Gorka Bergareche, GM Park Hyatt Milan
During our recent stay at the Park Hyatt Milan, we were honoured to meet with Gorka Bergareche, General Manager of the hotel since March 2013.
A quietly confidant man, Gorka started his hospitality training in his native Northern Spain, working for TRYP Hotels. He describes this time as a test, to see whether the industry was for him and found that it was as expected: hard work and long hours. After studying hospitality in California, he continued his education in Leysin, Switzerland, from where he was invited into the Hyatt Management trainee scheme. In a short period, he had experienced a number of Hyatts, from Orlando to Dubai and London to Madrid. After rising to Executive Assistant Manager at the Park Hyatt Madrid (unfortunately no longer a Hyatt), he became hotel manager at the renowned Park Hyatt Vendome in Paris.
Now at Park Hyatt Milan, Gorka admits to some issues in relation to the fabric of the building which is already 11 years post the refit designed but Ed Tuttle, the renowned Paris-based hotel designer. Fixing some of these is currently tangled up in the famously drawn-out Italian legal system. Obviously we can't go into detail. Whilst this can be surprising for some guests, hotels should be sympathetic to the culture of their location. Having said that, Gorka is well aware that it is now time to speed up renovations in the hotel; in fact the Park Restaurant will be refreshed in August 2014 and the guest rooms are continually being remodelled. Luckily, the hotel is a joint venture between a Spanish investment company and Hyatt, thus approval for work is a relatively quick process.
Though impressing as an urbane, sophisticated polyglot, Gorka is most at home as a family man. He shows real delight when describing the children's bed-time on Sunday night and being there on Saturday morning when they wake up. The family is multinational, with Spanish dad and Dutch mum. Having lived in France for the past few years and now Italy, the children are growing up with an enviable command of languages. As Brits, we are always in awe of those who can speak multiple languages, although not sure that we would want the hard life of being a hotel GM.
We had an interesting talk with Gorka, discussing family, travel and life in general. For Hyatt fans, you will be pleased to know that the Park Hyatt Marrakesh should open next year in 2015, the new Hyatt in Portugal may take a little longer and there is an active search for a Park Hyatt in Rome. Gorka seems to be doing a good job in Milan, so we hope he remains for at least a few years. We look forward to returning to the hotel over the coming years (Milan is a great weekender city) and seeing how the hotel develops.
A quietly confidant man, Gorka started his hospitality training in his native Northern Spain, working for TRYP Hotels. He describes this time as a test, to see whether the industry was for him and found that it was as expected: hard work and long hours. After studying hospitality in California, he continued his education in Leysin, Switzerland, from where he was invited into the Hyatt Management trainee scheme. In a short period, he had experienced a number of Hyatts, from Orlando to Dubai and London to Madrid. After rising to Executive Assistant Manager at the Park Hyatt Madrid (unfortunately no longer a Hyatt), he became hotel manager at the renowned Park Hyatt Vendome in Paris.
Now at Park Hyatt Milan, Gorka admits to some issues in relation to the fabric of the building which is already 11 years post the refit designed but Ed Tuttle, the renowned Paris-based hotel designer. Fixing some of these is currently tangled up in the famously drawn-out Italian legal system. Obviously we can't go into detail. Whilst this can be surprising for some guests, hotels should be sympathetic to the culture of their location. Having said that, Gorka is well aware that it is now time to speed up renovations in the hotel; in fact the Park Restaurant will be refreshed in August 2014 and the guest rooms are continually being remodelled. Luckily, the hotel is a joint venture between a Spanish investment company and Hyatt, thus approval for work is a relatively quick process.
Though impressing as an urbane, sophisticated polyglot, Gorka is most at home as a family man. He shows real delight when describing the children's bed-time on Sunday night and being there on Saturday morning when they wake up. The family is multinational, with Spanish dad and Dutch mum. Having lived in France for the past few years and now Italy, the children are growing up with an enviable command of languages. As Brits, we are always in awe of those who can speak multiple languages, although not sure that we would want the hard life of being a hotel GM.
We had an interesting talk with Gorka, discussing family, travel and life in general. For Hyatt fans, you will be pleased to know that the Park Hyatt Marrakesh should open next year in 2015, the new Hyatt in Portugal may take a little longer and there is an active search for a Park Hyatt in Rome. Gorka seems to be doing a good job in Milan, so we hope he remains for at least a few years. We look forward to returning to the hotel over the coming years (Milan is a great weekender city) and seeing how the hotel develops.