At work with Jersey's Mister Detail

Tuesday 19 December 2017

Hugo de Castro's job is anything but ordinary. For the past 35 years, he has been serving guests at the Grand Hotel where he is the concierge. His attention to even the smallest of detail, and willingness to go the extra mile, recently earned him the title of Concierge of the Year, awarded by Boutique Hotelier magazine.

He spoke to Connect Magazine about what the award meant to him, the Grand, and the hospitality trade in Jersey.

Like Jeeves saving Bertie Wooster’s blushes, the hotel concierge has a well-earned reputation for discretely protecting the interests of guests. Armed with a crystal-clear memory, an enviable contacts book, an intimate knowledge of correct procedure and the ability to satisfy the quirkiest request, the unflappable concierge personifies the anonymous, behind-the- scenes brilliance that Brits, in particular, warm to.

It is not, however, a literary fantasy. The can-do concierge does exist – and Jersey has its very own in the jovial form of Hugo de Castro, who for the last 35 years has served guests at The Grand Hotel. His fascinating career, which began in the busy Bergerac years, has now been rewarded by Boutique Hotelier magazine, which named him Concierge of the Year at their recent awards in London. Express went to meet him.

Hugo de Castro has accepted his honour with great humility, downplaying his contribution while heaping praise on both the Grand and the Island. For someone able to create a full silver-service dining experience in a field in St Martin, so a guest can propose to their surprised partner against the backdrop of Les Ecrèhous and the Cotentin peninsula, what else would you expect?

Mr de Castro is on his day off, but he comes to the hotel dressed smartly in his black jacket, two gleaming crossed keys in his lapels. His tie is perfectly knotted, his appearance thoroughly professional. It is obvious that attention to detail goes to the heart of his role, but it’s not only a self-imposed standard; it’s expected from today’s discerning – and demanding – customer. “If there is one thing that has changed in the expectations of customers over my 35 years here, it is the need to address every last detail,” said Mr De Casto. “You kill them with kindness, regardless of how you look at it, because that is the job of a concierge. Everything has to be perfect, and I’m thankful that The Grand has always gone the extra mile.”

Going the extra mile can take the strangest of forms. Like the time, a wealthy businesswoman wanted a bath of goats’ milk the following morning. After making a few calls, Hugo had a private jet on standby waiting to fly hundreds of litres in from Wales – but in the end, the modern-day Cleopatra decided she could wait till she got home. Usually, making someone’s holiday special is easier to achieve, and that’s why some guests come back to The Grand year after year.

Pictured: Mr De Castro always goes the extra mile for his guests.

“It is the people we have here that make this job so special: the staff but especially the guests. There are some who have come back many, many times and I'm now meeting the fourth generation of the same family. For some, a year without coming to Jersey is no year at all.

“They tell me: ‘Hugo, it's like this: the year we don’t turn up is the year someone writes our death certificate’. Many have become friends and I can’t wait for them to turn up. Their holiday is the time of the year when they all get together – perhaps at Christmas or during the summer. Every single year, they need to come to Jersey and the experience for them is as much the hotel, as it is the Island. It’s because we deliver exactly what they want: it might be making sure they have the same room or the same table in the restaurant or making sure we have their favourite wine, even if it’s no longer on the wine list. It is attention to detail and going the extra mile. We build the rapport and interact with guests on a daily basis – it is knowing that the lady likes lilies but she doesn’t like white roses; he likes a nice Pinot Noir but he doesn’t like Chateauneuf du Pape.

“It’s also the children: the couple who come with a daughter, and the following year, the boyfriend comes; and the following year, they’re married; and the following year, there is a bump and before you know it another generation arrives. Those children I used to look after now have children themselves. Jersey is their garden. They tell me: ‘Look Hugo, our children are going to be like us because the Island is our second home and it is safe. We just couldn’t see ourselves going anywhere else.’

“Safety is very much a draw for visitors, especially now because we’ve a lot of new tourists coming in who used to travel to Tunisia, Turkey or Egypt. Many had heard of Jersey but didn’t know much about it but now it is their regular destination because it is so easy to get to. You take off, you don’t finish your gin and tonic, and you land. If there is any negative, it’s that fact that it sometimes takes longer for the luggage to arrive than the flight itself.” 

Pictured: "Everything has to be perfect, and I’m thankful that The Grand has always gone the extra mile," says Mr De Castro.

When it comes to knowing the whims of guests, the details are stored not in a computer but in Mr de Castro’s head. “There are no black books; it is all up here [Hugo taps his temple]. I know if a guest can’t have feather pillows or if the bath robes need to be laid out in a certain way. Every Thursday we sit down and we read about the next week’s guests so I know who’s coming and what they need. Some people will also book their next holiday before they leave and request the same dates and the same room. Sometimes an upgrade is possible but they’ll often tell me: ‘Hugo, we don’t even need to put the lights on when we get up in the night because we
know the room so well. Thank you for the offer but everything is perfect as it is’.”

Attention to detail includes an intimate knowledge of the Island and you sense Hugo could easily rattle off the departure times of the 12a bus or the price of a sandwich at Portinfer, if asked. He also speaks with passion about Jersey – where he arrived from Madeira aged 12 to join his parents. After St Helier Boys, he joined the Savoy for five years before joining The Grand.

“A good knowledge of the Island is absolutely key because the most common requests are around what to do and where to go. When a guest arrives, you take them up to their room, you show them the facilities and then you say: ‘Once you’ve unpacked, come and see us and we will explain what the Island has to offer. What are you most interested in? Is it history? Is it Jersey Zoo? Is the War Tunnels? … although it should have always remained the German Underground Hospital. So, we start building up itineraries to make their holiday seamless and without any aggravation. I usually recommend taking a tour first so guests can work out where they want to return to.”

As the demands and expectations of guests have changed over the years, so has the hotel to meet them. Hugo speaks highly of The Grand’s modern facilities but then pauses to reflect on a change which, although outside the hotel’s control, makes him a little sad. “The only thing that disappoints me today is the standard of dress. We have a fine-dining restaurant and, in its day, Victoria’s was one of the best in Jersey, with a band playing six nights a week and people would dance after their meal. However, people just aren’t prepared to dress up these days.

“In the old days, even for breakfast you weren’t allowed slippers or trainers. I know you have to accept change and breakfast today is far more informal but when it comes to fine-dining, you don’t walk in wearing a T-shirt and jeans. That is the only let down; it saddens me that the glamour has gone.”

Standards of dress aside, Hugo’s reflections on three decades at The Grand are overwhelmingly positive. He might herald from Madeira, but Hugo speaks with a fondness for the British Royal Family that should entitle him to a front row seat at the Last Night of the Proms. He’s met quite a few Royals, but his lasting memory is attending to the Queen when she visited for the 60th anniversary of the Liberation in 1995.

Pictured: The Queen's and Prince Philip's visit to Jersey for the 60th anniversary of the Liberation in 1995 was one of Mr De Castro's career highlights. 

“The visit of Her Majesty and Prince Philip was just amazing. We set up a marquee in front of the hotel and they had dinner here, and I looked after them. There was a firework display from the castle so I had to get blankets for the couple and place them over their knees. And obviously Prince Philip likes his whisky, and I had the honour of serving him a fine Scotch; it was a modern one but he really enjoyed it.

“Another fond memory is when some Tottenham Legends stayed here, including Ossie Ardiles, Pat Jennings, Ray Clements and Paul Miller, for a charity event. They were fantastic and a credit to their sport and club. Brian Clough would also stay here with Nottingham Forest and they were the most disciplined and well-behaved players that we ever had. They would go out to a disco in the evening, and you wouldn’t hear a thing when they returned; they were so well disciplined. I wish I could say the same for other celebrities that have stayed here but discretion is part of my job. McFly caused a few problems, but you’ve got to be young and naïve once in your life, haven’t you?”

Hugo’s golden crossed keys on his jacket are not simply an adornment but an indication that he belongs to an exclusive fraternity of concierges. “A regular guest put my name forward, and I joined the French Crossed Keys Society in 2000. It is a network of concierges which means I can pick up a phone to say: ‘Listen, someone needs this; I can’t get it here; what is the next step?’ It might be tickets to the FA Cup final, which has sold out, but I can still get some for the right price. It is a great honour to be part of.”

And now Hugo has been elevated even further: to Concierge of the Year. “To stand out from the London concierges, who are the crème de la crème in our industry, is a real honour because this award is as much for Jersey and The Grand as it is for me - I tell people I got three in one. To put Jersey on the map was, for me, the highest accolade I could have wished for.”

Pictured: Mr De Castro enjoys seeing his guests's families grow year on year. 

Hugo is married to Zelia, a care assistant at Little Sister of the Poor, and although they don’t have children themselves, the couple are attentive Godparents and doting on their nephews. “Working at Jeanne Jugan is the job my wife always wanted - it’s both her passion and vocation. And that’s the same for me: I have done some bar work and wine waiting over the years, but the concierge’s life is the one for me because it is never done. It is always 24/7 and even when I sit down for the last hour of my day, that’s when I go through all the emails from guests. I can talk for Britain but that’s the time you find me relatively quiet. That said, I always prefer speaking to people – the more you speak, the less emails you have to write. Sadly today, people aren’t as prepared to talk to one another. Why send emails to each other over the course of several weeks when one phone call can often resolve the issue?” 

Hugo would also like to see more people talk up Jersey and he’d love to see a return to the season-long shows that used to draw hundreds of thousands to Jersey each year. “When a guest arrives for the very first time and they’ve just had a taxi driver slating the Island, I welcome them with open arms and tell them: ‘Where has that taxi driver been because that’s not the Island I know?’ I am like the Pope … every time I go away and come back, I kiss the floor because I love it Jersey so much. We need to have a more positive approach to our Island and what it offers. When guests go out to explore they usually come to me to say: ‘Hugo, why didn’t we discover this place 30 years ago?’

“If only more locals knew just how fondly visitors regard Jersey. We are very lucky to live here.” 

This interview features in the latest edition of Connect magazine here.