A story of female entrepreneurship. The importance of the role of women in the Hotel Sant Roc.
The history of the Hotel Sant Roc dates back to the early 50s, when Joan Boix i Neus Salada, owners of the Boix Pastry shop in Barcelona, decided to buy a piece of land on the San Roc mountain in Calella, in the middle of a holm oak forest. with sea views. The initial idea was to build a family summer house with rooms for the whole family, but at the time of projecting it they changed their minds to end up building a small hotel with twenty-five rooms.
The Hotel Sant Roc opened its doors one rainy night in June 1955, when the Costa Brava was still a treasure to be discovered. At that time there was no establishment of this style in Calella and very few on the Costa Brava. Three years later, given the success achieved, they expanded the hotel with a new wing with thirty more rooms.
Despite the fact that the business was run by Joan, his wife Neus was the one who managed it from the shadows. She was the visible day-to-day boss of the establishment, who was in charge of coordinating the staff and serving customers.
Due to the dedication of the couple, their daughter, Teresa Boix, nurtured their hospitality spirit from a very young age, supporting their parents' work at Sant Roc. He directed his training towards hotel management and management, to take over the reins of the family business in the future.
Teresa Boix began her professional career running the family's second establishment for 12 years, the Hotel Duing, which no longer exists. When her parents decided to retire, she became the director of Sant Roc, with the unconditional support of her husband, Bertrand Hallé, who helped her with the financial management of the establishment.
Third generation of women at Sant Roc
Neus Salada demonstrated great drive as an entrepreneur, a female benchmark followed by her daughter and, later, by her granddaughter, Bàrbara Hallé. From a very young age, Bárbara lived life in Sant Roc up close and at the age of 14 she began working during the summers. In a natural and little premeditated way, he ended up directing his studies towards tourism.
After gaining professional experience abroad and successfully creating Tectum, a consulting firm specializing in hotel management advice and quality certificates, she decided to accept the position of director of the Hotel Sant Roc. Thus, in 2007, he definitively took over the reins of the Hotel Sant Roc, together with his brother Nicolas Hallé, and continued the task started by his grandparents.
Since the beginning of the hotel, offering maximum comfort to customers and ensuring that they leave with an indelible memory of their trip, has been one of the main purposes of the three generations. Bárbara has continued with this task and her desire to promote the territory and bring prestige to the sector has led her to become the current President of the Costa Brava Centro Hospitality and Tourism Entrepreneurs Union.