Born in Brittany, France and a resident of Cancun since 1981, Corporate Engineer Jeff Larenaudie and his team of engineers and technicians keep things running smoothly at Royal Resorts. You may not see them but you know that they are there, working round the clock behind the scenes in the preventive maintenance projects that will extend the life of the resort and even save money.
Jeff tells his story, “I came over to Mexico to work for Club Med and I started work in the Punta Nizuc resort during the 1981 North-South Summit attended by the presidents and prime ministers of some of the world’s richest and poorest countries such as Ronald Reagan, Margaret Thatcher and Indira Gandhi. I remember that all the staff had to wear a special towel armband so that the security detail assigned to Club Med would know that we worked for the hotel.
“Cancún was so beautiful in the early days; jungle still stretched from the Sheraton to Club Med and we had to cross a wooden bridge to reach the hotel. It really was quite remote back then and this exclusivity was part of its charm for guests.
“I eventually left Club Med and worked for the Hyatt group until 1988. After Hurricane Gilbert hit Cancun in September of the same year I returned to France for a while.
“I joined Royal Resorts in 1991 and my first job was Head of Maintenance at The Royal Mayan. I later assumed control of The Royal Caribbean and The Royal Islander. In 2002, I was appointed Corporate Engineering & Maintenance Manager.
“With the start of The Royal Sands project, we became involved in construction for the first time. Our workload increased dramatically because we were also overseeing engineering and maintenance work at El Castellano in Merida and The Pelican Resort on the island of St. Maarten at the same time. I literally seemed to spend my entire life traveling!
“The Engineering and Maintenance team currently comprises 223 people based at the six resorts (the four Cancun clubs, The Royal Haciendas and Grand Residences). We develop engineering projects and compile technical specifications, renovate and expand areas of the resorts designated for new services, supervise installation work, maintenance and, something that is increasingly important, look for ways to save electricity and water, cut costs and protect the environment.
“An example of an engineering project that saves money is the installation of the reverse osmosis plants at the resorts in 2003 and in 2006 at The Royal Haciendas. The company invested US$2,440,000 (not counting The Royal Mayan) in the technology and the savings to date, over and above the initial outlay, currently stand at US$16,888,778. These savings are reflected in the cash reserve for each club shown in the annual financial reports.
Jeff and his team are responsible for the maintenance program at the resorts that keeps them in tiptop condition. He says, “The resorts are extremely well built, you can see it in the quality of the materials used; the sturdy structures are built to withstand hurricanes and they have passed the tests of major storms like Wilma with flying colors. They are in excellent physical condition and we keep them that way through painstaking preventive maintenance during the year, in addition to any day-to-day maintenance issues that may arise. We also have an ongoing preventive maintenance program for villas and carry out repairs, tile replacement, painting and other tasks in 10 to 20 units each year, depending on the resort and occupancy levels. Larger construction, cleaning and installation projects that might inconvenience guests are programmed for Maintenance Week.
“We have implemented countless energy saving measures over the years, starting with the machinery we use,” Jeff explains, “We always look for the products with the best proven energy saving performance available in the market, for example, all the boilers for heating swimming pool water are high efficiency models (98 percent) and the centrifuges for the air-conditioning system use less than 0.58 KW/Tons of refrigeration. Additionally, almost all the air-conditioning centrifuges are heat exchangers that recover latent heat in the air before it moves through the cooling towers. Using this system enables us to pre-heat water from 20˚C to 35˚C, and save energy, whether that is our consumption of diesel, LP gas or electricity, depending on the resort.
“The electricity and water meters are checked every day to make sure that there are no anomalies or water leaks and our annual machine house maintenance program (replacing ball bearings, cleaning, among others) helps prevent mechanical problems that could cause overheating and potential power loss.
Jeff adds, “As a pilot project at The Royal Sands, we installed solar panels on the roof at the end of 2010 to heat water in the villas. Although the initial investment will not be recouped for another 18 to 24 months, we have still managed to save US$130,395 on electricity in the period 2011-2014.
On the topic of electricity costs, Jeff says, “We replaced villa and walkway lighting with energy saving bulbs at all the resorts several years ago and now consume 59 percent less KWH than if we still used the standard models.
“In addition to Machine House energy saving measures, Jeff also mentions the Royal Resorts garbage recycling program: “We separate all the organic trash, which is sent to the city dump and we sell recyclable items such as cardboard and paper, glass, plastics, scrap metal, aluminum cans and used vegetable oil to certified recycling companies. In 2014, we sold 400 tons of recycled materials for US$21,000, which is used to support the Royal Resorts Foundation charity causes. And there’s more, we also saved US$38,000 on municipal garbage collection rates for not sending those 400 tons of recyclable waste to the city dump!
“We are always striving for excellence and we never drop our guard.” Jeff adds, “Our attention to detail has won the company many accolades. Rest assured that we will keep the resorts in prime condition.”
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