"Madrid has become one of the great cities of Europe"
Interview with Antonio Catalán President / Chairman of ACHM Hotels by Marriott.
"I'm interested in designing spatial sequences that allow the human scale to shine."
Entrevista a Antonio Catalán Presidente / Chairman de ACHM Hotels by Marriott
By Noelia Jiménez
Among fluffy carpets, fine porcelain cups and silverware, it is hard to believe that the man who crosses the Wine Bar of Santo Mauro, as firm as stealthy, is a champion in suffering on two wheels. Antonio Catalán is from Navarre, specifically from Corella, land par excellence of wine and orchards. Navarre is also a land of hospitality and cyclists, of men and women who know well what it means to prosper based on effort and faith. Fundamentally in oneself.
And the president of ACHM Hotels by Marriott is a champion of all this: leader in the hospitality with half a century as a businessman in the hotel sector; passionate about cycling and creator of the ACHM Xacobean Route, which every year for 34 years has brought together 80 motley cyclists to cover more than 800 km; and, above all, a man who lives up to the meaning of his name - namely: "he who confronts his adversaries" - especially when that adversary is none other than himself.
Antonio Catalán's route is that of a man who has woven a legendary business history with the vision of a lynx and the honesty of a knight-errant. Another legend, in this case of cycling, Eddy Merckx, said that "the race is won by the cyclist who can suffer the most" and this businessman from Navarre has known how to change his plate and adapt his pace every time a stormy summit loomed.
Making people feel at home even when they are thousands of miles away from home is what has made his hotels a reference. Because the extraordinary, more than a luxury, is in Antonio Catalán a way of understanding life.
Hotel Santo Mauro, Luxury Collection, managed by ACHM Hotels by Marriott
It's been almost 50 years since you opened your first hotel, the Ciudad de Pamplona. Looking back, can you still remember what was going through your mind? We opened on June 25, 1978, the same day as my birthday. Just a week later the Sanfermines were starting and the first thing I did was to meet with the owners of the rest of the hotels in the city to propose that, since we were going to be full, we should double the price of the rooms. The owner of the hotel La Perla, who was also a cattle rancher, looked at me and commented: "This guy has a lot of potential".
Opening just before San Fermín was almost like a miracle, because finishing the work on time turned out to be quite an adventure, so we were in a state of total excitement. Who would have thought that the Sanfermines would be suspended and what we had imagined would be a triumphant opening would turn into a desolation for the whole city.
I reacted quickly: in August we started to move a lot with the companies and I gave a share to all the company's employees. In three years I had amortized the hotel.
That taught me that when you have little, you risk everything. On the other hand, when your net worth is higher, you start to be more conservative.
You opened that business with your wedding gifts. Can you imagine today's young thirty-somethings using their wedding money to start a business? In fact, this whole story began with a million pesetas that my father-in-law gave us; my father, not to be outdone, put in another one; and I got another one from the wedding list. I was very clear that I wanted to start something on my own, to be independent, and those three million were my chance.
When I explain this in the faculties, to the business students, I always tell them that this story was real, but today it would be impossible. At that time, Spain was undergoing a political and economic transformation: in Navarra, where I was, there were ten-year interest-free loans, non-refundable grants...
... And it is becoming more and more difficult to be an entrepreneur in Spain? For me there is a substantial change in terms of the aspirations of the new generations. Three or four years ago I was invited to a talk on entrepreneurship in Granada. When I walked into the classroom and saw those faces, I asked the rector: "And all these people want to be entrepreneurs? He replied: "No way! 92% of the students want to be civil servants in the Junta de Andalucía".
I think that sometimes you become an entrepreneur because of circumstances, because usually the brightest in the class do not pawn their money to start a company. All my friends who were the leaders at university ended up as state lawyers, high positions in the public administration... but entrepreneurs? None of them.
"When you have little, you risk everything. On the other hand, when your net worth is higher, you start to be more conservative"
Hotel Santo Mauro, Luxury Collection, managed by ACHM Hotels by Marriott
Maybe to be an entrepreneur, more than brilliant, you have to be smart.. I always say that smart people are all smart, but not all smart people are smart. And I believe that the world belongs to the smart ones... understanding that a person is smart when he/she has a sense of smell, ability to anticipate, skillful, with instinct.
From that first hotel to the latest opening of AC by Marriott, not only has the company changed, but we are in a completely different society. What is left of those beginnings? In the late 1970s, hotels were owner-operated and hardly evolved: the owner knew that his business was doing well and that was what counted. One of the children stayed in the hotel, the others used to fly to study abroad... and those who stayed often did not have the entrepreneurial vision to make the hotel evolve.
Back then, the commercial side was very different, because you had to visit companies almost behind closed doors to get them to fill your hotel, whereas now digitalization and the concept of hotel chains have changed everything. On the other hand, the hotel business in terms of service remains the same: it is one of the most stable sectors, because the customer comes, sleeps, has breakfast, lunch and dinner. And that remains the same, no matter how many years go by.
We are opening approximately one hotel a month between Spain, Italy and Portugal, but the company, despite having grown a lot, still has the same essence as at the beginning: it is the sum of many small companies. I always say that we are "the big AC family": I am the visible face, but those who carry the company forward are the more than 3,000 people who work in it. Each one of them feels the hotel they work in as if it were their home and their work goes beyond a simple job.
One of these recent openings is The Westin Madrid Cuzco hotel. What do you think makes Madrid stand out as a business catalyst? The key, for me, is two people: Isabel Díaz Ayuso and José Luis Martínez Almeida. They and their teams, who are working very hard so that the Madrid administration has drive and evolves. Madrid has undoubtedly become one of the great cities of Europe. First of all because it guarantees security, and that is something fundamental for people who travel.
Today the type of customer we have - who, at Santo Mauro, is mainly American - travels as a concept to Europe, comes with three large suitcases and moves between Madrid, Paris or London. And that is our competition. What advantage do we have? That we offer the traveler everything a big city can have, without the inconveniences that other capitals have, and also with a very good climate.
In Madrid we are living a fantastic artistic moment, we are leaders in gastronomy, in events -from tennis to golf, from theater to music-. In this aspect we could compete more with Italy, but here we have the advantage that our tourism is not so overcrowded. In Rome, especially, sometimes you walk down the street and it looks like the day of the chupinazo in Pamplona.
The Santo Mauro continues to be its 'pretty girl', a true example of exclusivity and hotel prime. For you, what are the pillars that mark this uniqueness? I think the uniqueness is marked by the team as a whole. We have an advantage, and that is that when the client arrives at our hotel, normally, he comes quite 'mistreated': air delays, traffic jams, transportation inconveniences... and, when he arrives, we welcome him with kindness and a smile. This changes everything. I always say that, when a client is pissed off with life, you don't have to get on their nerves, but let them let off steam and then make their day change and turn it into an extraordinary experience.
A good hotel with a bad staff is sure to fail. But even a bad hotel with a good staff has the capacity to function. The great asset of hotels is people. Consider that a guest staying for a couple of days has up to fourteen occasions when he or she has contact with the hotel company, from the moment he or she arrives at the reception desk to the moment he or she gets a drink from the minibar, orders a cab, requests an extra towel or checks out. Teams have to make each of these moments perfect for the customer, and to do so, they have to be constantly motivated. Motivation is a key point in this business..
"I always say that Spain has too many clients and not enough price. That's why we have to be able to try to do things at a higher level"
You have been a great promoter of technology in your business: AC hotels were the first to have remote controls in the rooms, for example. What factor could we consider as super prime in a hotel nowadays? Although home automation is very fashionable, I personally do not find it useful in hotels: if it is difficult to manage the one at home, the difficulty is multiplied in a hotel, taking into account that each one is also different from the other. I think the key here is to think exactly how the customer would think. For example, what would annoy them the most when they are in bed, about to go to sleep? Having to get up to turn off a light. That's why at AC there is always a switch on each side of the bed to turn off all the lights at once.
Otherwise, I believe that excellence has to do with detail. For example, in the sheets: in the Santo Mauro they are 500 thread count and that makes a difference in the rest.
In this hotel every corner is a work of art, but if you were to get lost here, where would we find you? Usually in the dining room at the back right, the Library. That's where I'm always when I come. But indeed every corner has a story and that is unmatched. The world president of Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group once told me: "Catalan, I don't compete with you in Madrid, because you have a palace and I only have hotels".
And what we have tried to do, in short, is to make this jewel something special: with 50 rooms we have 110 people on staff and that shows how important attention and detail are to us. I always say that Spain has too many clients and not enough price. That's why we have to be able to try to do things at a higher level.
As a big cycling fan, what would you say has been the most difficult mountain pass to climb in your life? Literally speaking, the Ruta Xacobea. But, to continue with the metaphor, I think 2009 was the hardest year for me. I thought I was not getting out of the crisis and I had to sell my farm, the boat, the house in Ibiza... I had arrived at that moment like a rocket after the sale of NH and we were opening a hotel every three weeks.
Suddenly, the crisis came and everything was an absolute drama. I didn't sleep. There were nights when I would wake up at four in the morning and get on my bike to think about what we could do... but I would arrive at the office with a smile from ear to ear, and if they saw me depressed, the rest of us would fall down. If they saw me depressed, the rest would fall down: "Don't worry, guys, we'll get out of this," I would repeat.
Then we had the great fortune that Marriott came along. People say I had a lot of vision... but I was really lucky.
Hotel Santo Mauro, Luxury Collection, managed by ACHM Hotels by Marriott
Did God come to see you? Not God... the whole troop! And he appeared to me twice. First, when Marriott showed up. The world president came and proposed to buy AC, but I told him no, that what I was selling them was the brand and we would make a partnership. He left with everything up in the air, because he could not make the decision. But in a week he called: "Would you come to see Mr. Marriott in Washington? How could I not go, if I had cycled all the way to Santiago! And so I did: we closed the deal with Mr. Marriott, a gentleman over 90 years old with whom, by the way, I write handwritten letters.
The next occasion was precisely at the end of one of the stages of the 2018 Ruta Xacobea. At the conclusion, talking to Arne Sorenson, who was then Marriott's global president, I put on the table what was coming: I had sold them the brand and the management company and by contract, they had to buy 50% of the company from 2018 to 2020 from us, but there was no longer any possibility of growing. Arne asked me, "And what do you want to do?". "He reacted quickly: "You are not going to set up any company: we break the agreements we had and continue at 50%". With such good fortune that this operation allowed us to get through the pandemic perfectly well.
That was a miracle. A lifelong advisor of mine, José María Concejo, who was a very religious man, used to say to me: "It was Santiago's turn to perform a little miracle, after all the times we have come by bicycle!
Did you see yourself starting over again? In 2009, yes. It was clear to me that if I failed, I would start again. I was five years without a salary and I gave everything I had to get the company off the ground. Those were my most complicated moments. But now all that can be seen from afar: thank God things are going really well, we will set an all-time record this year and we continue to grow.
"Influential businessman", "self-made man", "tourism guru"... the labels to describe him are almost infinite, but who is Antonio Catalán, beyond the clichés? I am a mediocrity well taken advantage of.