In his second month as Hotel del Coronado’s managing director, Sanjiv Hulugalle sneaks away from his office, tucked into the 19th century Historic Landmark below the iconic red turret, to do what he loves most: Walk around and acknowledge his team.
Hulugalle’s career, spanning more than 28 years, includes hotel positions in 12 countries across four continents. The Southeast Asia native credits his family and childhood home in Sri Lanka for a multi-cultural background where he learned the importance of community-building.
For Hulugalle, culture and history are important – and contributing to both is what inspired him to join The Del team during a visit in December of last year.
“It’s just so beautiful to be part of history and to be a small contributor to a much larger story,” says Hulugalle. “People who belong to The Del family are part of a special culture, special spirit, a special place, …it’s a feeling which you cannot describe.”
Standing beside Windsor Lawn, a giant grass yard framed by palms, Hulugalle speaks of the energy and spirit of The Del.
“The heartbeat is where you want guests to be,” Hulugalle says, pointing to the Sun Deck, a gathering space overlooking the beach that he considers the hotel’s soul.
Behind him is The Victorian, the Del’s original hotel building with its trademark, pointy-roof profile. Built in 1888, the structure is now undergoing a $160 million restoration that is scheduled for completion next year.
“I don’t get one complaint,” says Hulugalle, referring to temporary closure of the historic section.
“The transformation is in the restoration, but also the transformation is in the spirit and the experience and that’s really the next phase.”
A flower archway welcomes Spring guests to Serẽa, part of The Surfrider Foundation’s Ocean Friendly Restaurants program working to significantly reduce plastic waste, and mirrors the bright-colored chairs arranged across ENO Market & Pizzeria at the plaza’s entrance.
For Hulugalle, the Del has no boundaries in terms of creativity because the “eccentric” and “whimsical” gathering spaces are all “a part of history.”
And while The Del’s face guarantees guests a visit that captures its energy, spirit and vibe as a “culinary destination” and “entertainment hotel,” says Hulugalle, he avidly works with other staff to make visitors feel like family, an extension of the team’s behind the scenes operations.
In 2024, the Del’s past and Hulugalle’s personal history merge together, as do the lives of everyone stepping into the Del, embedding their presence inside a story still unfolding.
Advancing as a team
While in his 30s, Hulugalle, 48, became the youngest general manager at the Four Seasons in Maldives. Today, he remains one of the youngest managing directors to join the Del.
“I work with a higher purpose,” says Hulugalle. “The Del is a stewardship role for me where I’ve been given this great opportunity to work with these amazing people, but also lead them in…keeping the soul and the spirit of it intact.”
In his first week, Hulugalle began practicing what he preaches: the importance of kindness, generosity, and authenticity by gathering departments in round-circle discussions that have become monthly conversations.
“If you take care of your team at the heart of house, they’ll take care of the guests in front of house. So my philosophy is always: ‘How do we create a place where you feel good coming to work every morning in the heart of a house?’,” Hulugalle says. “On the second day, we started doing these little circle sessions of getting to know each other and getting to know each other is not only about getting to know me but for me to get to know everyone else too.”
Hulugalle has learned that sometimes just a thank you makes people feel acknowledged, recognized and seen, he says.
“There’s this wonderful gentleman who works in the housekeeping who runs around every morning,” says Hulugalle. “But I see him every day and I say, …‘I just want to let you know you’re one of the most incredible people I’ve come across…what you do makes us look really good in front of all our guests and all our team members and thank you so much.’ And his eyes just light up and it makes his day.”
While kindness as a universal language comes natural to Hulugalle, he says authentic “service from the heart is the most important part of everything we do.”
That is why Hulugalle appreciates the storytelling moments his team creates for all guests, like a Serẽa staff member, whose name tag reads his first name “Luis” followed by Colorado’s capital, indicating where he is from to help guests, especially Coloradans, feel right at home.
“They are the storytellers and a lot of our team have been working here for many, many years,” says Hulugalle.
Island origins
Inside Windsor Cottage, the Del’s private lounge, Hulugalle shares how his family upbringing has influenced his approach to shaping prestigious hotels across the globe.
“Family is the most important part of, I think your mentorship, your inspiration. If you can keep your family intact, I think you have everything in life,” says Hulugalle “And building on that, some people build relationships beyond the family, which is probably as powerful as anything else.”
Hulugalle began his journey in the hospitality sector as a young adult, but it wasn’t the career he envisioned earlier in life.
“I wanted to be a teacher,” Hulugalle says. “I actually saw this ad on the newspaper, which is a little tiny cut out piece thing looking for a pool attendant or pool boy in the old days. And I said, ‘Okay, I’m going to actually go and check it out and see what this is all about.’ And I got this job and since then I never looked back.”
Hulugalle grew up in Sri Lanka among five sisters, attended a British missionary school in India, and later moved to Sydney to pursue a degree in education.
Today, Hulugalle is a reflection of his parents, his father from Sri Lanka who he describes as an avid reader, patient and soft spoken, and his energetic mother from England who he calls his biggest “cheerleader.”
“One of the greatest things she always said was, ‘Make sure you are kind to people, take care of the people who are colleagues and who work with you, but also make sure that they’re part of your family versus just being a person you do a job with,’ and I’ve always had that in my mind,” says Hulugalle.
His mother Sally Hulugalle, who was once a housekeeper, illustrates nature through art in greeting cards and bracelets, with proceeds going to an organization she co-founded to provide a safe haven for women victimized by abuse.
“Because I came from a very multicultural family, a very diverse family, we were always told that ‘wherever you’re from, it doesn’t really matter as long as you treat people the way you want to be treated.’ I think that’s the golden rule,” says Hulugalle.
Preparing for his wife and daughters to join him from Hawaii later this year, Hulugalle says his family looks forward to exploring the many gems Coronado has to offer them as future residents.
“I’ve been in so many different parts of the world, traveled all over the world,” said Hulugalle. “Coronado really speaks to us as a place where we feel very connected…I come from an island, I’ve lived most of my life on islands and I feel at home on an island.”
