For Mario Jr. Haddad, hospitality has never been about formality. It has always been about people, emotion, and the feeling of being welcomed somewhere that already feels familiar. With Mariolino The Beach House in Ramla, Sahel, he transforms that instinct into something deeply personal, a space shaped by friendship, food, storytelling, and human connection. More than a guesthouse, Mariolino reflects the world Mario naturally creates around him: warm, intimate, soulful, and entirely centered around bringing people together. In this conversation with YUNG, he speaks about hosting as a form of storytelling, the emotional energy behind Mariolino, and why creating memories matters more to him than creating a destination.
Mariolino already feels deeply personal, almost like an extension of your own world. At what point did you realize you wanted to create a space that reflected your lifestyle and way of hosting?
Nearly everything professional I’ve ever undertaken has been an extension of my own world. Everything I’ve ever set out to do has come from a place of passion, and that’s always been my driving force.
I come from a cinema background; I’m the third generation of a family in film distribution. My childhood weekends were spent accompanying my father to the cinema on Saturday and Sunday mornings to watch upcoming releases he needed to assess and date. Being exposed to storytelling at such a young age played a huge role in shaping my curiosity and imagination. Combined with the influence my father had on my love of food, hospitality, and human connection, it ultimately shaped both the person I became and the career paths I chose.
As I grew older, though, I realized that some of my greatest pleasures in life come from simply being around the people I love, and even more so from hosting them. Creating moments, bringing people together, making them feel at home, that became something deeply fulfilling to me.
So in many ways, the shift from restaurateur to guesthouse host feels incredibly natural. It’s still storytelling. It’s still about emotion, atmosphere, and creating experiences people carry with them long after they leave. At the end of the day, it’s really just another extension of what I’ve always done: doing what I love and loving what I do.
You’ve always been someone who naturally brings people together. How did that instinct shape the atmosphere and experience of Mariolino?
The idea behind Mariolino The Beach House is very much an extension of my lifestyle and my love of bringing people together. I’m a huge believer in energy, and to me, nothing creates that more than the interaction between like-minded people in a safe, warm, and happy environment.
From the beginning, I wanted the experience to feel natural and effortless; a place where people could truly relax, connect, share stories, meals, music, and moments together. That sense of community and human connection is really the soul of Mariolino.
Mariolino doesn’t feel like a traditional hospitality project. Why was it important for you to create something more intimate and emotional rather than a classic guesthouse?
As you mentioned earlier, this project feels more like an extension of me than anything else I’ve done before, so intimacy and emotional connection were always essential to the experience we wanted to create.
Very early on, we realized that the best way to preserve that atmosphere was through a guest-list approach, allowing us to build the community organically from the ground up, starting with the people closest to me.
I never wanted Mariolino to feel transactional. I wanted it to feel personal, warm, familiar, almost like being welcomed into someone’s home rather than checking into a traditional hospitality concept.
Food seems to sit at the center of everything you do. What kind of memories, emotions, or experiences do you hope people leave with after spending time around your table?
Cooking for the people I love has always been my love language. It’s always been my way of bringing people together and creating moments tied to emotion, memory, and connection.
At Mariolino, everything revolves around sharing; the food, the conversations, the laughter, the atmosphere, the memories.
More than anything, I hope people leave carrying a feeling with them. That sense of warmth and togetherness you experience after a beautiful meal surrounded by people you genuinely enjoy being with.
You’re personally cooking, hosting, and present within the experience itself. Why was it important for you not to separate yourself from the project?
Because if I had separated myself from it, then I’d simply be opening a boutique hotel, and that was never the intention.
I’m at a point in my life and career where I want to focus more on what genuinely brings me joy. And right now, what brings me the most pleasure is hosting people I love, my friends, their friends & families, and eventually the wonderful people I’ll meet through them.
Being personally present is what gives the project its soul.
Ramla in Sahel has its own particular energy. What made this location feel right for Mariolino?
You’re absolutely right, Ramla has a very particular energy that immediately appealed to me. But what elevated that feeling tenfold was the incredible team behind the project: Marakez.
I’ve rarely witnessed such synergy within such a large group of people. Their enthusiasm, support, professionalism, and genuine belief in the project brought my team and me so much joy throughout the process. Honestly, that alone already feels like a measure of success.
How do you scout locations for your projects and visions? What do you instinctively look for when imagining a space before it even exists?
Oddly enough, I rarely actively scout for locations or new projects, yet I constantly find myself creating something new. I guess my enthusiasm somehow manifests them.
More than anything, I’m drawn to places that evoke a feeling, spaces with soul, warmth, character, and the potential to create human connection and beautiful memories.
Mariolino feels rooted in friendship, community, and warmth. How much of your personal circle and real-life relationships influenced the spirit of the house?
Completely. Mariolino is entirely rooted in friendship, community, warmth, and shared experiences; all things that naturally come from the people I love and surround myself with.
In many ways, the spirit of the house is simply an extension of those relationships and that energy. And honestly, when you think about it… how could that not be fun?
In a region where hospitality is often becoming more commercial and polished, Mariolino feels intentionally relaxed and human. Was that contrast important to you?
Of course. Since the project is such a direct extension of who I am and what I believe in, it was very important to me that, despite the level of service and attention to detail, the experience always remained unpretentious, relaxed, human, and soulful.
I never wanted perfection to come at the expense of warmth.
What do you hope Mariolino becomes over time — a destination, a community, or simply a feeling people keep returning to every summer?
Probably a combination of all three. But truthfully, I’m less consumed by the idea of people simply returning every summer than I am by the desire to create unforgettable moments of magic.
If people leave with memories, emotions, friendships, stories, and moments they carry with them long after the summer ends, then I feel like we’ve succeeded.
For more stories of the world’s finest hotels and restaurants, visit our Check-In pages and visit us on Instagram.
