The Modern Hotelier #159: How Creativity Fuels Independent Hospitality at Estancia La Jolla | with Eric Jenkins
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Eric Jenkins: This hotel's very unique. And as you guys wander around the property, you'll be like, this is really special. And so when I got to this hotel, I started doing weird stuff like. Gardening and learning a lot about monarch butterflies and really figuring out how to be creative in spaces. 'cause there's a lot of outdoor space that you can play around with here.
Steve Carran: Welcome to another episode of The Modern Hotelier. Today we are joined by Eric Jenkins, GM of Estancia La Jolla Hotel. Thank you for sitting down with us today, Eric. How you
Eric Jenkins: you doing? Absolutely, my pleasure. It's good to be here.
Steve Carran: Good. Good. Well, we're happy to sit down with you.
So before we get started here, tell us a little bit about yourself. Where, where did you grow up? You mentioned Savannah, Georgia. While we were sitting here. How did Savannah kinda shape you into who you are today?
Eric Jenkins: So, uh, yeah, I was born and raised in Savannah, Georgia. My brother, my parents, they still live there. Proposed to my wife in Savannah. I'm actually an East Coast guy. but. How did it shape me? Uh, as you would imagine southern hospitality, you know, when you think about Savannah, you think about that deep rooted hospitality culture.
So it's been in my vein since I was a, a little guy running around. and it took a long time to get rid of that southern twang, but, um, the hospitality stuck with me.
David Millili: That's that. And how, how did you get, so you talk about hospitality. How did you get started in hospitality? What kind of, you know, led you down that path?
Eric Jenkins: Great question. I am actually grew up in restaurants. My, uh, first job was a fry cook at Kentucky Fried Chicken, which taught me everything I know about culinary. And then I moved into a seafood restaurant as a dishwasher. And what I learned there is I didn't like washing dishes at a seafood restaurant.
So, slowly kind of progressed up through that. And then, um, eventually. Worked my way through college as a server and moved down to Orlando, Florida. It was the one of the closest cities that you could get to from Savannah. It's like Atlanta or Orlando. And then I went south with a fraternity brother to Orlando.
Wound up working for Wolfgang Puck at his cafe in Orlando. And that's where I fell in love with food and beverage, because they had a super intense training program and his passion came out and everything. So every time I saw him I was like, man, I wanna be in restaurants forever. And then, eventually I wanted to grow my career and I accidentally walked into a, um, a res human resources office. I was trying to, uh, move over to Margaritaville. I went into the wrong building and uh, I heard a guy call my name and I actually was in the, uh, re human resources department for Lowe's Hotels, and the, the fine dining manager from Wolfgang Pucks was now with Lowe's Hotels, and he's like, Hey, you're in the wrong building, but I'm looking for somebody.
And so I got a serving job at the Hard Rock Hotel in Universal Orlando. And, uh, it's been a journey ever since. A bunch of promotions. But, uh, actually in my career, I've only worked in three hotels. So I worked at the Hard Rock Hotel at Universal of Orlando. I got my first food and beverage director gig here in San Diego at the Lowe's Coronado Bay Resort. And then I've been here at Ascia La Jolla Hotel and Spa for four years.
Steve Carran: Very cool. So now you're the GM here at Estancia. What are some of your day-to-day roles? Kind of what are you focusing here as the gm?
Eric Jenkins: day-to-day roles for me is really a lot of generally managing. So it's checking in with different teams. A lot of, um, meetings where I get to touch in with the diff different disciplines. Um, I like to tell people my job is a lot of, um, forwarding emails and looking at spreadsheets. but this hotel's very unique.
And as you guys wander around the property, you'll be like, this is really special. And so when I got to this hotel, I started doing weird stuff like. Gardening and, learning a lot about monarch butterflies and, really figuring out how to be creative in spaces. 'cause there's a lot of outdoor space that you can play around with here.
So if you went around and asked my team members what, what does he, what does he do all day? And like, I think he gardens, like he's, he's in there picking strawberries. so this hotel gives you a lot of opportunity to express yourself creatively, which is a lot of fun. but yeah, I do have a, the real job part of being a gm.
David Millili: And so is there something, so is there something that just stands out? I mean, we've, we've been here only a couple hours. It's great property. Is there something that stands out for you about the property or just this area that you just really love about being here?
Eric Jenkins: I mean, we're in La Jolla, so living in San Diego and then the subsect of La Jolla. If you ever tell anyone that, you're like, whoa, what do you do now? Like, you've already reached the best spot to live in. so it's. a True blessing to be here in Southern California and, to be in such a great community, like La Jolla.
But this property, particularly, if you asked me what was super special about it, I would say it breathes and you can walk around. there's, over 250 different species of flora and fauna here on property. we have, local art installations throughout the property. Uh, so the, the personality is really vibrant and it's that I just say it breathes. 
Steve Carran: we noticed that as soon as we were sitting down in the lobby, just the open air flowing through beautiful San Diego weather, just kind of going through the lobby and really. It kind of brings almost a life of its own while we're here. It was great. So, you know, I can imagine this is a, we were talking about how this property seems like a small property until you get here, start walking around.
I can imagine, you know, being at a property of this level has some challenges and you're also part of the curator collection, which is great. So how does Curator help your job be a little bit easier at a property that's as, as expansive as this?
Eric Jenkins: Yeah. I'm glad you brought up curator. you know, I like to think of them as a concierge for a gm, so they take care of a lot of the things that would suck up a lot of my time. Like, talking to vendors, working through contracts, vetting all of the different, relationships that we would have here on property and.
We're not a big brand, so I don't have a huge support, team sitting in a city somewhere putting their thumbs on people. And so Curator really acts as, my concierge. So they figure out, what's the best price to get, what are the, what are the platforms that already work that I know that I can just open up a library and pick from 'em and I'm gonna get the best product and the best deal possible.
Steve Carran: It's like they're helping almost with your day-to-day operations as well. Huh? 
Eric Jenkins: It gives me more time for gardening.
David & Steve Audio: There you go. There you go.
David Millili: So maybe expand on that more. So you've, highlighted how they're helping you when it comes to really just time and resources, really maybe just dive a little bit more into kind of how they're helping you in those areas.
Eric Jenkins: This hotel was acquired, by Pebblebrook Hotel Trust in December of 2021. So I was here for the ownership transition and, There was a lot of change that happened with that, And it was so nice to just go, where do I go for my PMS? Where do I go for my, POS? Where do I go for technology that's gonna help us execute guest experiences?
What are the best parking vendors? I had to go through all of it. And, to go through that transition and have that library sitting there, it let me focus on what I needed to be focused on, which was the nuts and bolts of a transition, and then taking care of my team.
Steve Carran: So for those hotels that may be considering joining Curator, what is one thing that you, as a part of the curator collection kind of would say to them?
Eric Jenkins: I mean, sign up that's, the piece of advice I would give them. So, It's kind of a, there's no commitment. So you get six months for free. They send someone down, they do a full assessment of your operation. They find those opportunities for you. They make those suggestions for you and, you can cancel with a 60 day notice so you can get out if it's not for you.
But I haven't heard of that happening anywhere yet. So my advice is sign up, and look at the value that they can deliver to your property. 
David Millili: And since joining, is there any standout wins that you've, experienced working with curator since you started?
Eric Jenkins: Yeah. so said we went through the ownership transition. Yeah. The first thing that Pebblebrook did is they said they were gonna renovate the property. So then I got to go through a renovation. And when you're going through a renovation, as you can imagine, you're buying a whole lot of new things. So I knew I was gonna buy TVs, I knew I was gonna buy mattresses.
But I didn't have to go and look for the best TV and the best price. I didn't have to look for the best mattress because that was already done for me. So my wins was being able to go through a renovation and again, focus on the guest experience and the team member experience, and not have to use all that time and resources to go and find the perfect of everything that we had to buy here.
Steve Carran: San Diego's a pretty crowded market. There's a lot of hotels here, lot of big chains in the town as well. How does Curator help you compete with those larger chains? 
David & Steve Audio: Yeah.
Eric Jenkins: You know what it's buying power is the first thing. So, if I was working for a big brand, they have thousands of hotels that can put pressure on vendors and get the best deal possible. I couldn't do that as a standalone property. I belong to a small management company. I don't have that kind of buying power.
But with Curator, I can use the leverage of over a hundred different properties and. Beautiful, unique properties and they get me the best, agreement that I can with multiple vendors too. And it's nice to be able to look at a hundred different master service agreements and know that work is already done for me and they've already gotten a good price where I don't have to have established relationships. I don't get to go like, oh, I have one property of 210 rooms. What's the best deal you can get me? 
David Millili: And what would you say you, love most about being truly an independent hotel? 
Eric Jenkins: I think I kind of brushed on that. It's, the creativity. I, grew up in food and beverage. It's still a part of my DNA. So I like to do new things. I like to color outside of the lines and think outside of the box. And when you're working in the constraints of a brand, they deliver consistency, but they deliver it by having the box already drawn for you.
And so what I love about independent properties is you have that freedom of expression Curator actually helps with that because, they allow me to dip into things that I might not have had access to if it weren't for their library of agreements. 
Steve Carran: thank you for joining us for another episode of The Modern Hotelier. Thank you for hosting us as well, Eric. We've been here for a couple hours. Estancia, it is a amazing property. Great. If you ever get a chance, make sure to check it out.
Absolutely incredible. But thank you for your time, Eric, and this is another episode of The Modern Hotelier, whether you're watching or listening, thank you and have a great day.