Images courtesy of Friedrich von Schönburg & Rosewood Villa Magna
Friedrich von Schönburg came from a family of hoteliers. His parents urged him to pursue a different path — a diplomat, maybe, or a banker. Instead, Friedrich dreamed of becoming an actor. But a general strike in Marbella, Spain (where he grew up) changed his mind.
The strike took place in summer, Marbella’s high season. Employees were not allowed to work, which posed a problem for his parents’ hotel. Friedrich’s father asked him and his sister, both in their mid-teens, to help out. He started at reception, then headed down to the beach club and its restaurant.
“It was a whole day of pure work,” Friedrich recalled, “just connecting a lot with guests and trying to give a service that they actually paid for.”
Despite having zero hospitality experience, Friedrich threw himself into the work — so much so that he forgot to eat: “I was just running from place to another. I got home and I was just exhausted.”
The next day, his mom woke him up, saying he had a call from a hotel guest. The guest thanked him for the experience he provided, and wanted him to make sure that, should another strike occur, he would be there to look after them.
“That somehow gave me such an internal joy and motivation and happiness,” Friedrich recalled. “And I thought, you know what? Maybe this is what I want to do. Maybe this is how I want to feel every day.”
A dream come true
Images courtesy of Friedrich von Schönburg & Rosewood Villa Magna
Friedrich learned early on that simply being kind, and listening to others and their needs, goes a long way. After the strike, he pivoted career paths: he decided to pursue acting on the side and go into hospitality full-time.
“If you put a diplomat, a banker and an actor into a shaker, you would get a hotelier,” he joked. It was the perfect match.
He moved to Lausanne, Switzerland, and enrolled in a four-and-a-half year hospitality program. He interned at Le Bristol Paris and Design Hotels. Upon graduating, he had offers from Four Seasons, Mandarin Oriental and The Ritz-Carlton. Friedrich wanted to wait a bit, and enjoy his summer. This was in 2008, when the world underwent an economic crisis. When he checked back in that September, all the open spots had been filled. He had to start from scratch.
“That helped me a lot to put my feet on the ground by then, and really start from the bottom,” he said.
He moved to Valencia, where his sister was studying abroad, to help with her events communications business. Then he moved to London, where he worked himself up the ranks at notable hotels like the Metropolitan, the Savoy, Rosewood London (a fortuitous position, it would turn out), the Connaught and Claridge’s.
Friedrich gained invaluable experience, but he set a rule for himself: after 10 years in London, he would move somewhere else.
“I needed another little kick in my butt,” he explained.
The 10-year mark came. He relocated to Barcelona, where he started his first hotel manager position at the Palace Hotel. Then Covid-19 hit. The world shut down. When the travel world opened back up, Rosewood Villa Magna (their Madrid hotel), called. Friedrich had been following the brand since he left their London property. He said he was always a big fan.
“It very much spoke my language,” Friedrich said of Rosewood. “One of my dreams was that if they ever came to Spain, I wanted to be part of it. So there you go. Suddenly my dream came true, and here I am, not only working at it, but also leading the property.”
Curating delight
Image courtesy of Rosewood Villa Magna
Rosewood Villa Magna is a chic, art-filled property on Madrid’s glamorous Paseo de la Castellana. The hotel is sophisticated and warm, with well-placed pops of color and an expertly curated selection of paintings. The hotel collaborates with a local gallery and rotates its art selection every quarter.
Everything is perfect: the location, the décor, the food, the amenities. And although these details are a plus, they are not what make it special — it’s the keen eye for hospitality.
Friedrich noted, for instance, that guests can already buy that bottle of Champagne themselves: “They can buy whatever amenities you want to put in the room. But what they can’t buy is those little touches.”
True hospitality, Friedrich explained, is about curating delight. It’s about nurturing genuine relationships and going the extra mile (which is the fun part, he said).
“You can teach it, but you need to feel it,” Friedrich said of hospitality. “You can know everything, but if it's not inside of you to be a host, to be an ambassador, to be somebody who likes to be around guests, around people, all of your employees — then you're an office person.”
The best hoteliers are on the ground, interacting with those around them. Friedrich considers the light and the music — the entire ambiance. Part of his job is ensuring there’s a good flow.
“You can be told to do things. But if it doesn't come from you and you don't enjoy it, everybody will notice,” Friedrich went on.
Luckily, Friedrich loves his job. He loves a good challenge, and loves pushing both himself and his team.
“Sunday evening comes and I'm excited, because Monday comes and I go back to the hotel. I go back to work. And that's if I'm not already at work on Sunday,” he said. “We always refer to it here at Rosewood as your calling. It is what calls you, and it's what you were made for.”
Magic moments
Images courtesy of Rosewood Villa Magna
Rosewood — and Friedrich’s team in particular — excels at creating memorable moments. He shared that a famous football team recently stayed at the Rosewood Villa Magna. Their stay overlapped with that of a family from Mexico, with two young boys who were huge fans. The boys desperately wanted an autograph, but with the tight security and constant fanfare, it wasn’t feasible.
One day, the family’s mother casually mentioned all this to the hotel’s bar manager. Soon after, the family headed home. The bar manager befriended someone on the team, and told them the mother’s story.
The team rallied; they all signed a jersey dedicated to the two boys. Rosewood’s staff wrapped up the gift, slid in a nice note and sent it off to Mexico. The boys were ecstatic. (Friedrich mentioned there was a teary video call after the gift arrived.)
“[This was] all done by somebody who just listens,” Firedrich said. “Nobody asked you to do that. This is one example of many of the magic moments that we do.”
Friedrich has worked hard to nurture this mindset among his team. Rosewood as a brand always goes above and beyond, but it’s the responsibility of the individual hotels’ managing directors to make their respective properties distinct. It is their job to think outside of the box.
“That's something I really love,” Friedrich said. “For a great hotelier, you need to have this passion about the attention to details to ensure that you want to create unique experiences for your guests — to always try to surprise.”
