from “Food & BEVERAGE MANAGEMENT IN THE LUXURY HOTEL INDUSTRY”, Business Expert Press
A few weeks after starting to work for Orient-Express Hotels, currently Belmond Hotels, in Peru, a small executive committee was formed at the Hotel Monasterio: the advance team liaison committee, in charge of organizing the 17th Cumbre de Rio, featuring heads of states’ meetings and conferences from 19 Latin American countries. The main themes that would be discussed and lead to various agreements between the countries’ representants were the eradication of poverty, unfortunately always a priority in this part of the world, security in Mexico or Colombia were also high on the Rio Group‘s agenda.
As the day of the series of gathering, May 23, 2003, was approaching, the group grew larger and larger, involving most of the senior management of the Cusco, Lima, and Machu Picchu hotels. A series of preparation meetings took place during a year, in order to effectively prepare the presidential summits that were to take place in the country.
The Grupo do Rio, Rio Group, was created in Rio de Janeiro, on the December 18, 1986. It served as an international organization of Latin American and some Caribbean states. Its founding members were Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Mexico, Panama, Peru, Uruguay, and Venezuela. It was succeeded in 2011 by the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States[1].
Unlike the European Union or other multistate organization, the Rio Group did not have a secretariat or permanent body, so its continuity relied on yearly summits of heads of states. So, in 2003, Peru was to host the XVII Cumbre del Grupo de Río, and the hotel Monasterio in Cusco had been chosen to host this prestigious event: we were getting ready to welcome 19 heads of states: leaders of the Republics of Peru, Costa Rica, Argentina, Colombia, Equator, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Paraguay, Uruguay, Brazil, Bolivia, Chile, El Salvador, Guyana, Panama, Dominica, Venezuela and the Federal Republic of Mexico. CARICOM[2], representing the Caribbean States, was also invited to the gatherings.
Figure 3.12 Presidents posing for the official picture in Cusco’s Hotel Monasterio
Preparing any official state visit, for even just one president or minister requires an enormous amount of time, patience, diplomacy, and most of all, flexibility, as there are many last-minute changes, often for security reasons. Coordinating this type of event for 19 presidents, with their respective delegations is a task that took our management teams and the various government representants over a year of intensive preparation work.
Well worth it, as everything came out smoothly, and the repercussions for the hotels’ image was tremendous. But, it was a bit like preparing a very special dish in a three-star Michelin restaurant: many hours of preparation for a few moments of great intensity.
As for any important guest, many specific requirements had to be met by the hotels. Often, topping the list are food and beverage preferences; in this regard, I will never forget President Hugo Chavez’s breakfasts, made of several trays delivered by the room service team every morning! The then President of Venezuela required his own chef to be present in our kitchen to personally supervise the cooking of bacon and eggs and accompanied our room service staff to his presidential suite for any food deliveries. Many other specific constraints had to be taken into account, such as transportation, flight schedules, logistics, press access, and, most importantly, security at all times.
Figure 3.13 Hugo Chavez, the then President of Venezuela
Our main interlocutors were secretaries from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Lima, we organized regular meetings at The Monasterio, to get acquainted with the most intricate details of the organization of events that were to take place in the hotels, and in nearby sites such as Sacsayhuaman Archeological Site[3], the MAP Museum[4], the Convento de la Merced[5], and Koricancha Temple[6].
Figure 3.14 The Inca site of Sacsayhuaman, North of the city of Cusco, Peru
Cusco had never, in its long history, seen such a gathering, and the Peruvian chief of police decided to send an extra 2,000 policemen from the city of Lima, in order to secure the airport and the city. Each presidential convoy would also be surrounded by an impressive number of guards, snipers, bomb squad members.
Needless to say, most Cusco’s hotels enjoyed a very healthy occupancy before, during, and after the Cumbre De Rio’s events. The events also helped putting Cusco on the world map and fueled a growth in internal tourism for years to come.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rio_Group
[2] The Caribbean Community (CARICOM or CC) is an organization of 15 nations and dependencies throughout the Caribbean having primary objectives to promote economic integration and cooperation among its members, to ensure that the benefits of integration are equitably shared, and to coordinate foreign policy. The organization was established in 1973 (Wikipedia).
[3] Saqsaywaman, which can be spelled many different ways (possibly from Quechua language, waman falcon or variable hawk), is a citadel on the northern outskirts of the city of Cusco, Peru, the historic capital of the Inca Empire. Sections were first built about 1100 CE by the Killke culture, which had occupied the area since 900 CE (Wikipedia).
[4] The Museum of Precolombian Art in Cusco https://mapcusco.pe/en/
[5] The Basilica of La Merced, also known as Convent of La Merced, is a minor basilica located in the city of Cusco, Peru. It is located 100 meters southwest of the Plaza de Armas (city’’s main square) in front of the Plazoleta Espinar. It belongs to the Order of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mercy and has annexes, both the convent and the premises of La Merced College (Wikipedia).
[6] Coricancha, Koricancha, Qoricancha or Qorikancha (The Golden Temple, from Quechua quri gold; kancha enclosure) was the most important temple in the Inca Empire. It is located in Cusco, Peru, which was the capital of the empire (Wikipedia ).
