Kathy Diamos, spa director at The Ritz-Carlton, St. Thomas, has spent her entire professional career with the luxury brand, but she did not expect to build her legacy in hospitality.
Diamos earned her bachelor’s degree in marketing from New Era University in the Philippines and took her first position at SCMC Shopping Center Management Corp. as a leasing marketing assistant just outside of Manila. After a few months of working with paperwork and computers, she found the job was not very engaging and started looking for a role that would let her use her marketing skills in a more connected way.
While visiting family in Bahrain, Diamos decided she wanted to stay near them and applied to work at the Ritz-Carlton there. “There's a lot of opportunity that Ritz Carlton [and] Marriott International offers,” she said. Diamos joined the hotel’s team in 2007 as a spa agent and locker attendant, eager to grow within the ranks. Six months later, she was promoted to spa coordinator and then to receptionist and ultimately junior supervisor.
By 2013, Diamos was ready to move on. A guest at the hotel invited her to come work at his company, and she weighed the pros and cons of stepping away from hospitality. While she enjoyed her job, she said, the schedule could make life challenging. Opting to try something different, she became a marketing analyst at MDCI Bahrain—and quickly found herself missing the engagement with her guests. Using the Ritz-Carlton portal to see what else was available with the brand, she applied to the Ritz-Carlton, Grand Cayman to be a spa supervisor, and was invited to interview for the position the next day. “And [in] less than a week, I completed my interview, and they said, ‘When can you join us?’” Two weeks later, she was on a flight to Grand Cayman, about to start a new stage of her career.
Changing Hemispheres
Moving from the Middle East to the Caribbean was “a big transition” for Diamos. Not only was she in a new country, she had to adjust to a completely different culture and to being far away from her family. But in the new environment, she found the Ritz-Carlton brand ethos to be helpful. “You don't feel like you're alone,” she recalled. “Ladies and gentlemen of the Ritz-Carlton, they have a bond.” With the support of her colleagues, she found her footing and her community.
After several years at the Grand Cayman property—and after training three managers—Diamos applied to be a spa manager, a position she had been reluctant to consider due to the responsibilities involved. With the support of her spa director, she moved up to oversee the venue and ultimately helping to guide it through the worst of the COVID-19 pandemic when tourism plummeted and the spa had to operate on a skeleton crew. Working with her team, she helped develop a safety checklist that let them work while minimizing risk.
Moving on Up
Diamos spent more than 10 years at the Ritz-Carlton, Grand Cayman, and by 2024, she was ready to move up again. “My next step [was] to become a spa director,” she said. Unfortunately, the current spa director was not planning on going anywhere, which meant Diamos had to look for another hotel to join. She learned of an opening at the Ritz-Carlton in St. Thomas, but also learned that it had a reputation as a “tough” resort. “I like the word ‘tough,’ because for me, I'm not going to a place that is already well established. That means I cannot make my own legacy, because everything is in place.” After three months, she applied, secured the new job and moved to a new island.
In St. Thomas, Diamos found new regulations and restrictions that required adjustments, but also opportunities for growth. Less than a year after taking on the role, she has overseen several trainings for team members to make sure everyone is ready to meet the brand standards. “It helps enhance their confidence,” she said of the training protocols. “We're not just giving a massage. It's about the quality of service. It's about the experience … The expectation is very high.”
While she has worked in hospitality for 18 years, Diamos still uses her marketing skills to connect with guests. “It comes together,” she said of marketing and hospitality. “You have that opportunity to create promotions, [and] I do create my own promotions for our spa, for services, for any occasions. That's part of hospitality, and that's part of marketing.”
This article was originally published in the April edition of Hotel Management magazine. Subscribe here.