A Conversation With….Carlos Molinet

(This is a new occasional feature of our Chapter’s blog, spotlighting key members of our hospitality industry. If you are interested in participating, please contact Julie Wernick, HSMAInsider, at jwfranklin1@gmail.com)

Name: Carlos M. Molinet, CHA
Title: General Manager
Company: Hilton Worldwide – based at Hilton Fort Lauderdale Marina

HSMAInsider: How Long Have You Been at Your Current Job at This Location?
Carlos: 5 years and 2 months

HSMAInsider: Where Were You Before?
Carlos: Area GM for Hyatt Pier 66 and Bahia Mar

HSMAInsider: How Did you Get Started in the Industry?
Carlos: I started as a Front Office Cashier in NYC

HSMAInsider: What is your Favorite Thing about your job?
Carlos: The ability to mentor and develop the future leaders of our industry as well as the interaction with our guests and creating memories for their stays.

HSMAInsider: What advice, if any, would you have for someone starting out in the Hospitality Industry?
Carlos: Engage your guests daily and always look for opportunities to seek out mentors to help guide your career. Additionally, involve yourself with the Florida Restaurant and Lodging Association, as this will help you network and build your base of contacts for future success. Finally, I would say live up to a mantra of some kind, mine is from Conrad Hilton “To fill the earth with the light and warmth of hospitality”

HSMAInsider: When guests/friends visit and ask you what not to miss in South Florida, you tell them not to miss:
Carlos: The Water Taxi, The beach, The Everglades, Sawgrass Mills, and a show at either the Broward Center for the Performing Arts or in Miami at the Arsht Center.

HSMAInsider: Anything else you’d like to tell our readers?
Carlos: The hospitality business is richly rewarding especially if you adopt the servant leadership model and truly serve your hotel and community. My philosophy of life is based on the Success Poem – “To leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch, or redeemed social condition: To know that one life has breathed easier because you have lived – this is to have succeeded” - Additionally, you have the key to unlock your possibilities in life and choose to do anything that you want with this.