FINDING one’s passion at one’s work place is a good and fulfilling place to be, according to Gwendolyn “Gwen” dela Cruz. And Gwen, currently resident manager of Shangri-La’s Mactan Island Resort and Spa, has found her life’s passion in the hotel industry.
It is a passion she found after she graduated from college. Born in Zamboanga City, she had taken up BS Accounting also in Zamboanga, and after graduation, went to Manila to find work.
At first she was into selling—books, life plans. Then, a family friend told her to apply at the Peninsula Hotel where she was immediately hired and placed in the front office. Here, she says, is where she grew up. She noticed that the industry offers a lot of opportunities for growth and so she opted to stay in the industry.
Soon, she became guest relations officer and then front office supervisor. She spent eight years with Peninsula and moved to Cebu when she was offered the job of guest relations manager for Plantation Bay. She stayed with Plantation for seven years, moving up to duty manager and finally front office manager.
In 2007, she moved to Shangri-La’s Mactan Island Resort and Spa as front office manager. Here, she was encouraged to join the corporate executive training program in Singapore where she stayed for six months.
After this training, she was assigned to Shangri-La Hotel in Kuala Lumpur as director of rooms. In 2013, she became executive assistant manager of Traders Hotel, also in Kuala Lumpur.
Her first assignment as resident manager was at Shangri-La’s Villingili Resort and Spa in the Maldives. From the Maldives, she was assigned to Hong Kong to be executive assistant to the president and chief executive officer of Shangri-La International Hotel Management Limited in 2014. She stayed there two years and was assigned back to Mactan some three months ago, a position she welcomes because it puts her back in her native land.
She says that, in brief, the resident manager takes charge of the operations of the hotel, to see to it that all its services are working well—engineering, front office etc.—while the general manager takes care of sales and marketing. The general manager takes care of “the bigger picture,” while the resident manager takes care of the details.
Gwen says that what she likes about hotel work “is engaging with the guests.”
“My passion is to make the guests feel happy every day; that he feels excited to go to the hotel and goes away happy and contented. That, for me, is my greatest achievement.” The second thing she likes about hotel work is camaraderie with colleagues.
Gwen has been in the industry for more than 28 years. And though unmarried, she has a “very supportive partner, an Australian businessman.” The future for her is “to teach the young people how to be a great hotelier. Here I am still enjoying myself. If you have the passion for your job, that’s the most fulfilling thing you can get. I want to teach the young that they can really fulfill their dreams.”
She says she will be even more fulfilled when she can teach them; that’s really how passionate she is, to the extent of “passing the torch” to the younger generation.