Michel Cottray has been appointed as General Manager at Hôtel Martinez - The Unbound Collection by Hyatt
Married and father of two adult children, he is particularly enthusiastic to return to the Côte d'Azur, which he knows well, having already managed several hotels there and in particular cut his teeth in the profession in Cannes.
Michel Cottray was born and raised in the 5th arrondissement of Paris. Very young, he was immersed in the world of gastronomy and occasionally helps his parents who run a delicatessen shop there.
His father, who had dreamed of working in the hotel industry, gave him a taste for it and it was by moving towards this orientation that he graduated from the Grande Ecole hôtelière Jean Drouant in Paris, then obtained an MBA in Hotel Management. Tourism of the University of Applied Sciences of Chur in Switzerland.
He began his career in 1983 with the Starwood Hotels & Resorts group as Catering Manager at the Sheraton Luxembourg Aerogolf.
In 1986, he joined the city of Cannes at the Sofitel Le Méditerranée for two years, before returning to the Starwood group again and moving on to the positions of Resident Manager and then General Manager in group establishments under different brands.
Thus, he managed the Sheraton Mirage Port Douglas in Australia for 4 years and then successively supervised The Westin Jeddah in Saudi Arabia, The Westin Resort Nusa Dua in Bali and The Westin Grand Hotel in Frankfurt.
In 2007, he was promoted to Regional Director for the South of France. Based at the Méridien Beach Plaza Monte Carlo in Monaco, he is also in charge of the Méridien Nice, Le Méridien Juan-les-Pins and the Elysée Palace Nice until 2012.
He was then transferred to the position of complex general manager for two spectacular luxury resorts in Greece, The Romanos and The Westin Resort Costa Navarino, before returning to France where he took over the management of Le Méridien Etoile in Paris from 2014 to 2016.
He then left Starwood Hotels & Resorts for the InterContinental Hotels Group in Hong Kong before returning to Europe in October 2017 to his last position at the Steigenberger Icon Wiltcher's in Brussels, the grand hotel in the European capital, operated by Deutsche Hospitality,
Epicurean by nature, Michel Cottray has been an honorary member of the Conseil Magistral de la Chaîne des Rôtisseurs (International Gastronomy Association) for nearly 12 years. He is also a lover of vintage cars and enjoys driving his 1967 Citroën DS21.
Today, at the helm of the flagship of La Croisette, Michel Cottray will be maneuvering to continue the major transformation project of the hotel which recently revealed its wellness area L'Oasis du Martinez as well as its Penthouse Apartments. ranked among the largest suites in Europe.