Four Seasons Resort Mallorca at Formentor

Four Seasons Tenure

• Since 2005
• First Four Seasons Assignment: Concierge, Four Seasons Resort and Residences Whistler

Employment History

• Four Seasons Resort and Residences Whistler; Four Seasons Hotel Miami; Four Seasons Hotel Atlanta; Four Seasons Resort Scottsdale; Four Seasons Hotel Buenos Aires; Four Seasons Hotel Hampshire; Four Seasons Resort and Residences Whistler; Fairmont Empress, Victoria, British Columbia

Education

• Diploma, Hotel Management/Business Administration, Camosun College, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada; Bachelor’s Degree, International Business, Royal Roads University, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada; Sommelier – Level 2, International Sommelier Guild

Birthplace

• Madrid, Spain

Languages Spoken

• Spanish, English, some Italian and German

“I love that every day here is different, each with its own challenges and rewards,” says Estreya Gosalbez of the satisfaction she gets as well as the attention she gives to the guest experience as General Manager of Four Seasons Resort Mallorca at Formentor. “Over the years, I have found that Four Seasons travellers are always interested in what’s new. We have so much to intrigue them, and it brings out the best of what we do.”

Under Gosalbez’s leadership, the Resort will do quite a lot, hosting travellers seasonally in the former Hotel Formentor, a historic address that hosted everyone from Winston Churchill to Charlie Chaplin to Grace Kelly back in the day at the northern-most point of Mallorca, the largest of the Balearic Islands in the Mediterranean Sea. She arrived at the property in the midst of an extensive renovation and set about connecting with the community, the better to reveal Four Seasons dedication to preserving the property, reviving local culture, and providing guests with rich getaways to experience the land.

There are many resorts on Mallorca, yet the island’s luxury segment is small. While the team she is putting together is widely experienced in hospitality, she will encourage people to “be themselves and embrace Four Seasons culture to deliver luxury on another level.” Meantime, Gosalbez is passionate about creating a positive work/life balance for the team. “I’m not one who believes in 12-hour days,” she says, noting that family comes first for her, as it should for everyone. “Employee contentment rather than long hours will be a key to our success. You can’t have happy guests without a happy team.”

Gosalbez’s passion for hospitality goes back to her childhood in Madrid. Her father was a captain of Iberia Airlines, and his work took the family to many hotels. “I vividly remember always being the one who wanted to stay at the hotel and explore the buffet, the lobby and the pool, while everyone else wanted to go into town.” She wasn’t the best student, she recalls, but she became “an A+” upon turning her studies to hospitality in college on Vancouver Island, where she had relocated to finish high school.

Her first hotel job was as a housekeeper. Her second was as a Concierge at Four Seasons Resort and Residences Whistler. And her last before arriving in Mallorca took her full circle to General Manager at Whistler. In between, she worked at Four Seasons far and wide, rising in management on the Rooms side of operations at addresses from Hampshire to Buenos Aires, Scottsdale to Atlanta, and sunny Miami.

The bouncing around from property to property suited Gosalbez just fine. “I’ve never been big fan of routine,” she says, noting the similar satisfaction she gets from being part of every aspect of the Mallorca Resort. “In what other industry can a leader be involved in so many different things? I know more about plumbing and light fixtures than I ever dreamed!”

After winters in Whistler, Gosalbez now feels right at home on Mallorca with her family, including two young daughters, overlooking the sun-splashed Mediterranean Sea. Any place with a beach is her “happy place,” she says, noting that she loves time at play, whether it’s strolling the sand, dancing to Latin music, or rooting for FC Barcelona with her Argentine husband. “Football is always a focus in our house. It’s a bit of a sickness for us, really, and we don’t want to recover.”