Elite Traveler July-August 2017

elite traveler JULY/AUG 2017 47

Only Your Best Friends.” Now, we have 13 beach clubs and four hotels worldwide, life is good again. Sometimes I don’t even realize it all happened. I just made a promise to my mom and never gave up. The first part of my venture was all about cash flow and now it’s all about brand standards. Once we became successful and made Nikki Beach a brand name, I knew we had to work even harder to maintain a certain level of experience for our loyal customers. We wanted to expand but didn’t want to lose the nuances that made our properties such a special place to begin with. I’m constantly asking our team how to improve, I’m not afraid to apply feedback to make positive changes. We continuously shift marketing and event programming concepts and tweak our menus. We’ve also adopted a European way of service, whereby wait staff make a career out of their positions and therefore take their roles very seriously. Many of my teammembers have started in entry-level roles and have grown into top management positions. They have a deep understanding of the brand, so I value their point of view tremendously. Even at this stage in my life, I’m still open to learning. We require a happy attitude. Lucia always says to wake up every morning excited. Life is a gift and it is our commitment to celebrate it. I don’t allow our team to raise voices; I remind them that Nikki Beach is my daughter’s place. Over the years, I’ve been lured into bad deals and worked with undesirable partners who didn’t agree with my business philosophy. I’ve been burned, but I learned from it all. I’ve been offered many millions for Nikki Beach, but when it comes down to it, I still feel like a caretaker for my daughter so I won’t sell. Today, I own 100 percent of the company and have zero debt. When you find something really good, never ever take your eye off the ball. I never did.