SPECIAL REPORT
months of her career in 1985 working at a “ complaint desk ” in the lobby , she stuck with it , received her first promotion and started to fall in love with her new career .
Zec became the number two person in the front office before Long took her to Short Hills , New Jersey , as the front office director with an opportunity to reposition the property as Five-Diamond . It was her first taste of luxury .
Shortly after being called to New York ’ s Waldorf- Astoria to help train a new front office director , which also led to her first meeting with Cotter , Zec eventually took that position full time for two years .
“ When Maria arrived as director of front office of the Waldorf-Astoria in 1990 , as hotel manager I marveled that I had met my first empathic manager ,” Cotter says . “ She was then a marvel , turning a ‘ just good enough ’ front office operation to world-class .”
From there it was back to the Hilton in Chicago , where she successfully helped implement a profit enhancement program and caught the eye of a regional vice president . She was quickly promoted to resident manager at the nearby Palmer House before getting another call from Cotter some 20 months later to return to New York City and become his number two in charge at The New York Palace . By 1998 and upon Cotter ’ s departure , she became the GM of The Palace , at the time quite an accomplishment for a woman , especially in New York City .
It was then that she fortuitously met Mike Selby , who represented the ownership interest of The Palace . As part of a plan to do a full , in-house renovation of The Palace , Selby sent Zec to Europe and Asia to become further immersed in luxury , including three fateful days with then-Peninsula Hong Kong general manager Peter Borer , who would become her next mentor .
I ’ M INTENSE ALL THE TIME – IT ’ S JUST IN MY DNA . SOMETIMES MY HUSBAND SAYS , ‘ YOU ’ RE NOT IN THE OFFICE , MARIA . TONE IT DOWN A LITTLE .’ BUT NO , I THINK THAT ’ S HOW WE KEEP THE STANDARDS UP .
– MARIA ZEC
74 hotelsmag . com Nov / Dec 2022