Duck Key’s Hawks Cay resort is widely regarded as one of the gold standards for hospitality and customer service in the Florida Keys. Since 2009, a large portion of that success is directly attributable to the standards, ethics and vision of Sheldon Suga, its now-retired vice president managing director.
Just don’t tell him that.
“Everything was about the people,” he told the Weekly when we sat down with him on March 23. “I may come up with a concept or idea, but I have to give credit to the team that I’ve got that knows how to execute.”
He’s being modest. In an industry known for bringing in managers for short stints to open or reform properties, Suga’s 14-year career at Hawks Cay – spanning four management companies and three separate ownership groups – is a testament to his integration as a mainstay in Keys tourism and the Marathon community.
With many resorts operating as borderline self-sustaining entities, Suga was unwavering in his commitment to serve the surrounding islands, whether through his Heroes Salute weekends to honor first responders or supporting local nonprofit KAIR through donated proceeds from guitar auctions in Hawks Cay’s Keys to Country concert series.
While at Hawks Cay, he’s chaired the Tourist Development Council’s District III Advisory Committee and the Florida Restaurant & Lodging Association (FRLA)’s state executive committee, and served on the boards of the College of the Florida Keys, Marathon Chamber of Commerce and Visit Florida. The list of awards won by Hawks Cay during his tenure could fill a page by themselves, and in November 2022, the FRLA honored his success with an induction into the FRLA Hall of Fame as the Hotelier of the Year.
Though he has no plans to leave the Keys as he savors retirement with his wife Laura, Suga says he will enjoy sitting back and watching Hawks Cay’s evolution after his own 30-plus years in the industry.
“I think the one thing I’ve instilled here is that there’s so much more potential,” he said. “My disappointment would be coming back here and seeing that things didn’t change.”
As Suga and his colleagues from around the Keys reflect on his career, the Marathon Weekly sat down with four who knew him in different arenas to better understand the legacy that began on Duck Key, but has made impactful waves from Key Largo to Key West.
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“Sheldon has always struck a good balance between being a pain, which he never has been, and not being afraid to call and give me a concise summary of the challenges he was facing. That’s so important for a person who has a position like his, particularly when it’s an expanding resort. He has the ability to very efficiently summarize the relevant information that lets me be helpful. When the phone rings and it’s him, I have a feeling most everybody is like I am – they kind of smile as they pick up. That’s Sheldon.” – Monroe County Commissioner David Rice
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“With Sheldon, you get a true leader and somebody with high integrity, ethics and values. He brings a calming presence to any situation during really stressful times, whether it’s post-Irma or during the pandemic. He has so much experience … that if there was a crystal ball, he kind of came closest to it. I was kind of in awe of really hearing him delve into how he views intertwining customer service within the culture of a company.
“I think he also helped a lot of people where even if they had to leave Hawks Cay, they left as a better and more capable person, which allowed them to move up the ladder. Sheldon is like a good head coach with a coaching tree. … He’s one of the OGs of the resort managers here, and there are a lot of folks who’ve worked under him in leadership roles who have moved on to bigger roles.
“Even with different owners at Hawks Cay, he was the common glue, the steadfast leader that they all wanted. They were able, to their credit, to see that there’s really no one who can run that resort like him.” – Marathon Chamber of Commerce CEO Daniel Samess
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“I’ve known Sheldon for almost 20 years and served with him on the District Advisory Council. I didn’t work for Sheldon; I only knew him because I was also in hotels before I went into vacation rentals. He would call me up just to chat about things and ask how I was looking at certain issues.
“Sheldon is the most humble person, and grateful for things. Gratitude just exudes from him. He’s also a very caring person. There were times when I was not doing really well, and he always checked on me with a little bit of encouragement. It was special to have that little bit of a bond, not only from DAC but in the hotel business itself and then on onto the personal level.
“I’m going to miss seeing him on DAC, but fortunately he’ll still be around, and he’ll definitely be my friend.” – fellow District Advisory Council member Vicki Tashjian
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“Throughout the last 14 years, Sheldon has been extremely committed to the community and to the destination. The ability to have a top-tier resort and have somebody like Sheldon remain there – it’s not only a great value to the company, but a great value to the Florida Keys. That’s one of the big reasons why I love him so much. He’s been here and he’s been part of the ups and downs. Anything I’ve asked of Sheldon for the betterment of Marathon and the destination, he’s always done for us. He thinks methodically, his decisions are all very calculated, and it’s not just about what’s good for the resort, it’s about what’s good for the Keys.
“I think there were some folks who were critical about how long it took Hawks Cay to reopen after Hurricane Irma, but in the end, they did the right thing to pause and to come back with a new, different, and much, much better product. They could have done Band-Aid stuff very easily and got back up and running in a couple months. But they knew that they had to do some refreshing, and they just decided, you know what, it’s a good time to do this. And the product they came out with did nothing but enhance themselves and Marathon as a destination.” – TDC media relations director Andy Newman
