I’ve always known that lots goes on to make all-inclusive resorts function. Check out this post behind the scenes at the Grand Palladium Riviera Maya.
TravelYucatan.com reports, “The Grand Palladium is a 5 star mega-resort. A virtual small city carved out of rich mangroves and jungle. Situated over 2,000,000 square meters of land boasting 1554 guest rooms and 273 apartments for employees who live on site. Like any city the resort has the necessary infrastructure to maintain and facilitate this transient society of vacationers.
The Grand Palladium is comprised of four hotels; Grand Palladium Kantenah Resort & Spa, Colonial Resort & Spa, White Sand Resort & Spa and Riviera Resort & Spa & the Royal Suites. The Royal Suites are situated in the Riviera side and are the premium suites. The Kantenah and Colonial are joined together and share resources [kitchens, freezers, storage, offices, etc.]. The White Sand and Riviera do the same.
There is a Managing Director for the whole complex but not an Assistant General Manager. There is a Resident Manager for the Colonial/Kantenah and a Resident Manager for the White Sand/Riviera. Each one of the Resident Managers have two Assistants.
There are various managers/offices for each hotel overseeing operations such as housekeeping, restaurants, bars and grounds keeping. The entire facility shares some offices like Guest Services, Reservations, Accounting, Maintenance and Human Resources.
It takes almost one employee per room to efficiently operate the resort [.95 employees to be exact, this rate depends on the occupancy]. There is presently a drastic shortage of skilled workers in the Mayan Riviera affecting the operations of all hotels and attractions. There is also a building boom going with numerous reconstruction efforts underway still repairing things from last years devastating Hurricane Wilma. Employee turn-over is a constant problem as hotels compete for skilled staff.
Deliveries are made to the resort six days a week [no deliveries on Sunday]. There is one main warehouse located on the Kantenah side. This warehouse stores dry-goods and everything from stationery to new uniforms – think Costco/Sam’s Club!
There is one shipping-receiving facility for the Kantenah/Colonial side and one for the White Sand/Riviera side. Produce and meats are shipped daily while dry-goods and alcohol are stocked in the main warehouse with smaller storage areas located throughout all hotels.
Meats are delivered in refrigerated trucks and immediately taken into freezers. Each specific meat group [fish, poultry, beef/pork] has its own freezer. Each piece of meat is shrink-wrapped in plastic from the meat factory and as soon as it arrives at the hotel it has a sticker with an arrival date placed on the package. Every single piece of meat is tagged with a sticker to identify its arrival date, to avoid expiration.”
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