jurgen Ammerstorfer, and then he introduced me to the world of Edition, and by extension to the world of Marriott, which is where I've been ever since a couple of years ago, I got the opportunity to to look after W London, as well as the London edition. So that's my role at the moment, looking after HR in both properties.Phil Street 06:17Yeah. So well, sounds like it's fair to say then that the hospitality is definitely in the blood, because you you had a stint out, but it didn't connect with you, for whatever reason. And you find yourself back.Jose Ruiz 06:32Yes, that that is right. That is right, I guess. They say that you can take a guy out of hospitality, but you cannot take hospitality out of a guy.Phil Street 06:40Yeah. And that's you, all overJose Ruiz 06:41Mmmm hmmmPhil Street 06:42So what do you think? I mean, I'm quite interested to understand how I suppose other than helping you realise that you wanted to be in hospitality, having seen a different sector in action. Is there anything you took from that, that know helps you be even better than you were before?Jose Ruiz 07:01Well, I do, but I'm not so sure that it is necessarily because of other industry, I think that is just because he was apple. They said, well, there were there are when I was there that that Apple is retail, But retail is not like apple, but Apple is different. And they're really added. A lot of the things that Apple do is based around the standards of service that they copied from Ritz Carlton, and then they tweak to make them apple. And they they're super obsessed with with the customer journey and with customer service and the world which they treat customers. And I think that, but they do it in a very specific way. And, and that for me was a you know, you spoke to me, and have I taken anything from it back into hospitality. The other piece that I have tried to implement in the hotels that I mean, particularly around the world, we develop people and the way we look at our identifying talent, but to be honest, that a lot of the stuff that they do, they've basically taken them from hotels in the first place. Yeah, is knowledge that perhaps have been lost a little bit in certain brands.Phil Street 08:10Right? going. Okay, so Well, I mean, your your first step in, I suppose super luxury was was at the Berkeley Yes?. What do you think it kind of takes to be an exceptional HR person in that kind of environment? Because it's, it's pretty high intensity and pretty. You're you've got to be on your game 100% of the...