As general manager of the Andaz Mayakoba Resort Riviera Maya, Pascal Dupuis spends a lot of time ensuring guests, staff and the property's stakeholders are taken care of.

"I'm a happiness provider. I have to make my team happy; that's No. 1," he said. "It's a lot of energy, a lot of strategy. It's not a job; it's a lifestyle."

The 214-room Andaz Mayakoba Resort Riviera Maya opened in December 2016. Dupuis joined as general manager in June 2018.

It took him 15 years to reach the manager level, he said. Dupuis said the industry grew on him at a young age, as he took a liking to the fact that every day is a different experience.

"You have a plan [on what you think you want to do in life] but forget your plan," he said.

Dupuis was able to take positions all over the globe, including in India, Dubai and London. From these roles, he learned that being in the hotel industry requires various skills.

"You have to be brutal in sales and marketing. You have to have people skills; you have to be a strategist; you have to know everything about air conditioning [and] pest control," he added, in addition to being adaptable.

For more on how Pascal Dupuis manages the Mexican property and his insights on the region's path of recovery, read this Q&A.

If you look at a big map of the world, there was one area [in 2020 that remained opened]; it's always been Mexico. It's the only country where there was no restriction to come. You didn't have to be vaccinated; you didn't have to show a [negative] PCR.

That doesn't mean that the seriousness of the situation was different. [We were] even more serious than the States. Here, the mask requirement was more strict.

We have been extremely lucky to be in this region, where all of America and all of Europe were traveling to Mexico. They couldn't go to the Maldives; they couldn't go to the Bahamas [or] Hawaii. Everything was shut down except Mexico. For us, the recovery has been incredibly well.

We saw the pace continuing throughout May/June this year. Of course, now as destinations reopen, [Mexico] is not enjoying the occupancy we had in the summer last year but it's still in the high 60s.

Group is still on the edge of recovery, especially corporate groups. This year, we could see very good business from groups.

You have to understand the type of clientele, the time of the year — it's very different from the high season to the rainy season. We always adapt with different promotions and packages. It is about pricing but it's [also] about added value. We want our guests to enjoy more opportunities, more experiences. So we give a larger amount of resort credits, for example.

It's all about more amenities, more things we are upgrading.

If you ask me what I'm so proud of ... like everybody else, we went through a lot in the past three years. But thanks to the support of the ownership, we managed to keep the team together. At the end of the day ... providing experiences for our guests is the biggest win. Andaz is about bringing the culture where we are and making sure we're indulging our guests.

The second [win] would be [our] culinary experience. We have five restaurants. Out of the five restaurants, two of them are [among] the top 125 restaurants in Mexico.

Guests are paying more. Of course, we are enjoying the demand ... but we have to be mindful that the guests are paying more and they're expecting more. That's why it was so crucial for us to continue to maintain the right level of service, but more importantly to provide an experience. That's what people are looking for.

[My colleagues] all do a great job, they all have different personalities, experiences, styles, but I always say, 'Stay humble.' It doesn't matter what you've done, where you've been, what you do — never feel more important than the guest. Look after your team.

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